MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
I posted last week about my 12 year old Rotel amp dying. I've been doing a bit of research and think I'll go for either the Rotel RA60 or Creek Evo. Can get them ex-demo for £320 and £350 repectively. Any thoughts on the merits/faults with either, or any other suggestions? Just want a simple, decent quality amp to drive my ruark swordsman speakers. Happy to go secondhand for older amps if necessary.
Oh yeah - visited some hifi forums to ask, but they get too techy too quickly!
The Rega Brio always seems to get good reviews. Think it retails for £350. No personal experience of it though.
Rega will be good, and is built in Britain. Mind you everyone else seems to plug their own business on here, so I'm going to:
You should buy Naim Audio, sounds fantastic, holds it's value well and we still service equipment built 30 years ago so you won't have to bin it if you ever have an issue.
If you scoured ebay or hifi forums you'd easily find a Nait (integrated) for that, my preference would be a Nait2 or a Nait5i. I used a Nait2 to drive Ruark Talismans for a while, and it was a nice combination. Spending a bit more could get you an older pre-power. Be warned though, it can get addictive. My current system is 8 boxes!
Like bikes, try them if you can. The Naim's have a strong following but you need to listen to them IMO, as they are a particular sound. You should also consider a s/hand Densen - very clean and natural. I've got a pre/power and after trying quite a few amps, I'm keeping them for a long long time.
Thanks for the suggestions, more googling/reading/testing to be done..... Think I've decided against the Creek.
For £350 you could easily get the older olive series Naim Pre/ Power Combo of NAC 92 / NAP 90 - but I doubt you could pick up the newer integrated Nait 5 series for anything less than £400.
I have no knowledge of the older models like the Nait 2 integrated other than they are sought after on the bay and the price reflects this - I have always assumed they are picked up by Naim-o-phile collectors and hobbyists rather than people who are buying them as their sole amp.
used rega mira?? loverly warm sound. was using a 98 vintage one for years to drive mk2 Ruark saber's. now using it as a pre with a nad C270 as power which gives a better base response.
I've never heard a Nait 2 but I did borrow a Nait 1 from the shop once when one of my amps was being fettled.
The sound quality was very impressive from such a small box.
Despite RichPenny's slight bias I'd have to agree in recommending Naim for their sound quality and customer service.
Maybe with a Linn Sondek on the front end? 😉