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I know there are quite a few knowledgeable hifi people on here.
I want a new 2 channel amplifier, will be used for TV, PS4 and music. Budget is about £300.
I have an old Arcam AV50 currently doing the job. but it's got a crackle on one of the channels, due to old age I guess.
I can get a s/h Arcam Alpha 10 for about £300, which was a lovely piece of kit in the day, there is also a FMJ A18 for about £250.
Or should I get a new one? Will the new technology out perform the old?
From TV would indicate digital via the optical cable and through the Hifi DAC which the Alpha 10 has anyway? Some older ones don't, check the back for optical ports.
I use this one for TV, Turntable, CD & Chromecast streaming:
https://www.whathifi.com/yamaha/s501/review
It's unfussy and more music biased, but at this price point best to pick one that does one job well IMO rather than a budget receiver. I actually have TV in via the Coax and anything connected to the TV goes the same route.
I like the Yamaha sound but worth asking for a listen somewhere local. Spend the change on better speakers, I use some Dali Zensor 3, but floor speakers would be great for games and movies. The Onkyo A-9010 gets good reviews too but sounds a bit clinical to me.
I'd always buy s/h at that budget tbh.
This list of completed listings, seems to suggest a Naim Nait 5 would be in budget.
That's what I've had since 2000 and still love it (also have a flatcap powering it).
Remote Control, has an av input (bypassing volume) and can take a phono stage (Stageline) and headphone amp (Headline) separately.
2 channel? As in stereo?
I bought a class D amplifier from ebay from about £5. It's perfectly good.
If you like you can spend £300, but it wouldn't surprise me if it just has a fancy black case and some snazzy knobs, and the same class D amplifier chip inside as my £5 ebay job.
@oldnpastit Got a link?
I've got the Yamaha A-S501 too, sounds good to me with my floorstanders. Much better than the Cambridge Audio that it replaced.
Got a built in phono stage and DAC (optical & coax).
I spent £70 on a used NAD C320 BEE and the sound quality through my tannoy floorstanders is superb.
The a18 should be good. Alpha 10 is very old now.
I have an Arcam A19 connected to a naim cd5si. It's a great amp, I love it. But it doesn't have any digital or optical inputs.
Most TVs have RCA audio outputs don't they?
I have the same amp which developed a problem, I just got it mended at an old fashioned electronics shop - didn't cost much and sounds fine.
Most TVs have RCA audio outputs don’t they?
Then you're bottle-necking sound quality through the TV's built in DAC, probably designed primarily to support the TV's own speakers. Then again OP could have a high end TV.
There is also some debate about the margin of difference between 'cheap' and not so cheap DACs. Another thing is streamed content is usually compressed quite harshly anyway, so probably only noticeable if you were playing from disc.
Most TVs have RCA audio outputs don’t they?
Becoming less common, my 3 year old Sony doesn't, I actually use the headphone out in to my amp and for my purposes it sounds fine (I don't watch TV much).
I’ve got the Yamaha A-S501 too, sounds good to me with my floorstanders. Much better than the Cambridge Audio that it replaced.
Got a built in phono stage and DAC (optical & coax).
Got the 701. Great bit of kit!
Another option, marantz pm6006, its got an optical input for TV, remote control, great sound. Why not buy s/h? Hifi doesn’t really degrade over time or usually suffer from wear and tear...
This list of completed listings, seems to suggest a Naim Nait 5 would be in budget.
Call me biased, but... YES.
Plus, if there are ever any problems with it due to unforeseen “secondhand-itis”, NAIM will sort it for you and return it as good as new.
Seriously. In terms of sheer quality on all fronts, this is the one for you. 😃
Try some switch cleaning/contact cleaner on the volume control.(or any of the rotary/slide controls)
Dirt on the track can cause all sorts of noise?
I had a Marantz best buy budget amp in my second system a 6006 I think it was & replaced it with a SH Exposure 1010 that cost around 300 the exposure sounds better. Much more dynamic, clear and punchy. It just drives speakers better and basically that's all an amp needs to do well. I'd go SH maybe an Exposure or a Nait or Rega Brio
For that setup and budget I'd be buying an AV receiver even if it's only driving two channels. Future-proof, digital end-to-end, and any perceived loss of quality over a dedicated stereo amp I'd hazard will be more than offset by not using the TV as a DAC.
https://www.richersounds.com/tv-home-cinema/av-receivers/yamaha-rxv483-black.html
Just to reinforce my vote for the NAIT5.
IMHO, the three most important considerations when buying audio equipment are:
1: Sound quality
2: Sound quality and
3: .... (can you guess what it is yet) ...
Using the TV as a source, your choice of amp isn't going to matter all that much.
I missed "music" in the OP earlier. What's that coming from?
This is the one I bought, for £4.13. It's fine.
You can pay a bit more and get a case and a PSU.
I missed “music” in the OP earlier. What’s that coming from?
It's a bit of a mix of a system.
Basically made up of old bits of kit I have collected over the years.
The music is coming from an Arcam Alpha 9 CD, which is probably over spec compared to the AV 50 amp and old Acoustic Energy speakers. I will also be streaming it from the PS4, through a Cambridge Audio DAC.
TBH the speakers were £200 new in 1997, so probably the weakest link, so the Naim option maybe a little OTT.
I have ordered some contact cleaner and will give the volume pot a squirt and see if that helps.
You can pay a bit more and get a case and a PSU.
I've got a Class D amp, it was used for running some speakers in my bathroom ceiling. It was fine for that but it cannot drive proper hifi speakers. I used when I was troubleshooting a 5 channel AV system, which was playing up. It didn't sound anything the larger amp.
I'll second the Yamaha S501 option. Mine is perfect. I use the optical port to take audio from the TV and then have a record deck connected to it too. It's paired with some Monitor Audio Bronze 2 speakers on stands and the whole lot is spectacular. You can also wire your speakers dual speaker cable... if you're that way inclined. I considered the PM6006 but when I had a listen to it vs the S501 I wasn't able to make out much of a difference, but the cleaner look of the Yamaha swayed me. I also checked out the Onkyo A9010 but I can't remember why I ruled it out.
or Rega Brio
I was surprised how cheap these went for. I haven't heard one so I didn't want to recommend it, but I would expect it to be excellent value at the <£150 they go for. Worth checking if they have a handy volume-bypassed AV input though.
This is the one I bought, for £4.13. It’s fine.
You can pay a bit more and get a case and a PSU.
I'm not sure that the 10wpc from this
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Is very comparable to 85wpc from this
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I like Cougar's yamaha, I've a similar one just without the network port (am now considering changing to this, thanks cougar), it's superb. All my sources are external so any decoding down to the amp, although if you have dac (presuming it's better than what's in the amp), punt it in via audio and turn off any processing. Full 5.1 for films, also more and more broadcast TV is 5.1. What I love most is playing vinyl end to end analogue, without a separate setup.
There isn’t much out there that will out perform that Arcam Alpha 10 for £300 new. The a18 certainly won’t.
I use a pair of 3 channel Alpha 10 power amps with an active crossover, tri amped. It manages to impress HiFi pro’s with systems worth more than my house.
I’ve heard the newer ones (apart from their very latest which is different tech) and they’re all the same stuff in a nicer box.
Mr Woppit the Nait 5 is a very capable amp but there is life outside of the Naim brand. I owned a 5i and replaced it with an Audio Analogue SE which was easily equal to it and both were bettered by the Audiolab 8300 in a system I'm running now.
And I can compare them against better kit as I run a NAC282 and NAP300 in my main system so I sort of can judge them equally and fairly. The source will always be the most important factor so always bear that in mind choosing any amp. Plus don't neglect some decent speaker stands and locating them in the best optimum place you can.
Audio Analogue SE which was easily equal to it
Holy shit! That's a £9k peice of kit!
Not really a fair comparison with something that costs 90% less.
both were bettered by the Audiolab 8300
Looks like that Audio Analogue lot are ripping a lot of people off then.
@woppit
Class D amplifiers are far more efficient (90%) than old-skool class A amplifiers (as low as 25%), which is what yours looks like. As a result, you don't need dirty great heat sinks, and massive great transformers.
Another option, marantz pm6006
We have the pm6004 which won loads of awards when it came out.
Try some switch cleaning/contact cleaner on the volume control.(or any of the rotary/slide controls)
So I sprayed the volume pot with contact cleaner.
The good news is that the crackle seems to of gone. The amp seems to sound a lot better.
The bad news is that the volume control doesn't work!
The volume seems to be set at about 50%.
Can't turn it up or down.
Any ideas to what I've done?
That's Audio Research at £9k NOT Audio Analogue lol
Holy shit! That’s a £9k peice of kit!
One of our freelance sound engineers has something like 50k's worth of audio kit in his car. He does have several European awards for it but when he demoed it to me a couple of weeks ago I was subjected to the horror of Phil Collins, honestly I think waterboarding is a more civilised form of torture.
Gobuchul - I think you've shagged the pot on purposeful you can get some shiny new audio gear.
So I sprayed the volume pot with contact cleaner.
The good news is that the crackle seems to of gone. The amp seems to sound a lot better.
The bad news is that the volume control doesn’t work!
The volume control is likely just a potentiometer ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potentiometer). Years of use will have worn out the contact points - sometimes contact cleaner helps, sometimes it doesn't in my experience (as you've found).
if the amp is in good condition otherwise it's probably a fairly simple repair.
if you're using it for TV though, seriously think about an AV amp. Most of the speech from a TV comes out of the central speaker in a 5.1. I ran a stereo system for years, but adding a centre speaker will be a big improvement.
I like this Yamaha amp with DAB tuner (250 down from 500). it's the 481 in a nicer case as far as i can tell.
Well pulled the trigger on a s/h Naim Nait 5i.
I'm still watching a reasonably priced Arcam Alpha 10 and I might get that as well, compare the 2 and then punt the one I don't like back on Ebay.