I’ve picked up some bookshelf speakers and stands for £70 which I think is a fairly good price (second hand 601 s2’s) but now I can’t decide what to look for in a matching second hand amp?

Under £200, don’t care about anything gadget fancy as I’ll use it with a chromecast audio and that’s it.

Also not sure if wire is hype or reality – either way I won’t be spending more than £20 on it so are there any recommendations around that price?

They’re cracking speakers and that seems a bargain as long as they are in OK condition.

Don’t worry too much about speaker cable and interconnects, just get some decent quality so you have a robust connection. £20 will be plenty.

Those speakers will not be out classed be some surprisingly decent amps.

If you want a bargain, see if you pick up an Arcam AVR 100 receiver on Ebay. They go for peanuts especially if they are “collection only” and they are very good for music.

If you are near Colchester this could be a bargain.http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Arcam-AVR100-Surround-Sound-Receiver-/172349933479?hash=item2820db47a7:g:1a4AAOSwGtRXxHjM

I’m liking my TEAC A-H500i – much better than I was expecting, and they go for GBP120-150 ish. Look good too.

They’re “proper” hifi, not midi system grade, with a huge transformer and power supply section.

Here’s one on ebay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TEAC-A-H500i-Reference-series-Integrated-Stereo-Amplifier-500-amp-Hifi-seperate-/232091566960?hash=item3609bc4370:g:o0EAAOSwTA9X5CSX

I’m running those exact same speakers off of an old NAD 319. Love them!

Cracking speakers! I’ve had a set since new.. I harassed my dad for some when I was 15 for Christmas (I’m now 31!) and they’re still going strong. I had them hooked up to a 2nd hand NAD 320 I bought with my paper round tips for about a decade and it worked rather well. They’re currently wired in to an Onkyo home cinema amp so probs not getting the best from them currently.

For speaker cable I used to use this stuff ……

http://www.van-damme.com/23.html

You can pick it up quite cheap on various sites and its a very good cable.

Cyrus 1 and what gobuchul said about cable.
The Chromecast isn’t going to get the best out of anything too high-end, in fact going in too audiophile could reveal it’s weaknesses too much and lead to something less musical than you’d like.

Couple cheers for NAD there. I agree. One of the best budget hifi makes on the market. And British, which invariably turns out to be the planetary nuts. 8)

For Chromecast recommend using an optical cable (£10) and an amp with an integrated DAC. Otherwise you are using the Chromecast built in DAC and how small / good is that going to be? Digital in means no loss of quality going through the Chromecast .

Would be looking at new amps or relatively new for above reason in your budget. Go to Richer Sounds and ask for a demo of a MARANTZ PM6005 and a Yamaha AS501 as a benchmark. After you hear them most likely one of those will be what you buy.

…if you like that sort of thing… *sniff*

Chromecast audio’s output isn’t bad at all … in fact it’s very good as long as the “high res” or whatever they call it setting it turned on so I wouldn’t overlook it.

If NAD gear floats your boat and you’re anywhere near Rugby way I’ve got a NAD314 that I keep meaning to sell as well as an Audiolab 8000s if you fancy a bit higher end – PM me if it’s of interest. (I seem to have build an amp collection – there’s also a Quad 33/405 sitting unused but that’s not getting sold)

Audiolab. Now you’re talking. Just out of interest, markwsf, what’s your system currently?

MrWoppit…
Source: RaspberryPi & IQAudio PI-DAC+ – usually streaming Spotify 320KB
Amp: TEAC A-H500i
Speakers: Snell Acoustics E/ii

The Audiolab sounds SLIGHTLY better than the TEAC amp, but its really marginal.

I’m told via geeky hi-fi forums that the Snells deserve several hundred pounds worth of valve amp – don’t know if it’s true or not, right now I’m happy.

Thanks for the advice- I’m based in Cumbria so not close sorry Mark. NAD’s sound highly recommended – is there any worry about equipment being worn out with old age / abuse? The marantz sounds good – I’m used to using marantz gear in my old career so I do have a soft spot for them and optical sounds like it would be a little more future compatible if I wanted to pop it in the TV too or am I over thinking it and analog is just fine?

£230 for a new marantz or go second hand for a nad?

The Teac looks like a beauty – but not sure it seems as highly rated as the other offerings?

Alex – age IS a factor for amps – once over about 10 years old or so electrolytic capacitors etc can degrade so that’s something to take into account. Main brand HiFi can be serviced professionally – of course that costs money. Midi-system type systems (chips rather than discrete electronics) are generally NOT servicable.

Re the NAD / TEAC question, I have experience only of a comparison between NAD314 and TEAC A-H500i – the TEAC is head and shoulders better. The NAD sounds dull and lifeless in comparison (in MY system/ears – may be different to yours).

If I were you I would consider the Marantz PM6005 recommended above – as it’s a new product you can go for a listen, take your speakers with you and see if you like it.

That marantz is also aesthetically very appealing. With it’s inbuilt DAC I quite fancy one for the “new” bedroom system, damn you (can you see how I’ve accumulated an amp collection?)

That Van Damme cable is pretty good, as good as anything I have tried.

I did find that my amps preferred the 2.5mm version and not the 4mm.

I believe PMC recommend Van Damme, or use it.

Only problem with it is the blue sleeving, they do a black cable as well which might be as decent.

It’s not expensive (unless you get the plugs soldered on and you don’t need that, a tight screwed down contact is as good or better.

EDIT to my earlier post replying to Mr Woppit re my system
Cable: Van Damme Hi-Fi Series 4mm

In all honesty I could hear no difference compared to the twin&earth mains cable I’d used prior to swapping.

I use a NAD C350 with my 601 S2S and the combo is great. Something Rotel would be a great match as well I reckon.

For the money, and keeping in mind what your requirements are, one of these would probably fit the bill.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rotel-RA-820BX2-amplifier-copy-of-owners-guide-/331981075709?hash=item4d4b9d34fd:g:3sgAAOSwdIFXwyfN
One of the first Japanese amps designed specifically for the UK market, and it’s a fine, minimalist little amp.
I sold quite a few of them when they first came out, they were clearly better than any other Japanese amps available at the time.
Good old 39-Strand cable would be perfectly adequate for a B&W/RA-820BX II setup.

The first thing I bought after leaving uni and earning money 18 years ago was a separates system. Marantz OSE KI amp and the 601s are still going strong although they haven’t had much use for the last 5 and I fear for the speaker cones as my daughter as learnt to take the grills off.

If want a super cheap USB DAC, I can recommend this Behringer UCA202 £25

IMO goes well with any budget system.

In all honesty I could hear no difference compared to the twin&earth mains cable I’d used prior to swapping.

yes, I didn’t want to hear a difference either, but I did.

Same with 79 strand stuff.

Maybe your system isn’t as high resolution as mine 🙂

The Van Damme is pretty cheap though so you might as well go with that and then you know that it is good enough for system upgrades.

All good!

I’ve bought a PM6005 and some terminated blue van damme cables which should turn up in the next couple of days!

I’ve got a question on how best to connect the speakers to the back of the amp though… if anyone would be so kind to help!

I’ve bought 2x 2.5meter 2.5mm van damme cables with bananas both ends and I’ve also bought 4 van damme 4mm spaded connectors to bridge the + and -‘s on the back of the speakers so I can just run 1 set of wires back to the amp.

However the amp does have 4 channels… have I made a booboo – should I order a second set of long banana wires and biwire the speakers?

It’s a 2 channel amp but they’ve handily provided two pairs of terminals for each channel in case you want to bi-wire. I’d hookup with what you’ve got using just the one pair of terminals. Potential upgrade path, but I doubt you’ll get much more out of bi-wiring. Opinions of course will differ 🙂

Thought bi wiring was just using separate cables not separate outputs, which presumably are for a second pair of speakers?

Biwiring is out of fashion – apparently it makes no real difference. Using heavier gauge cable might (which biwiring essesentially does).

Either as above way just run what youve got and you can always upgrade later if you want.

Of the two sets of posts are one set switchable to allow you to connect an extra pair? You can use then for biwiring but of course remember not to switch half of your speakers off accidentally!

Edit – just took a look at pics online looks like you can choose either speakers a or b or both judging by the front panel buttons and the impedance markings on the back, so you could biwire as long as both are turned on

If youre feeling brave head over to hifiwigwam.com and post a “what cable” question – they love that and the near-ww3 arguments that result.

Thanks guys – sounds like I’ve got enough to enjoy the setup with the current order so I’ll try that out – thanks for clarifying it with me – prefer not to get roped into speculation about wires with strange men 😛

My old speakers Musical Technology kestrels definitely sounded better being bi-wired. Replaced them with some Monitor Audio bronze 2 speakers and oddly enough they sound better with a single run of cables.

Yeah, my RTL2 mkIIs sound better bi-wired. Even my massively sceptical Dad recognised the improvement when bi-wiring them. God knows why it makes a difference. Probably aligns the magnetic potential of the musical 1s and 0s……

Doh… all wired in and I’m … underwhelmed.

The system sounds “ok” but I thought it would sound a lot better than my qc35 headphones but it feels a little flat. The sound is nice and centered in the middle when projected. Speakers about 2 meters apart and 30cms from the walls… I’ve got lots of soft furnishings in the room but they sound like they kinda haven’t come alive… maybe they’d work better at higher volumes but I can’t do that in a terrace house.

PISS.

I’m trying it with a phono cable direct to spotify and it’s on extreme settings (320kb) I believe.

Weirdly the phono input seemed to have distortion on it so I plugged the cable into the “cd” input on the amp… no idea why the phono wasn’t great I thought the speakers maybe knackered… grounding issue? dodgy qed cable? dodgy new amp?

classic man.. just read the manual the phono is just for turntables so i guess its super amped to pickup the sound! I’ll be avoiding that connector then!… still doesnt help with the flatness of it all :/