You should be able to find a used Bryston B60 integrated for around $7-800 or so. It's a truly great sounding little amp that puts out 60 watts per side and comes with that unbeatable, fully transferrable Bryston 20 year warranty. That leaves 2-300 to spend on cables or new tunes. Happy listening!
1000.00 to spend what would you buy?
i started a simular thread but not too many people have given me any advice. i have a fisher x-202-b that i recently had work done to. overall i got the amp back with updated capacitors and the unit sounds dead. i want to upgrade to more modern equipment. i figure i have 1000 or so bucks to blow on something. what would be the best bang for the buck as far as a new amp/preamp would be? i listen to music at very low levels at night with dynaco a=25's so power is not the most important thing for me. would concider solid state as well if someone can point me in the right direction.
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Hi Cleveland: So, this is the 3rd version of your thread that I have seen ... might as well add my 2 cents. So, you have a mostly vintage system; your amp developed bad hum and you had to replace the capacitors ("condensers" if we are talking retro talk); and you do not like the resultant sound. My dad owned a TV repair shop in Brooklyn and I was always around hifi systems (tube and early solid state), so I think that I understand your dilemma. I just retired a Marantz 2240 mid-70's receiver once it developed hum, as I just did not want to sink more money into a 30 year old component (I had it professionally overhauled 3 years ago). I use Acoustic Research 302 speakers in my main system. They are 11 years old and when they were introduced in 1995, they were based on the AR 5's, a mid 60's design ... 3 way; acoustic suspension; 10 inch woofers ... you get the idea. A more modern era cousin to your Dynaco A25's. Certainly the speaker efficiency (85db) and minimum recommended power (25 or so watts) are close. I live in an apartment and that necessitates playing music comparatively low. I had used the AR's with a bunch of solid state amplifiers (ADCOM; NAD; Musical Fidelity) and really liked the sound, but the sound did not become alive and 3D like, until I went with tubes. I went with the Prima Luna Prologue Two tube integrated in one system and a Prologue Five tube power amp in another system. Prima Luna is sold by Upscale Audio . It's a bit more money than you wanted to spend, but the Prologue One is close to your budget. I also wrote a review of the Prologue Two here, if you want to read my impressions. You may also want to update your CD player. I can't say enough good things about the Music Hall MMF CD 25 cd player and how it pairs up with the Prima Luna and this will set you back another $500. I think that you can get the best of the vintage sound that you liked so much, with modern components. Regards, Rich |
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