Good Integrated Stereo Amp for ProAc Studio 140's
I just had a thread going in the Home Theatre section asking which Receiver was the best for my set up and one suggestion was to take the ProAc's away in another room and add a stereo integrated amp. I already have an NAD 541i CD player.
I was in a shop today (in Western Australia) and a sales guy was suggesting a Yamaha A-S700 (which didn't quite get the 5 red stars in WHF mag) at 90W RMS per channel would be plenty good enough because of the nature of the amp. Currently I have a 5 year old Cambridge 540R Receiver with 100W RMS in stereo and 80W RMS for all 5 channels driven. The sound in stereo is quite pleasant.
Any ideas please on a suitable but not expensive integrated stereo amp for the ProAc's?
Thanks,
Phil.
hi philp47,not sure whether im allowed to do this but i too am in WA,i live in TWO ROCKS,i have a primare i30 amp and cd31 going spare,both 18 months old(i upgraded to bryston),i used to use them with pro ac studio 130s,they are both in perfect condition and i would be willing to let either go to a good home for a very reasonable price,the primare i30 is an excellent amp and will make the pro ac 140s sing,i would be looking for $1500(they are $4500 new),i think thats very reasonable,if interested let me know,regards steve.
forgot - i can be contacted on 0405737456 .
I drive my Studio 140s with a Cyrus Pre-VS2 / dual 8-power (in twin mono mode) combo - all with PSX-R power supplies - and the results are sublime. Plenty of kick in the bass and the clinical sound of the Cyrus gear is nicely tamed.
I'm going to, if funds and time before I go back to the US allow, swap the 8-powers for twin Mono-Xs. I also hope to swap the Pre-VS2 and DAC-X for a DAC-XP. These will all be 110 volt instead of 230 in anticipation of my return to the US. As a result I'll also be able to shed three of my five PSX-Rs, taking my box count down from twelve to eight. Shedding the DAB-8 tuner (no DAB in the US) and the AV Master 8 (not a great product to begin with but integrates surround sound into the Cyrus kit nicely) will drop the box count down to six.
Look at gumtree over the coming weeks.
It's not really down to out and out power, more the current capability of the amplifier and it's ability to control the speaker in question. No doubt the Yamaha would drive the ProAc's ok, as a few others at this price point would, but you'll be far from getting the best from them. A quick A/B demo with this amp and something in the £1,000/1,500 price point will show up exactly what I mean.
I would either look at the Naim Nait XS, Primare I21, Arcam A28/A38, Cyrus 8xp, or the Rega Elicit integrated amplifiers.
At the end of the day it's down to what you're happy to pay for and how you want it to sound, but if you get an amplifier that isn't up to the job, you'll end up with a lacklustre sound with no real kick or impact. The last thing you want is to spend a fortune and end up not listening to your system because it doesn't sound involving or convincing.
David @Frank Harvey Hi-Fi, Coventry
Mitsubishi HC7000 / Oppo BDP103 / Audiolab 8200AP / Rotel RMB1575 / kick ass speaker system