A85 = AVR250 in Stereo?

Hi

I am looking to amalgamate my two systems.....................going to ebay my Arcam A85 and Yamamha amps, Mission 780 speakers and buy a higher quality av amp, such as the AVR250..................AVR300 out of my budget.

Also been looking at Marantz SR8500.

Will the AVR 250 be similar to the A85 in stereo.....................or do you have to pay a lot more to get up to that level?

Will try to take my CD73T to a dealer and demo both amps.....................has anyone else done this?

Speakers next on my list after the av amp.

Cheers,Tam

 

There have been threads on the forum about similarities between AV and stereo amps, may be worth looking. Just as an aside be aware there are no preouts on the AV250 other than for a sub and the power is down a little. One of my best upgrades was to add a power amp so this would not be open too you. Have a listen yourself and compare that's the best way!

 

I asked an Arcam rep about this at a demo, and he said the AVR300 was set to match the A80 in stereo. FWIW, the AVR300 review in What Hifi? said the stereo performance was on level with the A65. Which ever is true, the 250 will definitely not match up to the A85.

I suppose the new combo, the AVP700/P1000, will be a safer bet for a match with the A85/90