Amplifier/CD Player recommendations for Mission 753's please!

snitton

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Amplifier/CD Player recommendations for Mission 753's please!

I currently have a set of Mission 753 speakers that I am very fond of but want to upgrade my amplifier and CD player. I am currently running a Pioneer A400X amp and a Marantz CD-63.

I am looking at doing a serious upgrade this time and know that a lot of people seem to recommend pairing Missions with Audiolab or Arcam. I am quite taken with both the Audiolab 8300A and the Arcam A29, both sell for around £850 but wondered if the extra £400 to get the Arcam A39 was justifiable?

I also really like Roksan but that is another jump in price and I don't know if it is justified

Does anyone have any advice or thoughts please?

Any help gratefully received.

Thanks.
 
Give us a clear statement of budget? It is implied by the equipment you listed, but better you say it than we guess.

Audiolab and Arcam are minimalist amps as I call them. Meaning, you get a Volume Control and an Input Selector Switch and that's about it - no tone control, no DAC, in many cases no Phono, etc.... Now there is nothing wrong with that, these are good amps, just understand what you are getting.

£899 = Audiolab 8300A (75w/ch, Phono)
£850 = Arcam A29 (80w/ch, Phono)
£1250 = Arcam A39 (120w/ch, Phono)


As an alternative in more full featured amps -

£799 = Rotel A12 (60w/ch, Tone, 24b/192kDAC, Phono, Bluetooth)
£999 = Rotel A14 (80w/ch, Tone, 32b/768k DAC, Phono, Bluetooth)
£1495 = Rotel RA-1572 (120w/ch, 32b/768kHz DAC, Bluetooth, Tone, Phono)
£700 (£800 retail) = Yamaha AS801 (100w/ch, 32b/384k ESS DAC, Tone, Phono)


Simply illustrating different approaches to amp design.

I would expect the Arcam A29 with 80w/ch to do a very good job with most speakers, and of course, the Audiolab 8300A should do an excellent job to. If you are OK with the minimalist qualities of the amp. I don't say that like it is a bad thing, many people prefer this type of amp, just make sure it serves your needs.

As to whether the Arcam A39 (120w/ch) is worth it, that's up to you to determine. The price per watt on all three amps is pretty close, you just have to decide if you are willing to pay £400 more to get 40w/ch more; about a 50% increase in power. Though of course, there are other aspects that might make it worthwhile - higher quality components, XLR inputs.

That said, both the Arcam A29 or the Audiolab 8300A should have no problem driving your speakers, and both are well regarded amps.

Steve/bluewizard
 
Give us a clear statement of budget? It is implied by the equipment you listed, but better you say it than we guess.

Audiolab and Arcam are minimalist amps as I call them. Meaning, you get a Volume Control and an Input Selector Switch and that's about it - no tone control, no DAC, in many cases no Phono, etc.... Now there is nothing wrong with that, these are good amps, just understand what you are getting.

£899 = Audiolab 8300A (75w/ch, Phono)
£850 = Arcam A29 (80w/ch, Phono)
£1250 = Arcam A39 (120w/ch, Phono)


As an alternative in more full featured amps -

£799 = Rotel A12 (60w/ch, Tone, 24b/192kDAC, Phono, Bluetooth)
£999 = Rotel A14 (80w/ch, Tone, 32b/768k DAC, Phono, Bluetooth)
£1495 = Rotel RA-1572 (120w/ch, 32b/768kHz DAC, Bluetooth, Tone, Phono)
£700 (£800 retail) = Yamaha AS801 (100w/ch, 32b/384k ESS DAC, Tone, Phono)


Simply illustrating different approaches to amp design.

I would expect the Arcam A29 with 80w/ch to do a very good job with most speakers, and of course, the Audiolab 8300A should do an excellent job to. If you are OK with the minimalist qualities of the amp. I don't say that like it is a bad thing, many people prefer this type of amp, just make sure it serves your needs.

As to whether the Arcam A39 (120w/ch) is worth it, that's up to you to determine. The price per watt on all three amps is pretty close, you just have to decide if you are willing to pay £400 more to get 40w/ch more; about a 50% increase in power. Though of course, there are other aspects that might make it worthwhile - higher quality components, XLR inputs.

That said, both the Arcam A29 or the Audiolab 8300A should have no problem driving your speakers, and both are well regarded amps.

Steve/bluewizard

Thanks for the helpful reply Steve.

The budget is flexible but would ideally be in the £850 - £1250 range. I would spend more if it offered value but wondered about the theory of diminishing returns once we go past this stage. For example I really like the look of a couple of the Roksan amps but they are another jump in price and don't know whether they can be justified.

I am happy with minimalist but Phono is important as I play a lot of vinyl and a USB connection would be helpful moving forward. Both the Arcam A29 & A39 have these but the Audiolab only Phono so I slightly favour the Arcam over the Audiolab at the moment.

The three Rotel amps you mention are also very interesting, I admit that I hadn't considered them. They seem to be worth considering as well. Any further thoughts you may have would be gratefully received.
 
I'll not recommend enough both the high-end power amp yamaha A-S1100
together with the musicast WXC-50,
they are at you budget.

In my opinion A-S1100 set itself apart from all the hi-fi-ish power amp
a lot bettter up to an audiophile grade.

but maybe you are not audiophile .
 
Most will tell you 753's are happiest with a good bit of power behind them and I would certainly agree. Only you can decide what you like best but I've always been happy with Arcam amps powering my 753's. I did try an Audiolab 8000A which worked wonderfully with my 751's but I found more powerful Arcam amps ( in my case I used a 2x Alpha 9p power amps originally, then 10p's but now a single Alpha 10 as it's now a secondary set up in a smaller room) were the way to go with the 753's.
 
Long time ago now but I spent an enjoyable time driving my 753f's with Marantz PM and CD 17 KI sig equipment - £2400 front end into £900 speakers and the results were excellent.

Fast forward a decade or so and I've recently picked up a CD17 ki for occasional disc spinning for around £200 - a little more for the matching amp would make for a great system.

I never recalled gelled with Arcam gear into the 753 - tended to exaggerate mid forwardness a little bit - just different flavours I suppose.
 
Long time ago now but I spent an enjoyable time driving my 753f's with Marantz PM and CD 17 KI sig equipment - £2400 front end into £900 speakers and the results were excellent.

Fast forward a decade or so and I've recently picked up a CD17 ki for occasional disc spinning for around £200 - a little more for the matching amp would make for a great system.

I never recalled gelled with Arcam gear into the 753 - tended to exaggerate mid forwardness a little bit - just different flavours I suppose.

I would agree secondhand is the way to go, particularly if there's no requirement for modern bells and whistles. If the OP takes the Arcam route then I would suggest an Alpha 9, CD92 or CD23 player. All pretty similar on the inside, lovely sounding and plenty about.
 
...The budget is flexible but would ideally be in the £850 - £1250 range. ...

I am happy with minimalist but Phono is important as I play a lot of vinyl and a USB connection would be helpful moving forward. Both the Arcam A29 & A39 have these but the Audiolab only Phono so I slightly favour the Arcam over the Audiolab at the moment.

...

There is a USB on the back of the A29 and A39, but I think it is 5v only for powering or charging USB devices. I don't think it is a USB Data port. In all the specs I found, for either the A29 or the A39, there was no mention of a DAC, which their would have to be if the USB were Data Ports.

On the issue of USB Ports on amps, first the amp must have a DAC. Second, there are two types of USB ports - Media and PC.

USB-Media
will allow you to connect USB Thumb Drives, USB hard Drives, and to connect a Smart Phone, but not a Computer.

USB-PC
will allow a direct Computer Connections.

Steve/bluewizard
 

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