Replacement 2ch amp advice needed.

Dan1972

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Replacement 2ch amp advice needed:

Hi,

My 17 year old Sony TA-FB940R (QS series) is starting to play up (protection mode issues- probably dry solder joints), and I'm looking to replace it. It was a five star award winner at the time, and has been a great amp.

I listened to an Onkyo A9010 today, and while it was a great value budget amp, I felt it lacked the 'punch' lower down of the Sony, and that this would an issue for me as I listen to a lot of more bass heavy dance and rock (although I do listen to a wide range of other fairly mainstream pop/ rock/ dance/ etc)

I was hoping to spend the money and walk out with a shiny new amp with 17 years' of clearly audible improvement, but it was not to be!

Looking further afield, The Marantz PM6006 or the Cambridge Audio CXA60 would be within budget, at a push.

I've got Mission M71 bookshelf speakers (on Atacama Audio stands) and an Arcam 7SE CD player and would rather not replace these yet, and tend to use a Sony digital Walkman as a source, but quite like the idea of adding the bluetooth dongle to the CXA60 to allow streaming from a laptop.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!
 
May also be worth a look at Yamaha A-S801 - it has USB in from a PC and I think you can get a BT adapter for it as well.
 
Bass requires power and the CA beats the Marantz for that. And, importantly, headroom too.
 
I was hoping to spend the money and walk out with a shiny new amp with 17 years' of clearly audible improvement, but it was not to be!

Unfortunately when it comes to 2 channel hifi and particularly when considering sound quality rather than features, you are far more likely to notice the effects of 17 years of inflation than any sound improvement. This can obviously work to your advantage if you choose to buy something used rather than new though as it means you can often find things at a fraction of the price that you would need to pay for an equally good sounding brand new amp.
 
The Marantz PM6006 UK edition can be had for £329 at the moment, while the Cambridge Audio is £499- would the CXA60 be better, and if so, would it be half as much again better?
 
Forget about Bluetooth audio, even with aptX, if you are going to be streaming from a laptop - a £30 Chromecast Audio device would be superior for audio quality and most likely cheaper.
 
Try audition the marantz. I have two of them in different rooms, that's how much I like it, but obviously opinions differ. I can't say it's better or worse than the Sony you had or the onkyo, but it is one amp where I think the numbers don't necessarily represent the power.

I've had 100 wpc Amps that sounded lethargic compared with the (only) 45 wpc marantz
 
Think you'd be able to audition both the Marantz and CA at Richer Sounds. The Marantz will certainly drive your Missions even with it's limited output. I have the sister CD player of the 6006 and it is certainly well built. The headphone circuit on the player is really good as I imagine the amp's would be the same. For the price I think the Marantz represents good value.
 
The Marantz PM6006 UK edition can be had for £329 at the moment, while the Cambridge Audio is £499- would the CXA60 be better, and if so, would it be half as much again better?

Many thanks. Purchased the Marantz five days ago for £349 - £10 VIP = £339, which I though was good price. Just got another £10 refunded.

OP the Marantz is recommended listen.
 
Thanks all for the advice.

I listened to the Marantz PM6006 UK edition and the Cambridge CXA60 at Richer Sounds, and the CXA was a clear winner in my opinion, even with the wider price difference than when they were released.

The sound was a lot more three dimensional than the Marantz, and it had that lower down 'grunt' lacking in the Onyko A9010 that I liked about my old Sony.

The CXA build quality is the best of the bunch, and my old Arcam 7SE CD player sounds good through the digital toslink- might have to get the CDs down from the loft where they went to save shelf space once ripped to MP3!

I didn't bother with the optional £70 bluetooth dongle, and will look at a Chromecast audio instead.

Temptation now is to replace the Mission speakers to get even more out of the CXA!
 
The CA is an excellent amp and has their customary hefty power supply hence the control and power you experienced.

I’m not surprised that the 7SEs dac was whipped. It was a many times award winner in its day as a player, (I had one for a year), but modern dacs are way beyond what was available then.

The good news is that the CA will drive just about anything up to about 12 to 15 hundred quid quite happily.

The bad news...?

You won’t be able to resist spending on speakers now. :laugh:
 
Ps, the ChromeCast is an awesome bargain.

Even using its own, pretty impressive dac.

But it will be indistinguishable from a CD player played through the CXAs dac.
 
Good stuff. You can get advice and opinions left right and centre, but nothing beats your own demo. Enjoy
 
The CXA build quality is the best of the bunch, and my old Arcam 7SE CD player sounds good through the digital toslink- might have to get the CDs down from the loft where they went to save shelf space once ripped to MP3!

Did you try the Arcam analogue output with the amp? I borrowed one off my my mum last year (a regular Alpha 7 I think) while I was trying to repair my Alpha 9 and was surprised how good it sounded given it was the lowest model in the range. When I read your first post I was doubtful the 7SE was going to benefit from an amps internal DAC but maybe I'm wrong!
 
Did you try the Arcam analogue output with the amp? I borrowed one off my my mum last year (a regular Alpha 7 I think) while I was trying to repair my Alpha 9 and was surprised how good it sounded given it was the lowest model in the range. When I read your first post I was doubtful the 7SE was going to benefit from an amps internal DAC but maybe I'm wrong!

I bought some Dali Zensor 3s in the end and have sat down this evening to give it a proper listen.

Having listened to the Arcam 7SE outputting through the optical and using the CXA60's DAC vs. using the Arcam's DAC and outputting through RCA to the amp, the former is a bit 'cleaner'.
 

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