Which second hand amp to buy

kowalski181

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Hi this is my current system.
Project essential 3 turntable.
Sony cd player not often used.
Sony ta fe 370.
Wharfedale diamond 9 speakers.

Looking to upgrade my amp To a better model.... Second hand spending no more than 130.... Best ones seem to be from marantz... Rotel....nad.
Its all about what handles my vinyl best really does anyone have any advice on what would be the best one to get.second hand for around this price or cheaper?
 
The older Marantz may give you the warmer sound which may suit vinyl, rotel tend to be pretty neutral, and again older NAD tend to have a warmer sound but in my experience have less bass control.

If you can find an old Marantz PM7200 then that would do the job well and has the ability to run in class A if you prefer that sound.

Here’s on that may go cheap due to the colour.


If not you may get lucky on a Rotel RA03.

Another option is the Arcam 8 or 8r, but check the controls do not crackle when moved, a common fault. The Arcam tend to be somewhere between the Marantz/Nad and the Rotel in these age amps.

here’s an example -


or the a75 is its success, worth keeping an eye on this one but if you can find an a85 or an a75+ then these are slightly better amps -


or this one on budget but case/facia look a bit tatty.


Hopefully this gives you a starting point, however the second hand market in the UK is a bit screwy at the moment with limited stock and pick-up restrictions so is a bit of a sellers market with prices higher than usual plus a bit more available cash due to restrictions on travel/pubs/restaurants/working from home. This may change after June‘s deadline I guess.
 
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Without wanting to be sniffy I'd suggest that with such a low budget you may as well either stay with the Sony until you've saved some more or buy a separate phono pre-amp. Older Arcams in budget can be problematical & often had the pre-amp as an option.

My personal recommendation used would be the Rotel RA-1062 but that will be around double your current budget.
 
Aha ok... I thought the sound might be a bit different if got an old marantz or similar.
. Even a 66 se Ksi I was looking at would probably sound a bit better than what my Sony pumps out... It has phono channel so records sound fine
 
A PM66Ki could be worth considering if you can find a good one, but again, you're going back to the '90s
 
Your budget won’t get a much better amp even used, I’d suggest around the £200 mark used would be the minimum place to start.

Your speakers however can easily be improved upon, especially if they’re the relatively recent (a dozen years or possibly more) from Richer Sounds, and they are the most important part of a hifi.


I’d suggest these and a carefully applied black crayon.


Serious speakers at an excellent price. And will make much more of a difference than a sideways amp move.

They’ll also sound better again when you save for a better amp; your current speakers are the more serious bottleneck.
 
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Cheers for that... Never occurred to me speakers would make much of a difference if didn't change amp
 
Cheers for that... Never occurred to me speakers would make much of a difference if didn't change amp

Speakers make the single biggest contribution to the sound you hear.

And something like the QAs mention (a near £400 speaker) will make a big difference even with the Sony. It’s actually not a poor amp.

Though it can be easily bettered, it can’t really be significantly so with your current budget.
 
Speakers make the single biggest contribution to the sound you hear.

And something like the QAs mention (a near £400 speaker) will make a big difference even with the Sony. It’s actually not a poor amp.

Though it can be easily bettered, it can’t really be significantly so with your current budget.
Just bought them.... Bit of a steal at that price... Speakers right in corner of room so barely see them anyway... Cheers
 
Question if i can get the marantz PM66Ki fully working for one hundred quid to go.with the speakers should I buy them or just make do.with.my Sony for now
 
The KI is a fine amp, but I’d still wait for a £200 budget for something to do justice to the QAs that isn’t quite so old.

However, if you’re really not able to get a better budget in a few months of saving, then the Marantz is a fine amp. But don’t expect as big a difference as that gained by the speakers.
 
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If you’re determined to get a new amp, you’d struggle to do better than this for the money.

Good call.

First class amps with plenty of current back up.

You might also get luck with this one too.

 
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Good call.

First class amps with plenty of current back up.

You might also get luck with this one too.

Buy it now for £135? Jump at it.
It may not be important but be aware that neither of those Rotels shipped with a remote control.
Neither model originally came with one. Depends if that’s an issue.
 
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great find,, all done thanks gone with the 04se

Excellent.

Hope you pop back and tell us what you think.

The TT is a good one so I’d expect some serious improvement there from the better amp and especially the better speakers.
 
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The speakers make a huge difference from previous setup .... Amp hasn't arrived yet.. will see what difference it makes
 

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