Suitable amplifier/receiver for Thorens td150/shure v15 typeii under £300?

[Arkless Electronics]

Are you talking about the internal boards or the two user-changeable tape and disc input boards? Once fitted the internal boards make a good connection and there should be ant problems with dirt etc.. It is possible that the edge connections of the two input sensitivity/impedance matching boards might become dirty through poor handling, but as I say I have never experienced any problems there - when I have had to change the board, the contact area clearly showed witness marks where it had securely mated with the socket.

Implementing the NET or Dada upgrades to the 33 improves the performance to one commensurate with a "modern hi fi system".

Those are the ones and I've personally witnessed the problems with them.

Yes replacement boards can make it sound perfectly decent. There were some available about 25 years ago I recall and they also worked very well and transformed the performance.

[DSJR]

Looks like a Yamaha ca410 is going for a reasonable price. Any experience of this model?

Not very powerful or the CA400 which preceded it (nicer switches again), but it's not a bad little amp at all from memory. Looking at Rotel, an 820BX or similar would be better than both methinks...

[DSJR]

To Jez and Barry (hifi dave already knows this tale )


I have and love a rebuilt 303 and bought some years ago a later 33 in good order to go with it. The sound of the 303 is musical and slightly 'lush' into some speakers, but not badly so with the stuff I use here. I decided to do the dada mods to the 33 and went with the supply updates, cap replacements and reduced the line stage gain, leaving the phono stage alone apart from the necessary supply voltage adjustment. I played the CD source into the tape input and further adjusted the levels with the screw adjustments Quad provided - easy peasy!

I was without the amp for a few years while it slept in storage, but got it back into my greedy paws earlier this year. Dada are now offering a full transistor change too (BC550's) and I dutifully did this on all the plug-in boards, although one output board suffered broken lifting solder track. All was well apart from a nasty crackling through the speakers on ONE channel, which was traced to one of the output boards, the one where the track had lifted try as I may, I've not been able to find what's wrong. I've replaced all the caps again on this board, together with all the transistors twice (they're cheap enough) and the bloody thing still won't play ball In the meantime, I've bought a fresh pair of boards, updated them with no issues at all (I left the output gain intact on this one and just re-adjusted the screw links on the tape board) - the tape input is cut down now and re-amplified which is silly really, but the phono stage gain isn't affected by the reduced output gain as it was before - are you lot still with me here and do you still care?

This tale of woe just goes to show that if you're unlucky, or a bodger like me, then reliability issues on the 33 do occur, Mine also suffered noisy switches due to its years sleeping, but that was easily fixed. Oh, the buttons now sometimes fly off when their status is changed, but that was usual on new ones sometimes

So you see, if the bloody 33 really was a pile of crap, I wouldn't have gone to all this trouble, but for me, it's worth it, plus the extra expense of two replacement used output boards. The sound is just a little bass-light, but the rest is just fine and it's perfect for the 303 as said before and if you're careful with the de-soldering tool, I don't see that a competent solderer couldn't update it to such a fine standard.

If mods want to make a separate thread for this, please do. Apologies for sharing, but this side of things can be a huge part of this hobby of ours and since new gear isn't selling much in the UK these days, the vintage market seems to be all that's left keeping the hobby afloat sadly...

[PaulStewart]

It's unlikely he OP wants to start messing with mods and upgrades to a 33 and I 100% stand by what I said. It sucks big time and is highly unreliable. The only place for a standard 33 is as an objet d'art or a door stop.... Such fun having to fiddle with the plug in boards every few hours to stop them crackling etc...
Also the OP has already ruled out 33/303 on WAF grounds...

Are you talking about the internal boards or the two user-changeable tape and disc input boards? Once fitted the internal boards make a good connection and there should be ant problems with dirt etc.. It is possible that the edge connections of the two input sensitivity/impedance matching boards might become dirty through poor handling, but as I say I have never experienced any problems there - when I have had to change the board, the contact area clearly showed witness marks where it had securely mated with the socket.

Implementing the NET or Dada upgrades to the 33 improves the performance to one commensurate with a "modern hi fi system".

Those are the ones and I've personally witnessed the problems with them.

Yes replacement boards can make it sound perfectly decent. There were some available about 25 years ago I recall and they also worked very well and transformed the performance.

Recently I help an old chap replace his TD124, that had been serviced by Loricraft, in a console he had bought with a 33/303/ESL57 set up in about 1967. The system needed a service for the amplification, but after over 40 years, the boards in the 33 had not caused any crackle. The problem was the Mono?streo switches had given up the ghost and no spares were available. A good condition replacement was obtained and is working well in the system. The original 33 I have bypassed all those switches and it still is going strong, with no crackles from the matching boards. Maybe it's the air where you live Jez

[Simon75]

Thanks for that Dave. The Rotel 820BX appears to be reasonably priced and the phono stage gets positive reviews from the limited information I can find. Is the phono stage particularly impressive?

[Arkless Electronics]

Ah yes the RA820bx. good little budget amp that was honest and punched above its weight. Still a good starter amp today from what I remember of its performance at the time... I remember trying one with Spendor SP1's for a laugh and it carried it off!

[Simon75]

I've currently got a teac ah300 on the go, I will see how the turntable gets on with it and may just consider going down the separate phono stage path if it's phono input is not up to much.

[walpurgis]

Ah yes the RA820bx. good little budget amp that was honest and punched above its weight. Still a good starter amp today from what I remember of its performance at the time... I remember trying one with Spendor SP1's for a laugh and it carried it off!

Yes I agree. Had one myself and it was surprisingly decent.

[DSJR]

Actually, I keep forgetting about the little TEAC 300 and 500 amps from twenty years ago. Clean sounding I remember, the whole systems being very popular and deservedly so in my opinion. I didn't think many came along on their own as the CD player and tuner are often in tow too

[Simon75]

Yeah I bought all three second hand from a pal about 7 years ago. The amp drives a couple of wharfdale diamond 10.1 speakers veryy well. In view of upgrading my turntable I am thinking it's time to try something a bit higher up the chain.