View Full Version : Best used amplifier under £500
Hi everyone!
Looking for an amplifier to replace an Audiolab 8000A.
Looking for up to £500 in the used market or auction site. For obvious reasons I cannot compare or listen first to any of the amps. Under this price limit, and for what I managed to research, there are a few available great options, I'd like to know if anyone tried or compared any of these, and what is your opinion on amplifiers like Exposure 2010S2, Leema Pulse II, Naim Nait 5i-2, Rega Brio-R.
I will recap my Audiolab very soon but I really need a remote so thus the need for improvement. Also, a MM or MC phono stage, though not mandatory, is a great plus!
Also, I am looking for a bit more punchiness, detail, dynamics, and above all, toe tapping musicality...
So sorry for posting another what amp thread!
By the way, the speakers are Rega RS3.
Other alternatives could be a Creek Evo 2, Sugden Mystro or an Audiolab 8200A.
I'd strongly suggest listening to a Rega BrioR - it will be better than the Creek and Audiolab (mine replaced a Creek Evo) and don't worry that you'll get one new and under budget - you'll be hard pushed to tell you didn't spend 4 times that by listening to it! ;) It will also be a perfect match for the RS3's, and has a great MM phono stage.
If you looking at used some of Sansui amps from the 70s are very good, but at some point you have to replace the caps
+1 for the Brio R. I also use mine with RS3s and have found they like Rega watts best having tried them with a number of different amps including Arcam, Pioneer, Amptastic Mini T, Sony, Kenwood. You'll find they really come into their own and the little Brio just seems to bring out the best in them. To my ears the sound seems to be what you're after, i find them very punchy lots of great bass depth whilst very detailed without being too grainy.
A word of caution though, I found the Brio R to be the most particular of any amp I've owned when it comes to interconnects for sources. I've tried a variety and the results varied widely. Given that you will be looking for a certain synergy then i'd recommend the Rega Couple (or a cheaply acquired Klotz AC110 clone, I bought one from a member here for £18). I've also heard the Chord Crimson is apparently a good match. I've never really put much stock in the difference between interconnects before now but found that what I used with this amp really changed the sound more than I've ever heard with other amps and its worth spending that money to get it right.
Match them up with some Rega Quatro cable for a cheap start then perhaps consider some of the more luxurious options the guys here have tried. I'd love to try some Tellurium Black but my budget wont allow that right now.
Why do I rate the Brio R? because it's all power supply with the amp/preamp bits arranged around it :) and as far as I know it's UK made. Surely a good way to do it and the reliability and sonics speak for themselves here. You have RS3's ffs, a no brainer IMO, AND IT WORKS!!!!!!! Amp design has moved on apace in detail although the basics were done decades ago and little things on circuit layout and the better high-current/low noise devices available now can bring about simpler circuits that work really well.
OK, other amps on the used market for five hundred notes... There's loads of WTF recommended amps from a couple of years ago out there for this kind of money, many of them Chinese owned now, but I'd try and look out for something a little better. The RS3's should like anything "good" using valves although Glenn Croft's hybrid stuff is going to be a bit higher in money sadly. I appreciate the other valvey gear probably comes from China too, but a good importer should give good after care should it be necessary.
To conclude, ANY of the above will open the sound out nicely over an 8000A, which itself was well trounced by the 8000S back in the mid 90's. Alex still uses an original 8000S and I think if it was better than the Brio R, he'd have gone back to it.....
P.S. The only thing which would stop me owning RS3's is the exuberant tweeter, which is a Rega trademark and done primarily to work with their cheaper turntable "systems." Matched with sensible electronics, the bass and mid are sublime IMO, direct and open in an "active speaker" kind of way with the treble held under control.
Thank you all for your replies. I have the Brio-R on top of the list with the bonus of being bought new, or used for a great price. But just liked to know how would the Exposure 2010S2 or the Leema Pulse 2 compare, as are being sold for £400...
Also, I read somewhere Stan's Bushmaster doesn't get allong very well with the Brio. Could this be true?
The Sansui are great, as are the old H/K, but I don't feel like getting another amplifier to recap and a remote control is mandatory.
Thank you all for your replies. I have the Brio-R on top of the list with the bonus of being bought new, or used for a great price. But just liked to know how would the Exposure 2010S2 or the Leema Pulse 2 compare, as are being sold for £400...
Also, I read somewhere Stan's Bushmaster doesn't get allong very well with the Brio. Could this be true?
The Sansui are great, as are the old H/K, but I don't feel like getting another amplifier to recap and a remote control is mandatory.
Yes the Exposure 2010S would be a good choice with its quite sweet treble & touch of rolloff suiting the 'hot' Rega top end. You get toe-tapping, FUN sound with loads of PRaT, but with added neutrality and soundstage that the equivalent Naims can't touch.
I would imagine that the Bushmaster wouldn't be the best match as you'd be mating a passive output DAC with a passive preamp Exposure integrated, the same with the Brio R.
Maybe Stan will enlighten us as have asked this question about the Bushmaster into passive preamps before.
Another vote for the Brio-R, its a cracking amp for the money.
Hi Pedro,
I have an exposure 2010s2 that I bought S/H for £400. I'm really pleased with the sound and the build quality is lovely. It's quite a neutral sound and the soundstage is very good indeed. Never heard it with any rega speakers though :(
I'm using mine with a bushmaster DAC and it works perfectly, easily outperforming the dacmagic.
I'd say that the safest bet would be the rega DAC and amp, as they are obviously designed to go together.
Cheers,
The Exposure seems a great bet... I am trying to listen to the Brio-R as soon as I find it around here, but I didn't felt like building a REGA system, and since the plastic fascia on the Brio-R seems a bit cheap, I am looking for alternatives. But for now, it's looking like the obvious option.
I am looking out on the auction site for Leemas and Exposures. I'm not in a hurry right now, but if I do get a great price for any of these 3 amps, I probably won't say no.
Anyone actually got to compare these three, the Brio-R, the 2010S2 and the Pulse mk.2?
Also, anyone ever listened to an Exposure 1010? Never found a review or opinion on it...
There's an exposure 2010s2 on eBay now http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Exposure-2010-S2-Integrated-Amplifier-Black-Pre-owned-/390443641223?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_HomeAudioHiF i_Amplifiers&hash=item5ae8412987
The build quality is top notch, as you'd expect with an £850 amp...
I had a quick listen to the 1010 an it sounded very good.
Yes I've seen it, but not yet the moment... But they often come and go for around that. That one should be great as it's being sold by a store from an ex-costumer, but I'll have to wait a couple of months first.
The phono board is an add-on, right?
Higher Fidelity Century Series 2K3
Cost me £80 and sounds like a great pre-power. Never heard of it before..
In other words, try also taking some risks on kit that looks well made but you've found no internet or forum opinion on.. chances are that no-one else will be taking risks either so it goes cheap.
Just gone for a Junson JA88D
see here http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=19411
Its big and it get hot but it will make an Audiolab sound like a toy!
Hi Ian. Thanks for the tip, but I was looking for british hi-fi... It was actually a coincidence that all the amps I named were british (at some point in their lives most of them).
I thought of trying a Yaqin MC-10T or a Classic 16.6, but don't feel like having a surprise in the customs and another in its life expectancy and having nowhere to send it for repair. Also, that colossal Jungson looks like it'd become a heater and I would have to pay for the equivalent of another amp in electricity by the end of the year...
I leave my Audiolab on all day long, during the night I have it connected to the television, so if I get something a bit more efficient, or at least something that heats quickly, the better. I have found that the Audiolab is only good after 24h on, and with the volume pot over 9 o'clock, it only gets dynamic when loud. Only then it becomes a fine amp, not spectacular though... I guess a Marantz or a cheap Denon today would walk all over it...
I will probably get a Brio-R if I get one used under £350, or an Exposure or Leema if under £400. But first I will have to wait for the pound to get lower... or the euro to come stronger.
I made myself a pair of Rega Couple interconnects clones, but with cheaper plugs. They are great, cost under £10 but I actually preferred the ones with the Sommercable Spirit XXL. Subtle difference, but slightly better overall. I would like to compare these to some commercial interconnects, like some Chords.
Now, my question is how does any of these three amps compare to a Nait 5i?
And what did you think of the 1010 compared to your 2010S2, Martin?
Theres a recently finished auction of ex-BBC stuff (look out the thread for links). In there were some Technics amps SU-V505's I think, with the intert base and more curvey front panel. I mention this because they had some consultancy input from Martin Colloms, who had a nice little earner suggesting tiny tweaks here and there.... The 909 from this series was quite powerful and didn't sound at all "Japanese" - quite the opposite with a very high quality sound. may not be considered "upper caste" enough after the Audiolab though.
Talking of classic UK made Audiolabs, can an 8000Q preamp and 8000PX or even 8000M's be got anywhere near this price now? I'm sure you can get the current ones for this much, but it just depends on how if at all they've been downgraded in their now Chinese manufacture...
The Myryad MI-120 was a superbly built and tough as old boots alternative to the 8000A and 8000S, offering a phono option which many we sold went away with. Smoother sound, as you'd expect the designer of the dear old A&R A60 to engineer in, with decent power and also, similar short-circuit protection as the Audiolabs had, so safe to leave powered.
Of course, £500 can also buy you a late issue Quad 44 and 405-2. I think the later grey with chocolate coloured models were really good as supplied, with updated components and phono sockets as standard, and both can be well tweaked out further to advantage, but the image of the brand may put you off trying a set, which is a great shame I think. The 405 in any form does seem to eat supply caps though, but thankfully these aren't expensive or difficult to replace and your speakers shouldn't cause thermal issues.
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