Rega or Arcam Amplifier

[raygreen]

I am using Mission 751 speakers and wish to upgrade my older CD and amp (both Arcam Alpha).

What would be a better choice to complement the Missions in the second hand price range of around £150-£200? Any particular models going to be better than others?

I will also add a Beresford DAC (possibly Caiman due to the USB option) at a later point - will this give further marked improvements.

[dantheman91]

Rega Brio R..................Fantastic for the money.........although slightly out of budget....:doh:

[struth]

Rega Mira in sales thread on budget and will be very good as it is James' one.. dont think you'll get a FMJ for that so that would be as good as your budget allows.

[raygreen]

What would the difference be between the Brio and the Mira?

[struth]

For the money the mira is good, a refined amp. The Brio R is a fair bit punchier and a very good choice if thats your cup of tea but will cost a bit over the budget. I prefer the arcam fmj's but thats just me. They take a bit of burning in from new but they are great amps...out of budget I'd guess too though. Mira is still a decent contender though and under 200 difficult to beat as an integrated. You could also go for an amptastic although you only get one input. good amps believe and cheaper even new. I kinda fancy one myself.

[raygreen]

Thanks Struth. Also been reading some good reviews about the Arcam A85. Any thoughts compared to the Mira. A few relevant on EBay and James on here. Definite upgrade to what I have at the moment.

[istari_knight]

Personally I'm not a great fan of the modern Arcam stuff until you get into the FMJ range... It just sounds really boring to me. On the other hand I can tell you the Mira sounds quite "boppy", with relatively neural speakers it tends to exaggerate the midbass a little giving an "edge" to rock/pop.

[The Black Adder]

another thumbs down for Arcam... boring, boring, boring. Rega... yup. :)

[Alan D]

I had an Arcam A90 for a couple of years with Monitor audio Silver S6 Speakers.
I was happy with the sound, as I knew no different. On impulse, I bought Steve's Accuphase E302 integrated. Wow, the punchy sound it produced made me jump a few times!
It was the catalyst to me changing most of my equipment. I now realise how laid back the Arcam was.

[Alan D]

With respect to T-Amps, I also have a Temple Audio Bantam Gold in the bedroom, with a pair of Rega RS1's.
I picked the amplifier up on ebay for £112 and built a linear power supply for it.
A winning combination.

[struth]

Thanks Struth. Also been reading some good reviews about the Arcam A85. Any thoughts compared to the Mira. A few relevant on EBay and James on here. Definite upgrade to what I have at the moment.

I was never an Arcam fan til the FMJ's came out tbh. They are different beasties to their older amps, and a fair bit more expensive as you go up the ladder. The 18 that I have was 650 new and it was pretty much the base model. I use mine in conjunction with a power amp, and is really good. I doubt you'd be disappointed with a mira.