im happy with my set up, but......

[Pieoftheday]

im happy with my set up at the moment, the pioneer a30 works nicely with the usher s520 s, its always pleasant and when cranked up can let acdc rock ,thing is i think the ushers could do with something a bit better, something that can grab hold better , i feel they need a more gutsy amp. i had them with a marantz pm8003 for a while but it was a rubbish combo, so id like some suggestions amp wise please,i wont be buying just yet just putting me feelers out, something i could hook a sub woofer up to would be useful for movies, i dont mind pre owned as long as it dosnt look like its been chucked down the road, as for price, hmm no more than £500 as things stand, jim

[Pieoftheday]

Nothing? Really? I'll go go to whf really I will, you see if I dont:steam:

[rdpx]

im happy with my set up at the moment, the pioneer a30 works nicely with the usher s520 s, its always pleasant and when cranked up can let acdc rock ,thing is i think the ushers could do with something a bit better, something that can grab hold better , i feel they need a more gutsy amp. i had them with a marantz pm8003 for a while but it was a rubbish combo, so id like some suggestions amp wise please,i wont be buying just yet just putting me feelers out, something i could hook a sub woofer up to would be useful for movies, i dont mind pre owned as long as it dosnt look like its been chucked down the road, as for price, hmm no more than £500 as things stand, jim

I'm thinking of getting a Roksan Kandy K2.

As they just brought out the K3 I think there should be some good bargains under the £500 mark coming along...

Never listened to one yet, but they seem to be well liked.

[hifi_dave]

I'd stick with your present Brio, against the Kandy. It might look impressive and have loadsawatts but it is flat and bland.

[Clive197]

I'd stick with your present Brio, against the Kandy. It might look impressive and have loadsawatts but it is flat and bland.

+1. Don't know where Dave got the (Rega) Brio from in this thread but it's an excellent amp for the money. Totally agree about the Roksan

[rdpx]

+1. Don't know where Dave got the (Rega) Brio from in this thread but it's an excellent amp for the money. Totally agree about the Roksan
It's in my Sig, Clive. (It's the old Brio 3 though, not the new R)

[Clive197]

It's in my Sig, Clive. (It's the old Brio 3 though, not the new R)

Sorry, clearly had a senior moment. The Brio 3 is still a great amp for the money even if has now been superseded. Roksan comment is still correct alas. Lots of watts but no subtlety.

[rdpx]

Sorry, clearly had a senior moment. The Brio 3 is still a great amp for the money even if has now been superseded. Roksan comment is still correct alas. Lots of watts but no subtlety.

The Brio doesn't really seem enough to get my PMC GB1 going. It's okay, but I am looking for something that is going to wake them up a bit as we have a rather large room (and am not going to be getting bigger speakers just yet). People seem pretty happy with the K2 from what I can find online though, so it surprises me to hear you both be so down on it? I think I can get a BT for around £500 which could be easily flipped on eBay for no loss if it doesn't impress, but your warnings are making me think its maybe not worth the hassle. I did find a couple of threads where more than one person was saying that the original GB1s were a fantastic match for the K2.

This will probably make a lot of people groan, but the idea of the Roksan learning remote that could then control the amp, CDP, TV and BDP is also very attractive.

[Pieoftheday]

rega brio r seems well thought of, its going on my list, :)

[agk]

You could have a nice big Sony with that budget. Huge ES loveliness.

[rdpx]

You could have a nice big Sony with that budget. Huge ES loveliness.

I have no idea what you are talking about.

While you are here though, I think I saw you wondering on another thread about getting a wee silver CD player to match your tiny amp - did you think about a CYRUS? You could probably pick up a CD6 for a similar price you might get for your CJS.

[Pieoftheday]

You could have a nice big Sony with that budget. Huge ES loveliness.

Are all the es Sony amps good or are some to be avoided? Being a lazy got a remote would be nice:)

[Anthony K]

The creek Evoltion 2 is better than the k2 imho , but less colored than the rega

[andrasszamek]

i had a creek evo2 for a while, it was very good.

[Bluebeat13]

My Unison Research Unico went for £500, boxed in great condition. Big, fat punchy sound. Remote only controls the volume though.

[Pieoftheday]

My Unison Research Unico went for £500, boxed in great condition. Big, fat punchy sound. Remote only controls the volume though.

What would One of those cost new?

[Spectral Morn]

I'd stick with your present Brio, against the Kandy. It might look impressive and have loadsawatts but it is flat and bland.

and a tad bright and forward too.


Regards Neil

[kirstysdad]

I love my Ushers- so much so I've 2 pairs!
They really sing with a gutsy amp, but not too aggressive or they bite.
At the moment I'm listening to S520/SW520 driven by an old vaguely Naim set up, much modded (doesn't sound much like Naim anymore :smoking:)and very gutsy.
But my single set of S520s run really sweetly with an old Primare A20 mk2 (70w) which I picked up s/h for a very reasonable £265 on fleabay.:champagne: You'd be amazed how much controlled bass you can squeeze out of them...
Remember good quality second hand kit can always be serviced and brought up to date, esp. amps.

[Pieoftheday]

I love my Ushers- so much so I've 2 pairs!
They really sing with a gutsy amp, but not too aggressive or they bite.
At the moment I'm listening to S520/SW520 driven by an old vaguely Naim set up, much modded (doesn't sound much like Naim anymore :smoking:)and very gutsy.
But my single set of S520s run really sweetly with an old Primare A20 mk2 (70w) which I picked up s/h for a very reasonable £265 on fleabay.:champagne: You'd be amazed how much controlled bass you can squeeze out of them...
Remember good quality second hand kit can always be serviced and brought up to date, esp. amps.

Thanks for that Sandy,I've been looking at NAD and Cambridge stuff, much to consider. I also really like my ushers, :)

[goraman]

I never rule out NAD for a good solid state amp for not much money, they are under rated most of the time a real bargain and this one has enough horse power to drive the Usher's with BIG BALLS.
Your speakers are 86.DB at 1 watt. getting much bass at 50 hz. out of them means a good 50 watts RMS per channel from such small drivers, small low sensitivity speakers need horsepower to get the best out of them and if you later go with different speakers you will always be able to drive them as well.
at 64 watts per channel you will get 92 db. I wouldn't drive them harder than that and you will never clip that amp at those levels and it should run cool lasting a very long time.


http://nadelectronics.com/products/hifi-amplifiers/C-275BEE-Stereo-Power-Amplifier

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-fcVx6pgNiGI/p_745C275BEE/NAD-C-275BEE.html

This bad boy will will give you plenty of slam with headroom to spare.
It's a little more spendy, than your budget but worth it as NADS are under rated power wise and have very high quality transformers able to give you great dynamics from even the lowest sensitivity speakers.

[icehockeyboy]

See if anyone is flogging a Lyngdorf SDAi 2175, they really do work well with Usher speakers, well, it certainly did with my big Ushers!

200 wpc, and so much grip it could arm wrestle Sly Stallone and win.

[Pieoftheday]

thanks for the suggestions:) a new amp will now have to wait,a recent hol in keswick, brill!! and my better halfs birthday has left my wallet
empty:( i did find the funds for a new firmware upgrade for my caiman mk11 though;)