Suggestion on Good Sounding Integrated Amp

Hi Guys,
I am looking for a good Integrated Amp. I am looking for Details, Musical, Power, and Natural, Budget around 3k to 4k. Am I asking too much?
My music is Oldies, Vocal, Acoustic, Country. My speaker is 4ohm, 86db/w. Look current hungry, but have no problem partnering with Audiolab 8000A. But what I am using now is NAD c370. All cables vandenhul.

What I have shortlisted:
- Marantz PM7001KI (Sudah tak ada on sale, anyone wanna sell off?)
- Exposure 2010s (without MM until you throw in another couple of hundreds)
- Onkyo A9555 (Also no more on sale)
- Marantz PM8003 (Not as good as PM7001KI)
- Audiolab 8000s (So many years never update the inside)

I dont mind having kit amp as long as it is not tube and all the PCB bits have been soldered.

I wonder is there anything like the Audio gd out there? Bang for Buck stuff.

So All the Sifus out there, please help~

Audiolab 8000A

Audiolab 8000A

Audiolab 8000A - Call 017 2071500 Location KL

Audiolab 8000MKII - RM1300, Location Malacca, Call 016 2069373

try these two.

cheers

I vote for the Exposure 2010S2. If your budget can stretch to 6K the 3010S2 is an excellent all rounder and to my ears much improved over the previous 3010S. Wipes the floor of the 2010S2 too. If I'm not mistaken this week's (or was it last week? sigh getting old) Star Audiophile has a review on the 3010S2.

wah boss, finally kenot tahan poison liao, hahaha.

Am no expert in this, least I could do is wish u luck bro...

llsaw wrote:I vote for the Exposure 2010S2. If your budget can stretch to 6K the 3010S2 is an excellent all rounder and to my ears much improved over the previous 3010S. Wipes the floor of the 2010S2 too. If I'm not mistaken this week's (or was it last week? sigh getting old) Star Audiophile has a review on the 3010S2.

Considering the reasonable prices of the Exposures, I feel that they are worthy.
Nowadays, amplifiers at this level dont come cheap and these Exposures are not small in terms of output power.
If I am not mistaken, they are now being made in England again.

Yes, confirmed....production is back to England but still Bolehland owner. Audio Image in PJ is carrying their products. As a loyal Exposure fan, so far I have not step on a landmine.I have owned the 2010,3010 right up to the Classic series and they are reliable and capable products....value for money.

Having owned the UK made Audiolab 8000S for >10 years I can say it is fairly neutral but dynamics can be lacking and it can be "flat" sounding occasionally. Furthermore I have heard from dealers selling this amp that reliability is compromised by it being now made in Asia. My unit however was faultless throughout its entire long stay with me and last I know continues to function like clockwork with its new owner. Would advice that you check with current/previous owners on its reliability record should you decide on this amp.

I gave up Audiolabs long ago, turned to a custom made tube amp and never looked back. Was a great starter kit then. Unfortunately I can't afford big current sucking behemoths that are hot enough to fry eggs and rake up the bill for TNB's prosperity.

Go with the Exposure .... won't dissapoint.

ongaaron wrote:Yes, confirmed....production is back to England but still Bolehland owner. Audio Image in PJ is carrying their products. As a loyal Exposure fan, so far I have not step on a landmine.I have owned the 2010,3010 right up to the Classic series and they are reliable and capable products....value for money.

Great collection of exposures there..
Oldies exposures integrateds have low output power but now, they are 2-3x higher in output.

I have been to Audio Image and the 3010S (not the new S2) was being paired up Odeon bookshelf speakers.
I think the amp is doing quite a good job as it can drive the Odeon with no slouch. Nice sounding and can really listen for long sessions.
But then again, that was me listening and that's my taste lar.. hahahahaha..

Where's Audio Image in PJ?

arremie wrote:Where's Audio Image in PJ?

7 JLN 19/29 SEKSYEN 19 46300 PETALING JAYA Petaling Jaya
Malaysia 46300.

Same row as the drama acedemy. Behind New Paris Restaurant.

i also recommend the new exposure 3010s. for rm 6k you certainly cannot go wrong with this amp.

Many years ago, I paid RM6000 for 3010 1st series and it is only half as good as the present S2. If you want anything better, I am afraid you have to go for pre/power separate. Yes......separate more money from your pocket.

Try audition bewitch 6550, in UK its called Puresound A30
http://www.lampizator.eu/AMPLIFIERS/CHINA/bewitch%206550/Bewitch.html
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/puresound/a30.html
http://www.borderpatrol.net/hifi+_border%20patrol_lowres.pdf


Then tweak it up and change the capacitors to Mundorf or V-cap.

Around 3K ++

ongaaron wrote:Many years ago, I paid RM6000 for 3010 1st series and it is only half as good as the present S2. If you want anything better, I am afraid you have to go for pre/power separate. Yes......separate more money from your pocket.

Good one !!

Adrian, go listen to the Exposure 3010S2 ... it is as good as everyone is making it out to be, perhaps even better. They don't have the phono cards yet, but i think they're planning to order. Driving a 4-ohm/86dB load is a breeze for this amp.

Wah, Thanks for the inputs guys. Look like a lot of British fans here.

Havent got a chance to peek into the inside of 2010s 2. But from spec, it look like not much changes, new chassis, I think can only have limited improvement leh.

3010s 2 is way over my budget.. Will look at what Br@d suggest...

Of course will look into the 2010s 2 as well.

Just go for an audition and judge if it is your cup of tea.

I also did not pay much attention to the S2 in the beginning because I thought it is the old version.
But then, with a closer look, it is the S2 and this new model is already in Msia showroom before the show (CES, if not mistaken).
It shows that both the old and new are very similar on the outside, except for the model name labelling.
The real differences are all inside the the amp.

adrian4454,

Actually BraVo is also having bewitch 6550/KT88. Running on GoldLion KT88. Mine I have changed to a Tungsol Cyro 6550 tubes.

I'm exploring to replace my Yaqin Buffer with a Yaqin MS12B pre-amp and the bewitch 6550 act as a power amp. If all goes well, will sell the tube buffer =)

Hi adrian4454,

First of all i'm not sifu here, just to share my view. Was anything went wrong with your NAD C370 amp? I do own that amp now & happy with it. It's a good amp thou considering 120 wpc. Drives my Ruark spkrs with ease. It also does produce all the sound characters that you r looking for.

First thing you need to do is to change the ori cheap jumper which connect pre & power section at the back of the amp with a decent one like Audioquest. This will change the sound tremendously!

2nd thing try to avoid van dan hul cable which always sound bright n flat. Go for Audioquest or Naim NACA5 instead.

Actually it's alot better than Audiolab 8000A (my 1st amp). Audiolab always sound dry to my ears. Same go to other amps except Exposure (which i can't afford to own). Cheers

Br@d, I havent got time to look into your suggestion, but if you say it is tube... hmm. No offend, I do like it, but the cost to keep in running and the patient to have it warm up, put me off. Certainly for the 4ohm, 86db/w of my speaker... I may need to have quite a few valves to make it work properly. But, THnaks and I will look at it.

Shukor,
I've done all that is possible to improve the sound of the NADc370. I also re-wire the internal with Belden, and do some EMI and RFI shielding also. the only thing not done is change the Cap.. which is a bit too technical for me .
I would say, the NADc370 is a good amp. it has bass control that is not possible by any other similar pricing stuff. But now I am looking for better refinement in music...

shukor wrote:

Audiolab always sound dry to my ears.

The first time I listen to an Audiolab 8000A driving a Harbeth C7ES at the local Harbeth dealer, I wanted to puke! It is as if it is giving you the same thing over and over again.

I saw somebody selling Sugden AU-41 set combo pre & power (100W) for RM3k+, very good musical sounding amp set (very smooth & sweet sound) . I think better than my Bryston Intergrated even some review mentioned better than Krell 300. Why not audition it with your source & speaker?

- br@d - wrote:adrian4454,
I'm exploring to replace my Yaqin Buffer with a Yaqin MS12B pre-amp and the bewitch 6550 act as a power amp. If all goes well, will sell the tube buffer =)

br@d, I'm also very interested in Yaqin MS-12B. My question is will I be able to use it with my AVR. Currently my setup is CDP->Yaqin CD2->AVR. Can I just replace the CD2 with MS-12B?

I also notice MS-12B has volume control. If the above is possible, how do I correctly control the volume since AVR also got its own volume knob. Thanks.

If (and only if) initial down lay is not a problem, the Gryphon integrated amp is pretty good sounding. It's expensive may exceed most new audiophiles their budgets.

may be 8000C/Q + 8000P suit your type of music. used market has a few units.

uncle_vic wrote:If (and only if) initial down lay is not a problem, the Gryphon integrated amp is pretty good sounding. It's expensive may exceed most new audiophiles their budgets.

You mean the older generations?
Wonder how muchie one is going for in the second hand market.
The current model is very very expensive indeed.

arremie,

I'm going to use the MS12B with a tube int amp and the int amp on full volume. Not sure how a AVR is going to re-act on my methods.

Have already tried this way with my amp before with another type of pre-amp and the sound is just sweeter.

My advice would be... Have 2 system. one AVR for HT, another one MS12B pre + power amp (Mayb the Audiolab 8000P) with additional speaker cable. If you want a session with music, just plug in the speaker cable replacing the speaker cable for HT. You'll get full hifi sound instead of half-way there. I was in your shoe before. Primare SPA21 AVR amp with a tube buffer. Still feel the sound was only half way there.

I only felt right with the separation of HT and Hifi Setup with the option of swapping speaker cable. It only takes a few seconds to swap and sit back and enjoy for many hours.

Hey br@d have you got the MS-12B? I've got mine and it's better than tube buffer when paired with tube amp. Significantly better and not just subtle. I've sold off my tube buffer. Currently I'm using only the CD input with 12AU7 and never try the RIAA input with 12AX7. Replaced all stock tube with JJ. Sounded a bit sharp on the high vocal note which I don't quite like. I have TJ Full Music 12AU7 on the way and hopefully it is as good as what they said.

Anyway, MS-12B sounded really bad with my Marantz AVR. It is so dark until I can't listen to a whole song. Pretty weird since tube buffer sounded good with the Marantz.

arremie,

Only coming on the 21th this month Shipping lambat from HK and I've ordered the 240V version from Edwin.

Currently just working on some tweaking while waiting for it to come. Bought a few power cords as well to play around with.

Oh yea, if you want a good and cheap tweaks, try the cardas RCA caps from A&L around RM8 bucks per pc. Cover all the unuse RCA connectors on your Cd player, Pre and Amp.
Really make the mid-range better and sweeter.

Trust me on this one

I already got the gold plated caps but not Cardas. So far I only cover the RIAA input. I didn't actually try to compare with or without the caps. I just put it there for the nice look

arremie wrote:I already got the gold plated caps but not Cardas. So far I only cover the RIAA input. I didn't actually try to compare with or without the caps. I just put it there for the nice look

And also to prevent the inputs from dust. hahahahahaha...

Bimmerman has alot of experience on these cap jobs .... if he cares to share further.