"Trevor Wilson" wrote


OK. My suspicion was that, for cost effectiveness, the pre section
componentry and circuit might be common to most (if not all) of the
range....?

**Big mistake. Just listen to one of their HT recievers and compare it to
one of Denon's standalone tuners and you'll see what I mean. The
standalone tuners are very, very good indeed.


WTF has that got to do with it?


Gone are the days when manufactuers used
common items in their products.


I doubt it....


In fact, check the back panel of your 655
and see where it is manufactured. I KNOW that the 1500 originates from
Japan.


So what? You think the Chinese can't *manufacture* or summat??


I also know that the previous model used the Alps 'Blue Velvet'
volume pot. And anyone who klnows these things, knows that they are a very
transparent, long lasting, well matched pot. Standard carbon pots are
something else entirely.


Keep it real - I'm talking about a 200 quid amp here, not a 2,000 quid
amp...



**I believe that you will go out of your way to ensure that you never hear
something truly special, if it contains transistors.


I would (within reason) but you still haven't suggested one...??


OK, perhaps you could point me in the right direction, I have had various
models of the following makes of SS amps (in no special order):

Denon

**From terrible to quite good.


OK, I'll play! :-)

Let me guess - the one I've got comes under the 'terrible' category....???
:-)



Pioneer

**From terrible to passable.


My current one is a SA-510 - does just fine on the computer...



Cambridge Audio

**Passable.


Mine was a P50 back in the 70s (and an A1 Mk III a few years ago) - I liked
them.



Sony

**From terrible to quite good.


We have a Sony AV amp (cheap one) - can't fault it...


Yamaha

**From terrible to passable.


Not my favourites but the AV we had amp was OK....


Cyrus

**Urk.


Yes, I've never been impressed by them...


Marantz

**From passable to quite good.


Couldn't see what all the fuss was about - 6010 series or summat?



NAD

**Passable to quite good.


My youngest son has one and loves it - the matching CD player has got a
tricky tray (now ya sees me, now ya don't) but he lnows how to work it!!



Quad

**Passable.


Yes, other than the recent pre/power a guy brought here. That really was
quite nice and beautifully built.



Rotel

**Passable to quite good.


Yes, apart from the power amp I had (smallest in the power amp range - about
4 inches high) - the front panel used to pant along with the music!!



Technics

**Urk (though some of their older models were nice..


Love the amps, always disappointed by the boring sound after a while...



JVC

**Puke.


An old one (huge volume knob) - my nephew has had it for years now and still
loves it.



Nikko

**Are they still around?


Wrong section - s/b in the 'heard' section. It belonged to a girlfriend
years back and reminds me I've probably heard tins of Trios and other
similar amps from back then.



Musical Fidelity

**From shocking to passable.


Swim was in a Clarinet Quintet with Tony Michaelson, but I don't think even
that would persuade me to part with the sort of money his stuff costs. What
kills me with that bloke is he gazumps all his own 'world-beating, limited
edition' (overpriced) offerings with ones he claims to be 'much better'
usually about a year or so afterwards!!



Acoustic Solutions

**Never heard them.


Chainstore toys - I've recently bought one. Weedy (hence the Denon) but
*magic* VFM (59 quid with digital remote everything). Plenty good enough for
a small room, radio/CD use or someone on a budget who doesn't want a smeggy
old banger from eBay. (Actually, having said that, its own little Phono
Stage was/is surprisingly good - easily as good as a ProJect Phono Box or
NAD PP1, which would make the rest of the amp about 9 quid....)


Parasound

**From ordinary to passable.


Very ordinary but powerful.



Luxman

**Their new stuff? Dunno.


No, old one with a fabulous front panel but very bland sound......





And also heard these:

Arcam

**From respectable to brilliant (their 'Ring DAC' equipped CD players are
breathtakingly good)


Wouldn't know but what I heard didn't strike me as very good VFM...



Roksan

**Not bad.


Perfectly OK but not cheap....



Meridian

**Good to very good.

Krell

**Weird sounding to quite good.


Can't remember the sound now, I just remember being a tad underwhelmed!!
(Couldn't have been that good or I would have bought it at the time....)


(The truth is, you get a better bang for your buck with a Chinese valve
amp off eBay these days! ;-)

**Only in your delusion. I've seen/heard a few and they're simply
terrible.


Doesn't equate with my own experience - but then I'm only interested in the
*music* they make, not the components they've used. At the price, they are a
near-disposable item...