best integrated 120 watts plus

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oceanobsession

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im after an integrated amp to drive proac studio 140 or d28 or maybe pmc 0b1 or shahianin arcs spendor s9 or atc floor standers ive heard the shahianin arcs and loved em any help please to make my choice i only buy seconhand usualy cheers phil
 
Cambridge 840A.
Rated at 120w (8 ohms) but can whack out 150 on test.

Superb sound and feature list as long a your arm for £750.
Oh, and if for some reason you don't like it you can return it within 30 days for a refund.

If anyone form Cambridge Audio s looking in, I still haven't received my fee ;)
 
I'd second Robs suggestion, its a very good integrated. If you spend more than that you are paying only for a brand label and excessive build IMO. Not that the Cambridge is badly built.
 
Having said that, I am about to put two of my Alesis RA500 power amps up for sale at around £85 each and they are really quite superb. Stupidly good for the money, even new.

I know at the price you wouldn't expect a lot but they are absolutely fine amps. I'd describe them like a Bryston 3B-SST but without such a solid case. 150watts per channel or 500watts mono-blocked.

Add a nice pre-amp and you are away.

systemkx4.jpg
 
An ASR Emitter I exclusive or an Emitter II exclusive. these are probably the best integrated amps. I used an Emitter II with a pair of Spendor S9e loudspeakers. With the Spendors I would say they need a bit of room to breath.

Do you need so much power? as a decent valve integrated would do the job with them. Hifi Critic has just done a review on a valve integrated that scored better then the Krell FBI!

proteus800.jpg
 
I now own a BAT vk300x and it is not far from my previous and twice as much expensive previous preamp/amp combo.
As usual, it is overpriced in Europe.

BTW, it drives my OB1 with a lot of ease as it did with one my friends Spendor SP9/1.
 
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The ATC SIA2-150 is very good.

Also the Bel Canto S300i.

If those are too expensive, take a listen to the Onkyo A-9755.
 
Of all 120+ integrated amps I have had the best by far was (still is) ASR Emitter. It is two boxes though, with a separate power supply, but it's well worth it, especially if your mains are not very good. You may check the classifieds here, btw. :)

I have had Arcs, and ASR might be an excellent match, as it is very fast, with some awesome bass and devoid of any edginess/harshness.
 
second vote for the bel canto S300i.... superb integrated for the money and will scare a great many pre/power combo's in a price bracket quite a bit higher.
 
Personal recommendation would be either a Krell KAV-300i or the GamuT D150 as mentioned by Fen Dancer.

You can get the Krell (which is what I've used for the past couple of years) for under £1000 used (originally RRP c.£2700).

Bags of power, offers a level of detail not far off my Lavardin, but with much more control especially in the lower frequencies. 150wpc into 8ohms, 300wpc into 4ohms.

Be absolutely sure not to confuse the KAV-300i with the KAV-300l as the latter is quite different and not an amp I would recommend.
 
hifi addict: is that the same proteus amp they said was flawed and needed fixing?

and was it the same reviewer who reviewed both amps, i didn't think it was chris bryant who reviwed the krell, i'll stand corrected though.
 
The Amps all fixed now. The score was referring to the magazines published scores. Even broken it still tripled the score of the other amps reviewed in the same article.
 

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