davidcotton
prog rocker, proud of it!
After listening to a few amps in the £5-800 range (Arcam thru Cyrus thru exposure thru rotel etc) I'm not at all sure that its worth the money at the mo.
I honestly couldnt hear that much difference between the various amps, and certainly none that made me go "Wow gotta buy that"!
Now I'm putting this down to various factors including :-
Speakers. Mission 780's tbh. Ever since I got the bass driver replaced I've been surprised by how good these are sounding at the mo. Yes I realise that speakers costing £££££ will eat them for breakfast but as thats not realistic anytime soon (MAYBE in the next life and thats only a maybe
)They are staying put. Heard some avis (nu nuetrons and biggatrons) when auditioning and preferred the missions, saved £200 as well 
Room. Surely the limiting factor in any system no matter how well matched and how well set up. The room I am currently inhabiting is 3 meters square. Yep not enough to even contemplate putting some well respected floor standers such as the kef q35 or mission 733es (believe me I've tried, the result was quite a lot of bass and not much else
).
Music. Most of the bands that I listen to have a fairly limited budget when it comes to recording. Some have own studios to do it in but most don't. The results therefore are quite basic whilst still being listenable to. OK there are some duff results (the new Bob Catley cd for example. While the songs are quite good the production leaves a LOT to be desired in my humble opinion), but on the whole not bad. Although I'd rather listen to these than some corporate Sh**e that has the best production values ever, that way your listening to the system instead of the music and that is just wrong.
Conclusion:-
Looks like my humble (£1100+ Humble he says ) marantz/mission combo is here to stay for a good while yet, even after 4 or so years of heavy use. Unless anyone has any "useful" suggestions for tweaking the system. Already using powerkords, stands etc etc. Just means that I'll have more money to bung at cds instead
Cheers...
I honestly couldnt hear that much difference between the various amps, and certainly none that made me go "Wow gotta buy that"!
Now I'm putting this down to various factors including :-
Speakers. Mission 780's tbh. Ever since I got the bass driver replaced I've been surprised by how good these are sounding at the mo. Yes I realise that speakers costing £££££ will eat them for breakfast but as thats not realistic anytime soon (MAYBE in the next life and thats only a maybe
)They are staying put. Heard some avis (nu nuetrons and biggatrons) when auditioning and preferred the missions, saved £200 as well Room. Surely the limiting factor in any system no matter how well matched and how well set up. The room I am currently inhabiting is 3 meters square. Yep not enough to even contemplate putting some well respected floor standers such as the kef q35 or mission 733es (believe me I've tried, the result was quite a lot of bass and not much else
).Music. Most of the bands that I listen to have a fairly limited budget when it comes to recording. Some have own studios to do it in but most don't. The results therefore are quite basic whilst still being listenable to. OK there are some duff results (the new Bob Catley cd for example. While the songs are quite good the production leaves a LOT to be desired in my humble opinion), but on the whole not bad. Although I'd rather listen to these than some corporate Sh**e that has the best production values ever, that way your listening to the system instead of the music and that is just wrong.
Conclusion:-
Looks like my humble (£1100+ Humble he says
) marantz/mission combo is here to stay for a good while yet, even after 4 or so years of heavy use. Unless anyone has any "useful" suggestions for tweaking the system. Already using powerkords, stands etc etc. Just means that I'll have more money to bung at cds instead Cheers...
