Amp for Rega P3

Hi. My boyfriend recently bought a Rega P3/24 turntable. I'm looking to buy him a nice amp to go with it for his birthday. I have about $400-500 to spend, either on something new or older thru Ebay. Any suggestions? Many thanks. Simona.Hi.

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Originally Posted by alec7171

Hi. My boyfriend recently bought a Rega P3/24 turntable. I'm looking to buy him a nice amp to go with it for his birthday. I have about $400-500 to spend, either on something new or older thru Ebay. Any suggestions? Many thanks. Simona.Hi.

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First, welcome to this forum.

We will need to know if you're looking for a phono pre-amp or an integrated amp?

Thank you so much for the reply. I think he's just looking for an integrated amp. At present he has a turntable, amp and speakers. He's upgraded the turntable, I'd like to get the amp. My research lead me to a Linn LK 85, but I don't know if this is right. Thank you so much for your time. Simona

Although Linn is an excellent choice for sound quality the LK85 is a power amp. This means either your boyfriend would also need a preamp if he didn't already have one. to my knowledge Linn does not make an integrated. What type of amp does your boyffiend have?

An integrated has both preamp and power amp in one box. The preamp has the volume, tone controls, selector for inputs and what ever else.

Turntables have a lower output signal than other sources like CD player so they need some additional amplification called a phono stage/preamp. These can be either built into the integrated or preamp, or external.

If wanting an integrated with good sound I'd suggest Arcam or Creek.

That boyfriend is a lucky guy :)

thank you so much. Minutes after posting I realised my mistake - the Linn LK85 I found wasn't too expensive, but all the Linn preamps I tracked down cost a bit too much [I love my boyfriend, but...!]. Thank you for your suggestions. I really like the old skool A & R Cambridge A60 [which is now Arcam, right?] - I think it looks great, but might not do justice to his turntable. Perhaps a Audiolab pre and power amp would be better. Again, thanks for posting! Simona.

$400-$500 is a little tight for new equipment, so your idea of used equipment might be better, but still...you could look at the Cambridge Audio 640a V2 for $369, the NAD C326BEE for $499 and the Music Hall A25.2 for $599, all at the Spearit Sound website. Maybe you could even throw in the Cambridge Audio 640P phono preamp for $179.

There's also the Marantz PM-5003 for $449 at the Audio Advisor website. It actually has a phono input, which could get him by until your next gift...an outboard phono preamp. :)

You are correct about AR Cambridge. The gear was very good for the money that's how they were able to burst into the market as Arcam to the status they have now. Unfortunately, Arcam seems to be abandoning that line of thinking to compete with the higher end, more expensive manufacturers. The older gear wasn't overly powerful but the detail and clarity was good.

I'm not familiar with Audio Labs.

...in Feb of this year I purchased a gently used (looked new to me) Rega Brio 3 integrated amp and paid $419.00 pre-tax.

The local audio dealer I normally do business with is selling a demo Arcam AVR 250 and an Arcam DVD Player (also a demo unit but I have forgotten the model#) as a package deal for $800.00.

LeRoy

Rega Brio 3.

Hope this helps.

LeRoy

(and no this is not my unit...my unit sits happily playing in the living room) :)