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  1. #1
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    Question Considering an upgrade

    I am looking to upgrade my amp, and considering either a Musical Fidelity A series, Audiolab 8000 or Arcam alpha 8 or 9, although having read reviews on this site i am less keen on the ARCAM's. Anyway these would replace a CREEK audio 4040 series 3 integrated amp, running Mission 733i speakers, inputs are Denon DCD -820 CD player, run through a Cambridge Audio DACMAGIC 1, Denon tape deck, Rega Planar 3 turntable, and Harmon Kardon TU-9200 receiver. Basically thoughts and suggestions on other amps to consider would be useful. As i say having read reviews i am not sure the ARCAMS are an upgrade on the Creek.

  2. #2
    Suspended topspeed's Avatar
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    In your price range, which looks to be between $1-2K (or am I wrong?) my favorite amp is the PS Audio HCA2. This is a digital switching amp that is neither ss nor tube, but nicely melds the best of of both worlds IMO: the deep, controlled bass of the best ss designs coupled with the smooth, grainfree mids and airy highs you hear from the best tubes. Here's a list of reviews to learn more. Just pan down the right side to the pink reviews section. There's 5 or 6 reviews from Stereophile, Soundstage! and others. FWIW, at the time Stereophile made it the least expensive "Class A" amplifier they ranked, if that's important to you. I have Mission 780a's in another rig and thought the PSA and Missions were a good synergistic match although I primarily drive B&W's with it now. Give it an audition and see how it works within your system. I bought mine from here and I'd definitely try to negotiate the price because PSA is replacing the HCA line with the new GCA line.

    Other amps to consider in your price range would be Rotel (tremendous bang-for-buck), Bel Canto, Parasound Halo (not HCA), and Quad. My Mission's are 4ohm nominal and can drop into the mid 2's so I never really considered tubes but if yours are an easier drive, you might consider Jolida or used ARC, Cary, or BAT amps.

    Have fun and good luck

  3. #3
    RGA
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    I agree with Topspeed about trying other amps besides Arcam - they're tight and punchy less smooth than Creek. Tough call because I'm not a big fan of Creek but Arcam has been slipping over the years.

    I'm not the biggest supporter of Stereophile simply because so many of the products they put in their class leading categories to me are not worthy of those spots and often IMO not even listeneable to me. I heard the Parasound Halo and it's no Sugden A21a - not even close. It looked better and has more features though and in fact it might work better with Missions if they do go to 2ohms.

    Perhaps the change you seek is the speakers. The rest of your system looks to be quite solid - make sure your grumbles are not due to the Speakers.

  4. #4
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    Speakers first

    Quote Originally Posted by gsp0702
    I am looking to upgrade my amp, and considering either a Musical Fidelity A series, Audiolab 8000 or Arcam alpha 8 or 9, although having read reviews on this site i am less keen on the ARCAM's. Anyway these would replace a CREEK audio 4040 series 3 integrated amp, running Mission 733i speakers, inputs are Denon DCD -820 CD player, run through a Cambridge Audio DACMAGIC 1, Denon tape deck, Rega Planar 3 turntable, and Harmon Kardon TU-9200 receiver. Basically thoughts and suggestions on other amps to consider would be useful. As i say having read reviews i am not sure the ARCAMS are an upgrade on the Creek.
    Your Missions are fine speakers, no question. But you're not going to get as big of an improvement in sound by upgrading your amp as you likely will with a speaker upgrade. But if you're happy with your speakers and aren't considering an upgrade there, I'd recommend checking out the Sugden A21A that RGA mentions.

    Actually, I'm running your system through my mind and I'd bet it sounds pretty damn good now! What's not to like? If it were mine, I might consider a speaker upgrade but I wouldn't touch anything else until I had a good read on how the speakers sounded in my room.

  5. #5
    Listener MikeyBC's Avatar
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    I think maybe that you might want to upgrade the soure, there are some $1500 CD players out there now that may outperform your current source. Your DACMAGIC 1 is a good D/A converter but I think your Denon may be the weak link in the chain.

    If you have your heart set on a new amp though i'd suggest the Creek 5350 SE. Its supposed to be a big upgrade from the other Creek integrateds. I own a Musical Fidelity A3.2 integrated and am very happy with it, the midrange and soundstaging are excellent for its price. Both are around the 1500$ range.

    What was your budget anyway ??
    Last edited by MikeyBC; 10-13-2004 at 02:32 PM. Reason: signature update
    Musical Fidelity A3.2 Integrated amp
    Musical Fidelity A3.2 CD
    Teac DS-H01 Dock
    Energy 22 Reference Connoisseur Speakers
    Cardas Cross and Cardas Hexlink Golden 5C
    Tara Labs RSC Reference Gen2



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