perfect partnering

[Andyf33]

Hi folks

I recently bought a second hand arcam alpha 5 plus cd player and paired it with an old denon pma255 amp i had in my garage and a pair of £150 mission speakers.

This is very much a system thrown together from what i had lying around at home and i use as my second system in my spare room. Now looking to improve partnering. Was looking to upgrade the amp first then speakers. Any suggestions on the amp? - looking to spend upto £300/$450 second hand or new.

Thanks

[Mr Peabody]

My first choice would be to mate the Alpha 5 with an Arcam integrated. The older Alpha integrated amps are pretty cheap used. My only beef with the older Arcam amps they were rated into 4 ohms so they didn't seem as powerful as some amps I was used to. They do however have some amazing ability to drive difficult speaker loads and one of the fastest amps I've heard. On some speakers the Alpha combo could seem a bit bright as well. The newer versions are more tame. If that didn't work then I'd seek something like a Creek or Cambridge Audio. I feel all of these would have good synergy with your Alpha 5.

If you wanted a more laid back sound you could try a Rotel.

For power on the cheap, do you have access to Adcom used gear? Adcom is typically cheap used, has strong power with big bass. They may not be as revealing as the better integrated amps but the power may be worth the trade off when driving the large Missions.