Stereo Amp Suggestion For a Newbie

[bekarburak@g]

Hi all. As a beginner i will be asking your suggestions.

My Technics SL-QX330 TT is connected to my home theatre avr Sony Str-Dn1080 and Jamo C-607 3 way 4 drive tower speakers.

As i searched google it is better to have a stereo amp. İ wonder the sound quality change.

The amps i found in Turkey list below. Normally i want the Toshiba setup as it is pre/power combination and looks cool and vintage. İ read some comments that seperate setups are better than integrated amps as they have less circuits.

But i can’t find information about Toshiba’s and it worries me. İ wonder if the other integrated amps sounds better than a pre/power setup. İ don’t want to pay for just it looks good.

After choosing one, i will search for speakers compatible with it.

Technics SU-7300K
Marrantz 1030
Yamaha CA-V2
Rotel RA-413
Toshiba SY-330 SC-330 pre/power set

İ am looking for warm sound from oldies within my budget.

Ps: i love u meter lighted type amps as they look vintage.

Finally, does it worth to buy one of the stereo amps above instead of my sony avr? Can i understand the difference as i am a newbie.

I appreciate if you can help me.

Thanks in advance.

 

[rickb119]

You might want to ask a mod to move this thread to either the general audio, or solid state forum, instead of the TT forum. MIght get more response.
Click on the report button at the bottom of your post.

 

[rickb119]

Tip: If you do a google search for any of the amps listed (or anything else, for that matter) and include 'audiokarma', such as, "toshiba sc 330 audiokarma", it will bring up past AK threads, such as this one. https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...reccomended-power-amps-under-200-used.587686/

 

[bekarburak@g]

Tip: If you do a google search for any of the amps listed (or anything else, for that matter) and include 'audiokarma', such as, "toshiba sc 330 audiokarma", it will bring up past AK threads, such as this one. https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...reccomended-power-amps-under-200-used.587686/

Sir, believe me i read hundreds of threads. But for Toshiba there are few threads. I think i should figure out that if anything has few comments, it is not good at all

On the other hand,

1) My english is not that good. As i am a Pilot, only my aviation English is good.

2) My technical knowledge about music equipments is unsufficent.

Basically i am only looking for an amp and speakers has oldies sound tone (melody) and better than my sony home theater AVR that i can say “Oh yes it is cool and so different.”

By the way thank you so much for replying @rickb119

 

[2FarGone]

Greetings and welcome.

You may want to add Kenwood to your list of potential vintage equipment. They made some very nice looking (and sounding) equipment, and it gives you a larger pool to choose from.

I’d be cautious about assuming that separates will always sound better than an integrated amplifier, however. There seems to be very few hard and fast rules in this hobby. Most of it seems to come down to personal preference.

Finally, some caution is warranted when considering the purchase of vintage stuff. Much of it may potentially need capacitor replacement or other service, or worse, may have been worked on by less than fully competent people, so you probably need to either be knowledgeable enough to work on it yourself or know someone who is.

Again, welcome.

 

[malden]

The Marantz 1030 would be my first choice.

It's a capacitor coupled design that in my experience provides a "warmer" sound than later direct coupled designs which I believe all the others are

 

[Catmanboo]

Merhaba arkadaş, nasıl sınız? Welcome to AK! Where in Türkiye are you located? I spent a year & a half, plus 1 day in northwest part of country on Sea of Marmara, Karamürsel common defense installation, 1976-1978. Would like to see it now, but the big earthquake in early 80s likely ruined almost everything around. Golçuk, just a couple km. east , took the biggest hit. It made National Geographic magazine even.
If you can get your hands on that Marantz 1030, and it's functional, that would be my first pick. I have a 1060, it's 100% original & am listening to it now. Just another opinion. Can't beat the looks of it either.

 

[ernieb1536]

Hi all. As a beginner i will be asking your suggestions.

My Technics SL-QX330 TT is connected to my home theatre avr Sony Str-Dn1080 and Jamo C-607 3 way 4 drive tower speakers.

As i searched google it is better to have a stereo amp. İ wonder the sound quality change.

The amps i found in Turkey list below. Normally i want the Toshiba setup as it is pre/power combination and looks cool and vintage. İ read some comments that seperate setups are better than integrated amps as they have less circuits.

But i can’t find information about Toshiba’s and it worries me. İ wonder if the other integrated amps sounds better than a pre/power setup. İ don’t want to pay for just it looks good.

After choosing one, i will search for speakers compatible with it.

Technics SU-7300K
Marrantz 1030
Yamaha CA-V2
Rotel RA-413
Toshiba SY-330 SC-330 pre/power set

İ am looking for warm sound from oldies within my budget.

Ps: i love u meter lighted type amps as they look vintage.

Finally, does it worth to buy one of the stereo amps above instead of my sony avr? Can i understand the difference as i am a newbie.

I appreciate if you can help me.

Thanks in advance.

Looks like all nice equipment , don’t think you could go wrong with any of those choices !

 

[bekarburak@g]

You may want to add Kenwood to your list of potential vintage equipment. They made some very nice looking (and sounding) equipment, and it gives you a larger pool to choose from.

I’d be cautious about assuming that separates will always sound better than an integrated amplifier, however. There seems to be very few hard and fast rules in this hobby. Most of it seems to come down to personal preference.

Thank you sir. Can you suggest models of Kenwood vintage espcially with uv meters?

The Marantz 1030 would be my first choice.

It's a capacitor coupled design that in my experience provides a "warmer" sound than later direct coupled designs which I believe all the others are

Okay. It is close to me. I will go and listen.

Merhaba arkadaş, nasıl sınız? Welcome to AK! Where in Türkiye are you located? I spent a year & a half, plus 1 day in northwest part of country on Sea of Marmara, Karamürsel common defense installation, 1976-1978. Would like to see it now, but the big earthquake in early 80s likely ruined almost everything around. Golçuk, just a couple km. east , took the biggest hit. It made National Geographic magazine even.
If you can get your hands on that Marantz 1030, and it's functional, that would be my first pick. I have a 1060, it's 100% original & am listening to it now. Just another opinion. Can't beat the looks of it either.

Ah yes. In 1999 also we had a big earthquake there sir. Nice to meet you by the way. Where do you live? I will check for 1060 also.

Looks like all nice equipment , don’t think you could go wrong with any of those choices !

Really? I was wondering as they are not high end amps, if there is any sound quality and tone change between my home theater avr.

 

[bekarburak@g]

I have an update. As during my studies i learn the frequency response. Human freq is 20hz-20khz. According to graph atteched, wider is better to hear more freqs.

Marrantz 1030 is 20hz-20khz and 15 watts so low
Technics 7300 is 20hz-20khz
Yamaha CA-V2 is 20hz-20khz
Toshiba SY-330 is 20hz-40khz and SC-330 is 5hz-80khz . SC power amp very good range but its pre amp is 20hz-40hz. SO i can't have the wider range? Am i rgiht? If i only want to get Sc-300, i am not sure that if i can find a compatible pre-amp for it.

So these 4 are eliminated.

My new favourites are;

Technics SU-7700 is 5hz-80khz THD: %0.06 (300$)
Technics SU-V2A is 5hz-100khz THD: %0.02 (200$) (it is very cheap, i don't know why)
Marrantz 1090 is 10hz-60khz THD: %0.1 (330$) (THD is high)
Kenwood KA-6100 is 10hz-50khz THD: %0.03 (500$)
Kenwood KA-7100 is 0hz-100 khz THD: %0.02 (500$) (very nice range but there is no UV meters as i like the vintage display)
Rotel RA-413 is 10hz-50khz THD: %0.2 (150$) (THD is high) (a friend of my sell it but i'm not sure if ROTEL is a good brand. I can't find much information)

IS THD total harmonic distortion so important?

So a long story, thanks for reading, these are the ones i can find in Turkey. Looking forward to hearing your suggestions. (Kenwoods are expensive for me but if you say to definetely buy them, i will try to increase my budget)

PS: I will first try my Jamo C607 3 way 4 drive tower speakers, then decide to buy or not buy speakers.

 

[Sgt Shultz]

I have an update. As during my studies i learn the frequency response. Human freq is 20hz-20khz. According to graph atteched, wider is better to hear more freqs.

Marrantz 1030 is 20hz-20khz and 15 watts so low
Technics 7300 is 20hz-20khz
Yamaha CA-V2 is 20hz-20khz
Toshiba SY-330 is 20hz-40khz and SC-330 is 5hz-80khz . SC power amp very good range but its pre amp is 20hz-40hz. SO i can't have the wider range? Am i rgiht? If i only want to get Sc-300, i am not sure that if i can find a compatible pre-amp for it.

So these 4 are eliminated.

My new favourites are;

Technics SU-7700 is 5hz-80khz THD: %0.06 (300$)
Technics SU-V2A is 5hz-100khz THD: %0.02 (200$) (it is very cheap, i don't know why)
Marrantz 1090 is 10hz-60khz THD: %0.1 (330$) (THD is high)
Kenwood KA-6100 is 10hz-50khz THD: %0.03 (500$)
Kenwood KA-7100 is 0hz-100 khz THD: %0.02 (500$) (very nice range but there is no UV meters as i like the vintage display)
Rotel RA-413 is 10hz-50khz THD: %0.2 (150$) (THD is high) (a friend of my sell it but i'm not sure if ROTEL is a good brand. I can't find much information)

IS THD total harmonic distortion so important?

So a long story, thanks for reading, these are the ones i can find in Turkey. Looking forward to hearing your suggestions. (Kenwoods are expensive for me but if you say to definetely buy them, i will try to increase my budget)

PS: I will first try my Jamo C607 3 way 4 drive tower speakers, then decide to buy or not buy speakers.

First let me address those specs, as you get more experience you'll realize specifications beyond a certain point are meaningless. When evaluating a possible new acquisition sure I check the specs but they're only a small portion of my buying decision, .02% THD vs .002% isn't going to be heard. My suggestion, don't get caught up on the numbers and let your ears tell you what you like.

The Jamos are nice, I have a pair of the C-103's and the matching C-10 center channel speaker.

The Kenwood KA-7100 is a very schveet amp, purchased one new in 1978, I wouldn't describe it as warm, not analytical either but accurate. If looking for warm from Kenwood the earlier designs like the KA-4006 would fit the bill.

My suggestion before throwing out the baby with the bath water would be a phono preamp. A nice phono stage will allow tuning if you will your cartridge to your liking.

Here's an example, the Six Acoustic York supports both LOMC and MM with multiple loading options.



You didn't mention what cartridge you have on your turntable, a different cartridge could be another option.

 

[Dswankey]

IS THD total harmonic distortion so important?

...these are the ones i can find in Turkey. Looking forward to hearing your suggestions. (Kenwoods are expensive for me but if you say to definetely buy them, i will try to increase my budget)

Seeing as you're new to all this try not to focus on that, most folks can't hear or tell the difference so it's usually not a requirement/detriment when looking for a new amp.

If it were me I would go with the Rotel for the following reason's it's affordable, compared to the others you mentioned, and more importantly you would purchasing from a friend who I assume will be honest with you that it is in proper working condition.

Rotel from that era IS a good brand and made quality gear so no need to over think that.

It'll will be able to handle a myriad of different speakers*, so that if you decide to move on from the Jamo's you'll be all set

*

 

[bekarburak@g]

@Sgt Shultz thanks. My cartridge technics p33 stock. By meaning phono pre amp what do you suggest sorry i dont understand. İ already have sony avr, a small phono amp connected to my TT. And sorry i did not understand the schema. İs it some electronical modification to do my TT

@Dswankey thanks. Unfortunately he sold it. İ called him after your post. But no way

On the other hand my jamos seems to have 32hz-20khz its range is not good. does it mean if i buy an amp freq 10hz-50khz, it is useless between 10hz-32hz? İs it meanless? İ am checking beginnler price speakers now, they mostly start with 32hz (

 

[Sgt Shultz]

@Sgt Shultz thanks. My cartridge technics p33 stock. By meaning phono pre amp what do you suggest sorry i dont understand. İ already have sony avr, a small phono amp connected to my TT. And sorry i did not understand the schema. İs it some electronical modification to do my TT

@Dswankey thanks. Unfortunately he sold it. İ called him after your post. But no way

On the other hand my jamos seems to have 32hz-20khz its range is not good. does it mean if i buy an amp freq 10hz-50khz, it is useless between 10hz-32hz? İs it meanless? İ am checking beginnler price speakers now, they mostly start with 32hz (

You're getting yourself too caught up in the numbers, your speakers are fine.

 

[2FarGone]

You're getting yourself too caught up in the numbers, your speakers are fine.

I was thinking the same thing, but didn’t want to start one of those silly specs vs listening shouting matches. You put it more diplomatically than I could have. Goodonya.

 

[Dswankey]

You're getting yourself too caught up in the numbers, your speakers are fine.

Agreed!!! focus on finding an amp first

 

[justjed2]

In specifications, when they list 20-20KHz, that is the band we can hear, and the rest of the specs are based on that. It doesn't mean the preamp won't go below 20Hz, or over 20KHz, it's just that the numbers in these regions are pretty much inaudible, and thus, useless. Numbers are only good for comparisons, they tell you nothing about how a piece is going to sound, in your room, with the rest of your gear, and to your ears. That last one is the most important. Specs are meaningless, if YOU don't like the sound!

 

[JoeESP9]

I rarely pay any attention to specs except for power output in amplifiers nowadays. Every single piece of gear I've had the slightest interest in for the last 40+ years has good specs at a minimum.

 

[dcgibby]

You got a lot of good advice here, but just remember vintage is another word for old, tired, worn out. Lots of vintage amps out there on their last legs. So make sure to test whatever amp you choose and make sure it will last you a few more years. Restoration on all these is possible but it will up the price considerable.

 

[painttoad]

just to give you another option....



i picked up that amp a few weeks ago and it's a reall sweet heart! 65wpc@8 ohm rated. i haven't "dyno'd' it yet but i'm guessing close to 100wpc@4ohm.

it sounds great.