Stereo Amp recommendation under 1.25 L Budget

[LBRS]

Hi Friend. Since you are looking for a good stereo amp, I would recommend you not to buy a integrated stereo amp. You have good speakers and also planning to upgrade to some good speakers. Instead of a integrated one buy a solid power amp and a streamer and a good dac seperate. This will be good for long term and will sound more musical and can be tweeked as per your requirements. Also brands like Denon have good after sales services in India.
My suggestions around your budget will be
1. Parasound NewClassic 2125 v.2
2. Rotel RB 1552 MkII

Thank you Rohan for the tip. If I get a Power amp, do I also need a pre amp?

 

[Amitkg]

Try O&B amps, manufacturered in Mumbai, they are so good and you will appreciate it when you see it in person and listen. Owner name is Aniket very nice person to deal. Official website is https://oandbco.com/

Do you own O&B amp? if yes, please share your experience. I'm requesting because I've heard not-so-good stories about it from two well-respected FMs who happen to be O&M owners from Kolkata.

Slightly off-topic! Mod can delete it if he wishes to.

 

[Amitkg]

Try O&B amps, manufacturered in Mumbai, they are so good and you will appreciate it when you see it in person and listen. Owner name is Aniket very nice person to deal. Official website is https://oandbco.com/

Do you own O&B amp? if yes, please share your experience. I'm requesting because I've heard not-so-good stories about it from two well-respected FMs who happen to be O&M owners from Kolkata.

Slightly off-topic! Mod can delete it if he wishes to.

 

[RohanBhatia]

Thank you Rohan for the tip. If I get a Power amp, do I also need a pre amp?

Yes You will require a preamp. Something like a streamer+preamp (AIO) can be bought Like Eversolo DMP A6 or A8 or other option is to buy a streamer as a sperate(WiiM Pro Plus) and a sperate DAC+Preamp combo (like FiiO K9 AKM, there are a lot of options, I personally use K9 AKM) (the latter option is more favoured by me). Just make sure the Preamp has a good potentiometer to control volume. Now a days its digitally contolled that's good too for the ease to control form the Coutch.
All of this may cost more at starting but overall will give a better output and since everything is separate the sound can be tweaked as you want and if anything fails it can be replaced.

 

[Kiran_B]

Do you own O&B amp? if yes, please share your experience. I'm requesting because I've heard not-so-good stories about it from two well-respected FMs who happen to be O&M owners from Kolkata.

Slightly off-topic! Mod can delete it if he wishes to.

Yes, have been using O&B 4 channel amp to power atoms speakers in my HT. My bed level speakers powered by Emotiva XPA5 GEN3 (5 channel) and Marantz 7025 (2 channel) a total of 7 channels. For the comparison purpose I listened music (apple music, spotify, YT music via bluetooth from pixel 8 pro) intensively with XPA5 and O&B and they both sounded equally good. My processor is Anthem AVM70, subs are dual Rythmik FV15HPs and speakers are Paradigm founder 100f. Just FYI, amp must not colourize the sound signature coming from source (processor or AV receiver or streamer) and O&B passed the test with flying colours.

 

[caspian1985]

I have a pair of Vienna Acoustics Haydn bookshelf speakers. I have been using this for almost 8 years with a Peachtree Nova amp. The amp has stopped working and I have been unsuccessful in servicing the amp in India. Looking to upgrade to a better/newer amp. Will be primarily using only for music, stereo listening.

In the future I may upgrade to floor standing speakers when I move to a bigger house with a larger living room space. So considering something within the 100W to 150 W range.

I am traveling to Singapore in a few weeks for a short trip, not sure if it is better to buy there and bring it to India or buy here locally.

Looking for suggestions from experts on a good amp that will be compatible with my VA speakers.

Thank you in advance

Checkout the Integra DTM 7.4 - it’s 110W per channel at 8 ohms Class G, phono MM/MC, power out, sub out, HDMI, streaming etc. I heard it and found it punchy and lively

 

[bhooshaniyer]

I have a pair of Vienna Acoustics Haydn bookshelf speakers. I have been using this for almost 8 years with a Peachtree Nova amp. The amp has stopped working and I have been unsuccessful in servicing the amp in India. Looking to upgrade to a better/newer amp. Will be primarily using only for music, stereo listening.

In the future I may upgrade to floor standing speakers when I move to a bigger house with a larger living room space. So considering something within the 100W to 150 W range.

I am traveling to Singapore in a few weeks for a short trip, not sure if it is better to buy there and bring it to India or buy here locally.

Looking for suggestions from experts on a good amp that will be compatible with my VA speakers.

Thank you in advance

Quad QSP Elite Stereo Amp.

 

[LBRS]

Some updates. I checked out a few stores and listened to few amps in the last two weeks. I had to travel to Mumbai and Singapore for work and used the opportunity to visit few local stores in Singapore and Mumbai. The Adelphi mall in Singapore is great, it is a treasure trove for audio enthusiasts, there are so many stores for hi-fii audio ranging from amps, speakers, turntables, streamers and etc., there were three or four stores just with Vinyl and CD collections. I did not have much time to check all of them. just visited one afternoon and demo'ed the following amps.

Hagel 120 nice amp, very clear dynamics, compact, lacks the bass I was looking for
Arcam - don't remember the model number but very similar to Hagel, but sounded a bit flat
NAM - 50 this is a special edition of NAM 1 for their 40th anniversary, only 25W / channel, very compact will fit into your back pack, no DAC only analog inputs and a Phono input. I was almost tempted to buy this and carry it with me as it was very compact, but somehow managed to control my temptation
Unison Research Unico Primo - this I demo'd in one of the local stores, decent amp, again no DAC only Analog inputs 80 W/channel
Rego Brio and Rego Elicit MK4 - both were nice, very clear sound reproduction, well designed and crafted. Though I couldn't demo Elicit MK5 as it was not available for demo, I am inclining towards either the Elicit Mk4 or Mk5.
Vincent RK230 (I think), didn't like it much or it was not going well with my speakers

I have used to the Peachtree for more than 8 years so all my comparison so far has been with Peachtree. This is the first time I am listening to Class A/B amps so they sound very differently compared to PT which is Class D I believe. The articulation, clarity of each instruments in the A/B amps are so precise compared to the PT but all Class A/B lacks the bass that I am longing for. I have a REL subbass besides my VA speakers also have good bass reproduction, so I guess I may be able to settle with one of the above and find the work around for the bass.

I would like to demo Musical Fidelity and Cambridge Audio and Moon River if possible before making a decision but I don't think there are any distributors for them in Chennai

 

[LBRS]

Some updates. I checked out a few stores and listened to few amps in the last two weeks. I had to travel to Mumbai and Singapore for work and used the opportunity to visit few local stores in Singapore and Mumbai. The Adelphi mall in Singapore is great, it is a treasure trove for audio enthusiasts, there are so many stores for hi-fii audio ranging from amps, speakers, turntables, streamers and etc., there were three or four stores just with Vinyl and CD collections. I did not have much time to check all of them. just visited one afternoon and demo'ed the following amps.

Hagel 120 nice amp, very clear dynamics, compact, lacks the bass I was looking for
Arcam - don't remember the model number but very similar to Hagel, but sounded a bit flat
NAM - 50 this is a special edition of NAM 1 for their 40th anniversary, only 25W / channel, very compact will fit into your back pack, no DAC only analog inputs and a Phono input. I was almost tempted to buy this and carry it with me as it was very compact, but somehow managed to control my temptation
Unison Research Unico Primo - this I demo'd in one of the local stores, decent amp, again no DAC only Analog inputs 80 W/channel
Rego Brio and Rego Elicit MK4 - both were nice, very clear sound reproduction, well designed and crafted. Though I couldn't demo Elicit MK5 as it was not available for demo, I am inclining towards either the Elicit Mk4 or Mk5.
Vincent RK230 (I think), didn't like it much or it was not going well with my speakers

I have used to the Peachtree for more than 8 years so all my comparison so far has been with Peachtree. This is the first time I am listening to Class A/B amps so they sound very differently compared to PT which is Class D I believe. The articulation, clarity of each instruments in the A/B amps are so precise compared to the PT but all Class A/B lacks the bass that I am longing for. I have a REL subbass besides my VA speakers also have good bass reproduction, so I guess I may be able to settle with one of the above and find the work around for the bass.

I would like to demo Musical Fidelity and Cambridge Audio and Moon River if possible before making a decision but I don't think there are any distributors for them in Chennai

BTW, none of these are in my budget range and will be a stretch on my wallet, but have decided to go for better ones as this may be once in a lifetime besides I might upgrade my speakers in the future