Pre-owned options for a newbie

[Rud31]

Hi
As I decided to take the jump in HiFi audio world with a limited budget, prognosis looked bleak for me finding something good in that budget and which fills my requirements too. This was concurred by few forum members too. But as of now I have options and now need your help to decide what to go for.
My usage is still as below:

1. Looking at something that can handle both 4ohm and 8ohm loads with at least 50W per channel for both type of impedance load.
2. Want Pre outs in the amplifier (or some sort of RCA output) as this setup would be mated to a Crown XLS 2502 Amplifier running a passive subwoofer
3. Want amplifier to have some headroom for near future upgrade. But this is something I can compromise on if the amp is cheap.

Now the options I have are as below, in increasing order of their price offered:

1. Norge 1000 Concerto Gold
2. Sansui AU-X9500
3. Onkyo TX-8050

Now as I can analyse them only from what I have read about them not their real world performance.
While the Norge is most basic one and well under the budget, it has no Pre Out so to pass on the signal to another amp, I would have to run parallel RCAs which I'm suspecting, is going to add noise in the system.
Sansui has a Pre Out, is within budget but "vintage" of the 3 (AFAIK).
Onkyo has everything imaginable and then some, but it barely fits my budget and leaves me little room for having options in buying Bookshelf speakers (will be making another thread for them later).
Now even though I have put my budget considerations in my calculation, I urge you to refer to following terms of reference for recommendation:

• Performance
• Durability
• Features/Functionality

Please do keep in purview that HiFi audio is new for me and this is going to set tone for my path ahead and will be staying in use, hopefully for next 2-3 years at least. I have had my fair share of Class D amps and Computer speakers and ready to take "the leap".

 

[newlash09]

Hi Rud..welcome here

I can sense that you have very carefully planned out your upgrade path in hifi. Of all the above the onkyo seems to be the best bet from my limited experience.

It would help to know your actual budget, so that more experienced forum members can chip in with their suggestions.

And do bear in mind that if you can go for very effecient book shelves, then you might not need a external power amp like the crown at all..So the crowns funds can distributed on your current integrated amp and your new speakers. So revealing your budget, will help others to suggest different options that you might not have already considered. All the best

 

[Rud31]

It would help to know your actual budget, so that more experienced forum members can chip in with their suggestions.

And do bear in mind that if you can go for very effecient book shelves, then you might not need a external power amp like the crown at all..So the crowns funds can distributed on your current integrated amp and your new speakers.

My budget for the amplifier is 20K max. Depending upon how much I can save here, will decide how much I can spend on Bookshelves as I have kept 5K separate for them from the total budget of 25K.

The Crown amplifier has already been purchased to drive variety of passive subwoofers that I have so can't appropriate funds from there.

As for Watts per channel stipulation, it's there to ensure that even inefficient speakers(anything lower than 88dB, for me){some might argue on this} can be driven properly as that is what one would commonly find in lower price range. Add to that the fact that I have satellites leftover from numerous computer speakers, that I have used in past, which are in proper working condition and also have a pair of DIY speakers, also in working condition. All of the aforementioned are with 4 ohm drivers and just need a good amp to drive them. Moreover whatever Speaker pair I get now, it will be repurposed as Surrounds in an year or 2, much before the amplifier is retired. So there's going to be lot of mix-n-match and experimentation, thus need the amplifier to be versatile enough to handle such varied loads. All above-mentioned 3 can do that. Question is which one can do it with ease.

 

[magma]

A used nad is something you can think about
You may need to be patient to find something in the used market

 

[Rud31]

I suggest you invest more on a good speaker and search for a matching amplifier, because I think speakers are the more important component in the chain. What kind of music do you hear mostly?

I totally agree with you. I do intend to get better speakers down the line thus my plan to repurpose what I get now as surrounds later, if they are capable of that.
I was offered a NAD too but it went beyond my budget for the price quoted.
As for music genre, it's primarily 80s Rock and Synthpop, Punjabi and bit of Bollywood. Much of this is either Bass heavy or Rebassed and Lowered to be so. That's why I have disproportionately big subwoofers and amplifier for it.

 

[JayaRaa]

I totally agree with you. I do intend to get better speakers down the line thus my plan to repurpose what I get now as surrounds later, if they are capable of that.
I was offered a NAD too but it went beyond my budget for the price quoted.
As for music genre, it's primarily 80s Rock and Synthpop, Punjabi and bit of Bollywood. Much of this is either Bass heavy or Rebassed and Lowered to be so. That's why I have disproportionately big subwoofers and amplifier for it.

Old NAD amps will be your best bet. Search for them

 

[arunkvivek]

If I were in your place, I would rather put 17K in BS and 8K in amplifier. I would look out for Elac Debut,Pioneer AJ bookshelves, TAGA bookshelves and go for SMSL Q5 Pro (if built in DACs are needed) or used Norge that is put up on sale in the forum.

 

[Rud31]

That's why I'm here to ask. If the Norge can cut it then automatically I'll have more to spend on Bookshelf speaker. Pioneer and Taga do not figure high in my preference list.
Will decide upon Bookshelf in a separate thread. Want to keep this thread for Amp only.

 

[arunkvivek]

Pioneer by Andrew Jones are awesome speakers but need solid amplification to shine well.

 

[Rud31]

In order to make things easier for me and for Forum members to evaluate and advice upon, I'm laying out the combinations that I have option to choose from (in increasing order of price):-

1. Norge 1000 Amplifier + Sonodyne 1501v3 Bookshelf speakers {This one is by far the cheapest option available}
2. Norge 1000 Amplifier + bookshelf speaker pair within 15K, yet to be decided, can be pre-owned or a new set altogether
3. Sansui AU-X9500 + Wharfedale Obsidian 600 Surrounds (it's a combo offer)
4. Onkyo TX-8050 + "very budget" Pre-owned speakers

These are the options I'm considering that are currently available to me and within my budget.