Recommend an Integrated Amp for me

[jmanlp]

Hey, I am looking to get my brother a good integrated amp. My budget is about $300-$400 and I'm looking for something close to the 2x100 area. I really like the looks and features of the Denon PMA-2000 IVR but its about double what I would like to spend. Can anyone recommend me a couple integrated amps to look at? Thanks a bunch.

 

[j_garcia]

The Cambridge Audio 540A is about $380. 540a. Don't worry about the lower power rating; unless you have low sensitivity speakers, it should handle the job.

Used you could pick up a Marantz PM7200 or a NAD C320BEE.

 

[jmanlp]

Thanks for the recommendation, I like the looks and the price, but I wish it had a little more juice. I don't really need a lot of features having a little more power is more important than the features. Just the basics of an amp, imput selector, preout, tone controll, and headphone jack is it. I guess going up to ~$500 wouldnt be bad if that opened up any more options? Thanks again for the help.

 

[j_garcia]

What speakers are you going to be running? How big is the room? The PM7200 new is right around $500 and has plenty of power - rated at 95x2, but a review rated it to have actual output to about 105w.

New, the C320BEE is $399, but you can check directly with www.yawaonline.com (e-mail them) and see if they have any deals on them. They sometimes have promotional deals going on that are not advertised. Again, don't let the low power fool you, this thing has plenty of power and unless you are going to drive some power hungry speakers, 50w should be enough. Next step up is the 352 at 80W and MSRP $599.

Cambridge also has the 640A, which is about $520 I believe. I really like the looks of this guy, but it didn't sound much different from my PM7200, so I kept the 7200.

 

[jmanlp]

After a couple listening sessions my brother and I really liked the NAD 352. What do you all think about this amp? While it was a little more than we were looking to spend, it seems like a very high quality piece of electronics. Thanks for the help.

 

[j_garcia]

IMO, I think NAD or Arcam are the way to go for an integrated at this price. I got a great deal on my 7200 or I would have gone with one of the others. My 7200, which is now only about 2 months old, recently developed what sounds like a transformer hum, so I may return it and if I can get my money back, I'll most likel be looking at the NAD myself, or possibly Arcam's DiVa A65 Plus which is in about the same price range as the C352. I haven't heard the 352, but the 320 is very musical. A buddy of mine has an A80 and it sounds pretty amazing. I didn't mention Arcam before, because the A65 Plus is also a bit more than your budget.

www.arcam.co.uk