Advice on a new amp

Townlea · 11 Jun 2007 at 02:11

Hi there, I've done 3-4 hour browsing on a search for a new amp.

My budget is around £400

My speakers are B&W 601 S3s which are currently driven by a NAD 3240 PE :eek:

drives my B&W speakers fine though (not bad for it being worth £15)

However the amp is now over 15 years old lol

Now which amp would you recommend for my following needs.

I do a lot of garden raves so the music I play is Trance/dance/hardcore etc

Would also like the option of having 2 sets of speaker plugs on the back (A+B)

Was considering a second hand Cyrus 8VS2

What do you guys think?

tom_nieto · 11 Jun 2007 at 13:41

I find that my Cyrus 3 has quite a "party" sound. I would certainly recommend it for rock and dance music. I'm not sure how much the amps have changed over time though.

Townlea · 11 Jun 2007 at 22:00

tom_nieto said:
I find that my Cyrus 3 has quite a "party" sound. I would certainly recommend it for rock and dance music. I'm not sure how much the amps have changed over time though.

How much would I be looking at for a Cyrus 3?

tom_nieto · 12 Jun 2007 at 11:44

I bought mine for £180 quite a while ago now. They're pretty old amps now (10 years +), but still have the newer style cyrus casing. The 8vs would be something that I'd be looking to upgrade to (depending on a demo). My main problem at the moment is that I've developed a buzz, so this amp will probably have to go as soon as I can afford an upgrade. It drives my large mission 783's without a problem, plenty of grunt available. A massive step over the Denon 3802 which I had driving them before.

Have you had a chance to listen to different manufacturers? You could also buy some pretty decent amps new for the price that you state, although I'd still be looking at second hand stuff.

Townlea · 12 Jun 2007 at 19:48

tom_nieto said:
I bought mine for £180 quite a while ago now. They're pretty old amps now (10 years +), but still have the newer style cyrus casing. The 8vs would be something that I'd be looking to upgrade to (depending on a demo). My main problem at the moment is that I've developed a buzz, so this amp will probably have to go as soon as I can afford an upgrade. It drives my large mission 783's without a problem, plenty of grunt available. A massive step over the Denon 3802 which I had driving them before.

Have you had a chance to listen to different manufacturers? You could also buy some pretty decent amps new for the price that you state, although I'd still be looking at second hand stuff.

I'll have a demo at the local Hi-Fi store and let you know what the amp is like.

New amp @ £400 or second hand Cyrus amp @ £400 - I know which one i would choose

tom_nieto · 12 Jun 2007 at 20:16

What sort of prices have you seen the 8vs2 for second hand?

I think the 5 and 6 models are the only ones to steer clear of. This is because the 7 and 8 are much better by all accounts.

Have a look on www.cyrusunofficial.co.uk if you want to find out more.

Townlea · 12 Jun 2007 at 22:17

tom_nieto said:
What sort of prices have you seen the 8vs2 for second hand?

I think the 5 and 6 models are the only ones to steer clear of. This is because the 7 and 8 are much better by all accounts.

Have a look on www.cyrusunofficial.co.uk if you want to find out more.

£400-£430

Quite rare to come across but i'm in no great rush

The wait will be a deserved wait considering it's a £800 amp