Bigman80
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The HiFi Bear/Audioaddicts/Bigbottle Owner
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Post by Bigman80 on Jul 25, 2018 10:31:39 GMT
A mate has “rediscovered” this amp again recently, he has just cleared out his NAC62/NAP 140 in favour of the old A&R amp. He’s tried a few integrateds such as the MF Synthesis and Audiolab 800a but says they can’t hold a candle to the A60.
I’ve had a few of these in my time and I like them, That said, I wouldnt take one over the Naims. Maybe not even over the other two either. I also read a while ago that the A60 is based in the exact same circuit and the Naim 110/140 albeit with different layout and components.
Anyone else love the A60? Anyone like me and puzzling over how it could perform so well for my mate? All A60 related thoughts welcome.
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Post by dsjr on Jul 25, 2018 11:10:59 GMT
A mate has “rediscovered” this amp again recently, he has just cleared out his NAC62/NAP 140 in favour of the old A&R amp. He’s tried a few integrateds such as the MF Synthesis and Audiolab 800a but says they can’t hold a candle to the A60. I’ve had a few of these in my time and I like them, That said, I wouldnt take one over the Naims. Maybe not even over the other two either. I also read a while ago that the A60 is based in the exact same circuit and the Naim 110/140 albeit with different layout and components. Anyone else love the A60? Anyone like me and puzzling over how it could perform so well for my mate? All A60 related thoughts welcome. I'd have a good surviving one over a 62/140, especially if the latter's never been touched (have you actually heard how much of the music's missing with a 62/140, even compared to a 72/180, let alone top Naims and other superior amps - sorry, it's burned in...?) The A60 has a rolled off bass on vinyl and a frail output stage if thrashed and the internal fuses only go so far in terms of protection before a transistor blows, I'm not sure if a now nearly forty year old one would be a sensible buy unless fully serviced as some were thrashed and they're not easy to easily work on internally (a faff to remove the motherboard I recall).
Really, you should be looking at a Myryad MI-120 integrated. Same designer, great optional phono stage, remote control, solid build, novel styling and a similar sonic 'flavour' but much more up to date and double the power as well... Oh yeah, short the speaker terminals and it clicks off to protect the output stage. If you find an 8000A of any age too grainy, a Quad 77 too 'different' and the 8000S too 'sharp,' you'll love it!
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Post by nonuffin on Jul 25, 2018 11:33:17 GMT
I always found the A60 to lack power, although it did sound OK provided you didn't expect subterranean levels of bass from it. Part of it's charm.
As DSJR rightly says, it was all too easy to overdrive them so the output transistors expired and it was a real pig to work on.
Myryad deserve a better reputation to be honest, but that also means a decent discount can be negotiated.
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Bigman80
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The HiFi Bear/Audioaddicts/Bigbottle Owner
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Post by Bigman80 on Jul 25, 2018 11:43:41 GMT
I haven’t really looked at Myryad. The amp Dave mentions looks well built. I didn’t know the designer was the same as the A60 either, wh9kst I’m not in the market for an amp, it’s always good to hear of other brands and links to the past.
As nice as the A60 could sound, it wasn’t anythjng special to me, I’ve had maybe 3 or 4 of them over the years and we used to sell them in the shop, so I had a chance to compare them with other amps of the day. For me, any Creek or Cambridge saw it off, and the A1, Nait, Cyrus 2 and Audiolab were all in another league. Nevertheless I can see it’s meloow flavour suiting some if they listened at moderate levels.
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Post by dsjr on Jul 25, 2018 11:51:52 GMT
The later A60's went off a bit and the Creek was half the price at the end. To me, the Creek was fine with a Dual 505 or rega 2 on the front, their tuner sounded great and all into HB1's typically (the AR18S was used with the NAD 3020 a year or two previously). You'll have to forgive me here, but these old amps all had compromises and the A60 has output transistors worked close to maximum (the same transistors in different packaging killed the Lustraphone LP100, an old favourite musical sounding amp I fondly remember). So much has changed and the Myryad, if anyone ever sees one to try, had a lovely almost graceful quality about it with proper speaker driving ability but without thickening or dulling it (MF A1) or sharpening it all up (Audiolab 8000S and Cyrus 2/PSX even). The separate power amp worked stand-alone and the matching preamp was good too. Thread drifting again, but you may remember the A&R pre and power amp (C200/P200?) they becvame very good and Chris did a Myryad version, updated to massive power output and this amp looked very naughty. Only tried it once and it was a powerhouse but musical with it I remember...
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2019 17:31:40 GMT
I don't particularly like them... It was me who said in a few places that they are similar to Naim amps in design BTW.
They really need the output fuses removing and a short soldering across the fuse holder to give their best. Very late ones had the fuse in the negative feedback loop but up till then... they didn't, and a fuse in line with a speaker, whether in amp or speaker, is a very bad thing for sound quality.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2019 17:44:32 GMT
'A60' are great as long as you do good speaker matching.
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