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British Integrated Amps

I have a great affinity for British gear.  I have owned many British speakers from ProAc, Celestion, Mission, Wharfedale, Tannoy, Mordaunt Short, KEF, Linn & Monitor Audio and they were all very musical sounding.

I had a Rega Planar 3 for over 25 years and much shorter stints with a Linn Basik/Akito arm, Thorens TD125 mkII w/Rega RB303 arm and now an Ariston RD80 SEL w/Jelco arm.

I have also owned several British integrateds:  Onix OA-21s, OA-20/2, OA-60, Creek 5050, 4330, Musical Fidelity B1, Rotel RA870 and maybe a couple others that escape me right now and I now have a Meridian 504 tuner.  

I particularly like the shoebox sized units, I just like the size and shape of them and that they don’t take up a lot of room.

Which British integrated amps have you owned, which were your favorites, which ones were overrated, overpriced and what speakers were you using with them that made them a yay or a nay?

Look forward to your comments!  Thanks!


lou_setriodes
lou_setriodes's avatar
lou_setriodes OP
708 posts
 

Update:  We’ll, it’s now almost 4 years later and I’ve been in Israel the last 3.5 years.  The prices for used audio gear here is insane, almost double of what you would pay in the US for audio gear.  I managed to sell my Meridian gear (551 & 504) and sold the Linn Majik I too.  I got back into tubes with a Yarland EL84 integrated amp and a Custom ECL82 SE int amp that I’m trying to sell or trade and considering either a Sugden A25B or an Ion Obelisk 1 in trade.  
 

Anyone have any experience with the Ion Obelisk?  The Sugden is my first choice…

audition__audio
1,675 posts
 

My experience with older Exposure models has been very good. I believe the same designer as the Hi-Watt guitar amps from back in the day.

 

tko956
35 posts
 

I still use my Creek 4330 MkIi in a second system to this day.  It was my first "real hifi" purchase and it will never leave.

lou_setriodes's avatar
lou_setriodes OP
708 posts
 

I had the 4330 too, MkI I think?  Not sure I really know the diff between mkI & MkII, a remote perhaps?  At any rate, I thought that it was a truly excellent sounding int amp!

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