The Cheap Stuff

I feel the same way about my old Amber series 70amp. I love spending 10 cents on the dollar and then receiving so much pleasure for so little spent.

I have a friend who's nearly 50 who kept his records carefully stored and clean even though he didn't have a turntable for several years. He just picked up a nice older Dual belt drive table (which also made this model for Thorens) from Craigslist for $60 and an Ortofon 2M Red to go with it. He's been having a great time rediscovering the joys of analog.

I had an Amber Series 70 power amp for about nine years. Very neutral yet engaging amp. Definitely makes good music and there's nothing distracting in its presentation.

Yeah, the "I can't believe I'm having this much fun for so cheap!" factor is fantastic.

Johnnyb53, are you still rockin' the Onkyo A-9555?

Interestingly, I've never heard of the Amber amplifiers. You can bet I'll be checking them out sooner or later though.

Yes, I'm still using the Onkyo A-9555. That's the amp that finally displaced the Amber 70 in my analog rig. It's faster, quieter, and cleaner without getting harsh or edgy. Its built-in phono stage is pretty decent, especially for smoothness and inner detail, but I'm using the Cambridge 640P phono stage instead because it is faster and has better dynamic range and frequency extension. I'm coming up on two years with the Onkyo and still no complaints.

It's is refreshing to hear of someone enjoying music and on vinyl no less, for less that $$$$$.$$ =) The ADC was a nice little table, with a respectable tonearm.

Enjoy, thanks for the nice post.

Norman