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!


128x128lou_setriodes
excellent -- naim nait x2 w pardo ps

very good -- lfd lfe 4 se (but ergonomically challenged)

ok - naim nait 5 si, rega brio, creek evo50

poor - arcam fmj, cyrus 1

I also had a very rare Celestion Ditton Elan integrated amp that was very beefy sounding but it had bipolar outputs.  I prefer Mosfets, sounds warmer and more realistic to me.
My favorite British/China integrateds are Musical Fidelity. Not sure if that will remain the same under new ownership. 
I’ve got an MF A308, which was a 12-year-old steal from eBay. It liked my vintage KF speakers, but it loves my modern ATC‘s. From what I’ve read, this amp may be more musical than the direction that MF turned to after it. When it came out, it was their top-of-the-line unit.