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!


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If you want a small form “half-size box ” high-end integrated amp with all other matched half-sized components available  …..CYRUS

CYRUS 6 DAC and 82 DAC

Q. What is the difference between the 6 DAC and 82 DAC?

A. Both amps are based on the same design and feature similar inputs and outputs. The 82DAC is our higher performance integrated amp and features much higher power output than the 6 DAC. The 82 DAC can also be improved further with the addition of the PSX-R2, whereas the 6 DAC cannot.

https://www.cyrusaudio.com/support/faqs/product-range/

I've owned a Creek 4140 (version 1) for years. I was deciding between the Creek and a Naim Nait 2 at the time. I've really liked the sound but didn't really realize how good it actually sounded until this past year when I had a chance to have some other amplifiers in my system.

PS Audio Stellar Strata: Much worse than the Creek. Sound seemed a bit synthetic. Maybe that is due to its Class D design?
Creek Evo 50: Worse than the Creek. Sounded ponderous and slow. Lacked pace.
Pathos Classic One: About at the same level as the Creek
Belles Aria Integrated: Similar in character to the Creek, but better resolution and imaging of the soundstage.

I also listened to some amplifiers at dealers:

Naim Supernait 3: A disappointment given all of the good reviews that I read about it. It sounded a bit gray in tonal color and a bit two-dimensional
Sugden A21 Signature: My impression of the Supernait 3 probably suffered because it was listening to it next to the Sugden. The amount of tonal color and fullness of sound that the Sugden was able to convey was impressive.
Calvin, Interesting commentary and thank you for the post.  I had a Creek 5050 many years ago after a 3-4 year sabbatical from audio when my daughter was born.  It was pretty nice but I was greatly more impressed by the Creek 4330 that I had years later.

I’m also not a great fan of class D.  To me, they all sound a little dry and need to be paired with a tube preamp.

Right now I have a Linn Majik I, Music Fidelity B1, Acurus DIA100, and will soon be getting a Meridian 551.  The DIA, which is excellent, is for sale & giving the MF to my nephew.
@lou_setriodes Although not relevant to this discussion, your mention of the Acurus DIA100 brought back great memories.  It was the first piece of good audio gear that I ever owned, and it got me started in this wonderful hobby.  
You might want to check out a Sonneteer Alabaster. Just a simple, great integrated amp. Superb sound but like the LFD NCSE, no remote. I’ve had both. Now using Pass INT-25.

The NCSE and the Harbeth m30.1's are a fantastic pairing.