Pre/Power Amplifiers

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Pre/Power Amplifiers
Audio Research Reference 80S
Hi-Fi Choice  |  Mar 12, 2024  |  0 comments
Audio Research ARC lays out a blueprint for a thrilling future with the superb Reference 80S
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Pre/Power Amplifiers
Longdog Audio P6100M
Hi-Fi Choice  |  Sep 25, 2023  |  0 comments
Experience old-school thrills with these monoblock power amps
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Pre/Power Amplifiers
Rotel P5/S5
Hi-Fi Choice  |  Sep 05, 2023  |  0 comments
Rotel’s high-end Michi power and preamp get set to impress
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Pre/Power Amplifiers
Constellation Centaur II 500 Stereo
Hi-Fi Choice  |  May 24, 2023  |  0 comments
Push reality to one side and pretend for a moment that money is no object, it's time to experience a taste of sonic enlightenment
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Pre/Power Amplifiers
Exposure introduces 3510 mono power amplifiers
Hi-Fi Choice  |  Nov 08, 2022  |  0 comments
Meet the latest additions to the 3510 family
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Pre/Power Amplifiers
Cambridge Audio Edge NQ/W
Hi-Fi Choice  |  Jun 18, 2019  |  0 comments
Are the ambitious Edge streaming preamp and power amp combo the considerable bargain they appear to be?
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Pre/Power Amplifiers
Mitchell & Johnson S800/S815
Hi-Fi Choice  |  Feb 04, 2019  |  0 comments
There’s much debate about the direction the UK economy will take post-Brexit, but we’re already seeing a shift to things being made in Britain again. With this in mind, it’s good to discover that this flagship pre/power amplifier combination is made here in Blighty. While we expect Bremont watches and Aston Martin cars to be manufactured here, it comes as something of a surprise to learn that Mitchell & Johnson is turning out this £2,598 amplifier combo from a factory based in the Midlands. As the first two pieces in the company’s new top-of-the range 800 Series, they are entirely designed, engineered and built in the UK and company boss David Johnson says that making its top series here means better control of product quality.
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Pre/Power Amplifiers
Leema Acoustics Hydra II Anniversary
Hi-Fi Choice  |  Sep 11, 2018  |  0 comments
This new ‘Anniversary Edition’ of Leema’s well-regarded Hydra II power amplifier marks 10 years since the original amp made its debut. Company co-founder Lee Taylor has sought to improve and update the design, seeing what extra magic could be achieved with new, modern components and approaches, without changing the qualities reached a decade ago. 
 The Hydra II Anniversary Edition is an intelligent and flexible stereo power amplifier that can also be bridged for use as a monoblock, should you lust for even more power. Rated at 148W power output per channel into 8ohm, it may not appear overly muscular but it is claimed to tolerate even the most recalcitrant of loudspeakers.
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Pre/Power Amplifiers
Parasound ZCD/ZPRE2/ZAMP - £400/£400/£350
 |  Feb 02, 2015  |  0 comments
For those that love music, there are going to be times where you want to hear it in other rooms apart from the listening room. One solution is to have extension speakers wired up to the main system, but that means running speaker cables everywhere. It also means having your system running full tilt when all you wantis some background music in your kitchen. A better solution is a completely separate, standalone system that doesn’t take up too much space and won’t break the bank.
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Pre/Power Amplifiers
Oppo HA-1 - £1,099
 |  Feb 02, 2015  |  0 comments
Who would have thought it? Obscure manufacturer of decent Chinese optical disc players starts spin-off company (Oppo Digital Inc. ) in California to make high-quality hi-fi products. It’s not a typical tale of hi-fi success, but the story is getting ever more believable with every product launch. Less than a year after the excellent PM-1 headphones were released, the company now has its own matching DAC/preamp/headphone amp too – in the rather pleasing shape of the HA-1.
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Pre/Power Amplifiers
Cambridge Audio Azur 851D - £1,000
 |  Jan 26, 2015  |  0 comments
Somewhere around the turn of the millennium, hi-fi started getting interesting again – with DVD-Audio and SACD arriving, MP3 going gangbusters and computer audio taking hold. Then asynchronous USB conferred hi-res capability on Macs and PCs, and now easy wireless has come of age thanks to aptX Bluetooth. Cambridge Audio’s new flagship DAC is a product of all this. Packed with most of the functionality that has popped up over the past decade, it purports to be a ‘greatest hits of digital’ in one convenient package.
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Pre/Power Amplifiers
Nytech Audio CP132/CPS102/CPA401 - £1,972
 |  Jan 21, 2015  |  0 comments
If you’re a dyed-in-the-grain hi-fi aficionado, you’ll remember the classic Nytech CTA252 receiveras something of a giant killer ableto better some far more expensive pre-power amp combinations. It was launched by Richard Hay in the early seventies; a man who had served his audio apprenticeship at Radford Electronics. His company made respected, middle-market equipment for around 15 years. Phil Balaam was Nytech’s original test engineer, and worked closelywith Hay, learning every aspect of the company’s fine-sounding designs.
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Pre/Power Amplifiers
Parasound Halo P5 - £999
 |  Jan 19, 2015  |  0 comments
A preamplifier’s life is not a happy one. In the olden days, when mammoths roamed the wild planes and Duran Duran were at number one, its job was clear. A preamp sat in front of the power amp, because without it there was no way of getting music from your sound source. Music came from vinyl, and its meagre output was such that plugging it directly into a power amplifier would have produced all the power, as Captain Blackadder once said, of an asthmatic ant.
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Pre/Power Amplifiers
Rotel RC-1580/RB-1582 - £2,095
Ed Selley  |  Sep 27, 2011  |  0 comments
Rotel RC-1580/RB-1582 Lots of power, lots of features – but also plenty of good quality sound to get worked up about f this test were principally about specifications, the other manufacturers might as well not have bothered submitting kit at all. The RB-1582 puts out nearly twice as much power as most of the other amps in the group, while the RC-1580 offers more inputs, more sophisticated switching, tone controls, MM and MC phono as standard, headphone output. . .
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Pre/Power Amplifiers
Quad Elite Pre/Mono - £2,150
Ed Selley  |  Sep 27, 2011  |  0 comments
Quad Elite Pre/Mono Quad's new Elite series may appeal strongly on visuals and simplicity, but we found lots to like sonically too With its track record in audio now exceeding three-score years and ten, Quad remains true to its original aims in offering unique audio products that are immediately recognisable. The Elite range, which over the last year or so has replaced the respected 99 Series, aims to incorporate audiophile design in small, smart and easily connected matching units, with source and amplification components sharing a basic case design. They can all be connected with the usual phono sockets, but Quad’s default hookup is the ‘Ampbus’, a 15-way D socket on the back of each unit which is connected to the next unit in the chain with a supplied ribbon connector, carrying balanced audio (and control) signals. There is a stereo power amp in the range, but for this test we chose a pair of mono amps, each rated at 150 watts output.
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