Pioneer A400.

[southall-1998]

Great integrated amp this one! The Pioneer A400. Have them hooked up to some Neat Petite III Speakers. Not bad at all, but the Petites really need more power to make them jump. Any suggestions boys? Another good thing about the Pioneer is it's headphone stage. I'm enjoying some Sennheiser HD600s through the Pioneer.


Very good amp for the little cash

[wiicrackpot]

Beg to differ Shane, bought one back in the day when it had rave reviews and found it's bright and threshed out presentation fatiquing and didn't listen to music as much,
think you got rid of better TBH matey but hey ho...glad you're enjoying it.

[DSJR]

Shane, you've had some wonderful gear through your mits recently and flogged it on for some real rubbish. The A400 ONLY works with a seriously top end source and neutral speakers, otherwise it hurts! The Petites are toppy and not all that nice, but the Linn Naim relic dealers seem to like them at the time.

Hard words, but not altogether false I'm afraid.

You should have kept the bigger Quads you've had and maybe used them with the Croft preamp you bought

[southall-1998]

LOL, chaps.

I'm afraid your words are not putting me off the Pioneer

DSJR, I have another Quad 303 and will be keeping it forever. But I think it could do with a check up at Quad.

Which source & speakers do you recommend for the A400? I think the A400 is a capable amp IMO.

[DSJR]

A digital source with some proper dynanic range, which the old Marantz's that peeps used to put with the A400 (WTF five star reviews) never had. PT Anniversary/SME V and whatever cartridge/phono stage used to be a good match to the A400 amp.

Glad you still have a 303 Shane. Quad will basically get it working and do the minimum necessary to achieve this (I don't think they go in for rebuilds but I could be wrong) and Net Audio will charge a small fortune for a full rebuild with new boards etc... I'm all for a dada style recap and rest of voltages, with new presets if necessary to do this. It's a lovely and endearing old amp, the 303 and although it's useless with demanding speakers, thank heavens there are some really good monitor grade types out there that the 303 loves to play into (from big Tannoys on one extreme to vintage Spendors on the other )

[hifi_dave]

Beg to differ Shane, bought one back in the day when it had rave reviews and found it's bright and threshed out presentation fatiquing and didn't listen to music as much,
think you got rid of better TBH matey but hey ho...glad you're enjoying it.

You obviously didn't read the rave write up from the man who then went on to work for Pioneer..

We had one on dem, back in the day and it helped us to sell the Creek 4040.

[Yomanze]

Great dorm or bedroom amp along with a pair of old Missions.

It's not "HiFi" though, but I enjoyed it as my first real amp.

[southall-1998]

A digital source with some proper dynanic range, which the old Marantz's that peeps used to put with the A400 (WTF five star reviews) never had. PT Anniversary/SME V and whatever cartridge/phono stage used to be a good match to the A400 amp.

Glad you still have a 303 Shane. Quad will basically get it working and do the minimum necessary to achieve this (I don't think they go in for rebuilds but I could be wrong) and Net Audio will charge a small fortune for a full rebuild with new boards etc... I'm all for a dada style recap and rest of voltages, with new presets if necessary to do this. It's a lovely and endearing old amp, the 303 and although it's useless with demanding speakers, thank heavens there are some really good monitor grade types out there that the 303 loves to play into (from big Tannoys on one extreme to vintage Spendors on the other )

My Cranfield Elite Rock sounds very good with the A400.

Can you suggest some bookshelf speakers that will work very nicely with the A400. I want to keep the A400, I find it to be very good. I also like using our HD600 headphones with it, they are a little warm sounding

Cheers.

[Yomanze]

My Cranfield Elite Rock sounds very good with the A400.

Can you suggest some bookshelf speakers that will work very nicely with the A400. I want to keep the A400, I find it to be very good. I also like using our HD600 headphones with it, they are a little warm sounding

Cheers.

Old-style Mission / Cyrus 780SE.

...for a 'first system' you might want more though.

[YNWaN]

We had one on dem, back in the day and it helped us to sell the Creek 4040.

Yes, also my experience.