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Wish I'd discovered this forum before wasting £220 on an Audiolab 8000a!

The Harman/Kardon HK6150 is a really decent budget amplifier. Assuming 30wpc is enough to drive your Celef 'speakers to the levels that you tend to listen at, then I'd look to general system optimization (proper stands, 'speaker placement, etc.) before changing anything out.

Also, how do you know what state your LPs are in until you've given them a go? I've many here that were pressed in the 1950s, most of which started out being played on Gerrard, Dual, and even BSR(!) record changers back before many on here were born. Bar none, these are among the best sounding records I've ever heard. H/K integrated amps of this period had quite decent discrete MM phono stages with 47kOhm//125pF input loading, which ends up working very well with a wide range of cartridges. Why not dust off that old Dual, treat it to a new belt, and see what you've got?

Harman-Kardon-HK-6150-Audio-Hi-Fi-Repairs-Out-of-Warranty-Repairs-GET-it-Fixed.jpg

I used a Harman Kardon PM645Vxi for a year or so before buying an Inca Tech Claymore II. Good amp. I also used a very late black 8000A for a few years. They are perfectly good and a steal at current S/H prices, but the RCA sockets on the back are flimsier than a flimsy thing. If it sounds like shit, then it probably needs a recap and a clean.

Still, for £300, you can't beat a 90's Exposure integrated, but that will probably also need a service too.
 
Exposure Electronics should be able to service their kit.

Exposure is now headed up by Tony Brady as Chief Engineer. Tony was also the designer of Onix Audio kit from 1979-1996 and he will service all his classic Onix designs where he can. Just contact him at Exposure to book-in beforehand. Tony is extremely approachable and helpful. I would have no problems or hesitation in sending him my kit.
 
I used a Harman Kardon PM645Vxi for a year or so before buying an Inca Tech Claymore II. Good amp. I also used a very late black 8000A for a few years. They are perfectly good and a steal at current S/H prices, but the RCA sockets on the back are flimsier than a flimsy thing. If it sounds like shit, then it probably needs a recap and a clean.

Still, for £300, you can't beat a 90's Exposure integrated, but that will probably also need a service too.
Is this a 90s one?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EXPOSURE...d=link&campid=5338728743&toolid=20001&mkevt=1
 
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This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
Wow! So many helpful suggestions. Many thanks. To be honest I'm now a bit overwhelmed by the choices - how do I decide without hearing them! I guess I just take a punt. Or perhaps, as was suggested by someone, I should keep my HK amp and upgrade some other bits of the system. I already connected up the CD player and I must admit it sounds better than the MD player. At the moment the speakers are just sitting on our wooden floor. I guess stands might make a difference but even then there's a bewildering amount of choice. Eg, do I go for an "open" design made from steel, or the type that are made from mdf and filled with sand. Maybe I'll do another post on this question!
 
There is a bit of a following for HK stuff in the wider hifi world, and I've heard examples of their amps that I would actually prefer to quite a lot of the stuff suggested ITT, so given you know your amp works with your speakers, why not spend the budget having it serviced, and perhaps lightly upgraded along the way? I know from experience that a lot of HK build-quality is rather poor - PCBs that look like they were assembled by having chimps throw handfuls of components at them - so there's lots of scope for improvement.
 
Jon Perry.. apologies if you already know this but minidisc is a compressed audio format. If you play compressed audio through a revealing system it will sound average compared to CD which is what you are hearing.
 
At the moment the speakers are just sitting on our wooden floor. I guess stands might make a difference but even then there's a bewildering amount of choice. Eg, do I go for an "open" design made from steel, or the type that are made from mdf and filled with sand. Maybe I'll do another post on this question!
There is no 'might' about it, when it comes to 'speaker stands making a difference. Although I really liked the look of the old Celef chrome 'table bases', with the Celef at 22"H x 12"W x 10.25"D a pair of Heybrook HBS1 stands will be just about perfect. Not pretty, mind, but the lovely wood finish of the 'speakers will dominate once the shock of the stands wears off (for her).

Heybrook-HBS1-Speaker-Stands.jpg


Suggest you focus purely on system setup, especially so, the 'speaker stands, before even thinking about changing out the amplifier. You've not really heard your existing system yet.
 
There is no 'might' about it, when it comes to 'speaker stands making a difference. Although I really liked the look of the old Celef chrome 'table bases', with the Celef at 22"H x 12"W x 10.25"D a pair of Heybrook HBS1 stands will be just about perfect. Not pretty, mind, but the lovely wood finish of the 'speakers will dominate once the shock of the stands wears off (for her).

Heybrook-HBS1-Speaker-Stands.jpg


Suggest you focus purely on system setup, especially so, the 'speaker stands, before even thinking about changing out the amplifier. You've not really heard your existing system yet.
 
Thanks for that. I think you're right. I'll get the speaker stands first, then look at upgrading the amp now I have some recommendations. So you reckon that style of stand is more appropriate than the type which are hollow and filled with sand?
 
Jon Perry.. apologies if you already know this but minidisc is a compressed audio format. If you play compressed audio through a revealing system it will sound average compared to CD which is what you are hearing.
I didn't realise that. I thought it was an exact copy! That certainly explains why the cd sounds bette. Cheers.
 
Definitely follow the advice above and concentrate on getting your existing kit setup properly in order to get the best out of it. Speaker stands and decent speaker cables and interconnects will help, as well as getting the positioning in the room right. What will the audio kit sit on? You don't need to spend a fortune on all this. Your old setup might be all you want/need with a bit of setup/service and tweaking. You can always sell the Audiolab amp if it isn't what you want. The benefit of buying used at the right price is that you can try and move on for little or no loss if it doesn't work out.
 
I didn't realise that. I thought it was an exact copy! That certainly explains why the cd sounds bette. Cheers.
Ironically, we can blame Sony, the co-developers of Compact Disc, for lossy compression. Their ATRAC (Adaptive TRansform Acoustic Coding, had to wiki that!) started out reducing the 1.4Mb/s of CD to a 292kb/s data stream, a 5 to 1 data reduction.

Later developments introduced LP (Long Play) vs SP (Standard Play) recording/playback modes, with HI-LP at 64kb/s vs. HI-SP at 256kb/s. The compression system of these machines was dubbed ATRAC3plus.

Not that many MD users would have bothered with such, however, the HI-MD specification also supported linear PCM (fully uncompressed 1411.2kb/s CD data) at much reduced record/playback times. This would be indistinguishable from CD.
 
Thanks for that. I think you're right. I'll get the speaker stands first, then look at upgrading the amp now I have some recommendations. So you reckon that style of stand is more appropriate than the type which are hollow and filled with sand?
I've a distinct preference for stout open frame stands, myself; especially so, with smallish to medium sized 'bookshelf' models. Filling with sand need not apply. I don't use top spikes, preferring instead small pea-sized blobs of Blu-Tac at each corner between top plate and speaker bottom. These will compress as thin as paper and adhere so well that it will require twisting the speaker boxes off, else risk ripping the veneer from the bottoms. With HBS1 and Blu-Tac'd speakers, the kids would have to be linebackers to knock them over.
 
I'd try and find a Myst TMA-3, a John Shearne Phase 2 or a Colin Wonfor designed Inca Tech Claymore integrated.

All quite lively and sound fabulous, with great hi-fi credentials and will only go up in value.
 
Audiolab amps are best for classical & similar music rather than rock music ( gut wrenching music with lots of distortion lol. I once visited a guy who had an all Naim system I was selling a passive preamp to and my ears hurt listening), why some didnt like them I think complaining they are "grey" sounding. Bass improved going from 8000a to 8000p to 8000ms ( that I have)

The Tag Mclaren version were I think pitched a bit darker sounding. I also have their PA10+60P separates broadly equivalent to the 8000c+8000P and the latter are definitley lighter in tone ( non pejoratively) "greyer" if you like rather than "blacker" I could never make up my mind which I prefer.
 
Ironically, we can blame Sony, the co-developers of Compact Disc, for lossy compression. Their ATRAC (Adaptive TRansform Acoustic Coding, had to wiki that!) started out reducing the 1.4Mb/s of CD to a 292kb/s data stream, a 5 to 1 data reduction.

Later developments introduced LP (Long Play) vs SP (Standard Play) recording/playback modes, with HI-LP at 64kb/s vs. HI-SP at 256kb/s. The compression system of these machines was dubbed ATRAC3plus.

Not that many MD users would have bothered with such, however, the HI-MD specification also supported linear PCM (fully uncompressed 1411.2kb/s CD data) at much reduced record/playback times. This would be indistinguishable from CD.

minidisc can sound pretty good if you use a modern DAC like my Audiolab 8200cdq. I never liked the sound from their decks which lets face it did not have the best dacs due to costs ( Sony 940/980 cost about £250 at the time, I paid £200 for the last JB980) & I have been hard pressed to find significant differences between an SP recording digital out and a cd through my Audiolab 8200cdq/8000ms into Epos M12i. And we will never know how good the AtracPLUS codecs were since Sony never supplied a deck that suported that ( did any HiMd portables have digital out?)
 


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