ritesh Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 Hi, I have been auditioning integrated amps (with a friend who also has a KEF Q1, same as me). Various amps have been demo'ed (with the KEFs), including Arcam A70, Cambridge Audio 840A, YBA 201, Audio Innovation Alto, Talk Electronics Storm1, Rega Brio3, Creek Evo, Cyrus 6vs, Musical Fidelity X100T, Marantz PM11-S1, Exposure 2010s, Consonance a120, Rotel RA-1070. I also plan to also audition the NAD c372. So far I like the Creek, Cyrus and the Rotel; and after the demo'ing of NAD, may go for a second round with just these. I was wondering if anyone has had experiences with any of these? Any comments, reviews etc, would be much appreciated, Thanks, Ritesh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alebonau Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 havent heard the creek ritesh, but I dont personally think the nad or rotel are in the league of the cyrus. and the cyrus is ever so flexible, down the line its full upgradeable can add power supplies or power amps etc. in the end though not what I think is important ritesh but how you find these for your self. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozcal Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 Hi, I have been auditioning integrated amps (with a friend who also has a KEF Q1, same as me). Various amps have been demo'ed (with the KEFs), including Arcam A70, Cambridge Audio 840A, YBA 201, Audio Innovation Alto, Talk Electronics Storm1, Rega Brio3, Creek Evo, Cyrus 6vs, Musical Fidelity X100T, Marantz PM11-S1, Exposure 2010s, Consonance a120, Rotel RA-1070. I also plan to also audition the NAD c372. So far I like the Creek, Cyrus and the Rotel; and after the demo'ing of NAD, may go for a second round with just these. I was wondering if anyone has had experiences with any of these? Any comments, reviews etc, would be much appreciated, Thanks, Ritesh [/b] Hi R ,can't really speak to compatibility with the KEF's but of the brands you have chosen as being favourites I think both the Creek and the Cyrus are most likely to give you the greatest degree of insight into the music.Creek is generally a bit more laid back and sweeter with the Cyrus being more detailed and dynamic.Both CR & CY are great amps but personal taste will dictate the final choice. Gordon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ritesh Posted March 23, 2007 Author Share Posted March 23, 2007 Hi R ,can't really speak to compatibility with the KEF's but of the brands you have chosen as being favourites I think both the Creek and the Cyrus are most likely to give you the greatest degree of insight into the music.Creek is generally a bit more laid back and sweeter with the Cyrus being more detailed and dynamic.Both CR & CY are great amps but personal taste will dictate the final choice. Gordon [/b] Interesting that's what I thought it would be like except the Creek Evo is quite lively, and has more snap than the Cyrus. But Al, is right, Cyrus is upgradable, can be used as just a pre down the line.... Not sure if any of these have HT input for seemless integration with the HT.... Ritesh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alebonau Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 Interesting that's what I thought it would be like except the Creek Evo is quite lively, and has more snap than the Cyrus. But Al, is right, Cyrus is upgradable, can be used as just a pre down the line.... Not sure if any of these have HT input for seemless integration with the HT.... Ritesh [/b] I think jsut about all would have a pre-out to use as a pre fruther down ritesh. the cyrus upgradeablity is more that you can add power supply to improve performance, can be used with other cyrus components, can be upgraded upto the 8vs, plus the option of plug in stuff and ability to add power amps for bi-amping etc. need to check local availability of the updates unfortunately none of these have a ht bypass for that you need to look at the mf a3.5 or CA840A or arcam a90 the arcam a90 is another king of the upgrades, you can add a 5.1 analog input daughter board and then if you run an a90 power amp you basically have a very competant base for 2ch and multichannel. again will need to check locally re avaialbility of these upgrades. anyways not an amp you checked out by the looks, would be well worth a gander even in its basic form Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k371n Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 Various amps have been demo'ed.. Musical Fidelity X100T [/b] hello ritesh, Where did you demo the MF XT-100? Was it using the Triple-X PSU? cheers k_ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ritesh Posted March 24, 2007 Author Share Posted March 24, 2007 hello ritesh, Where did you demo the MF XT-100? Was it using the Triple-X PSU? cheers k_ [/b] CAV at Melbourne, yes it was using the Triple-X PSU. Ritesh I think jsut about all would have a pre-out to use as a pre fruther down ritesh. [/b] From the specs, it seems that the Creek Evo surprisingly has no preouts. the cyrus upgradeablity is more that you can add power supply to improve performance, can be used with other cyrus components, can be upgraded upto the 8vs, plus the option of plug in stuff and ability to add power amps for bi-amping etc. need to check local availability of the updates [/b] good point..... it is also interesting to see that MF has followed similar form-factory for their upgrade of a3.5 aka X100T, it is very cyrus style box with seperate psu. unfortunately none of these have a ht bypass for that you need to look at the mf a3.5 or CA840A or arcam a90 the arcam a90 is another king of the upgrades, you can add a 5.1 analog input daughter board and then if you run an a90 power amp you basically have a very competant base for 2ch and multichannel. again will need to check locally re avaialbility of these upgrades. anyways not an amp you checked out by the looks, would be well worth a gander even in its basic form [/b] Will have a look at A90, Thanx, Ritesh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alebonau Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 CAV at Melbourne, yes it was using the Triple-X PSU. Ritesh From the specs, it seems that the Creek Evo surprisingly has no preouts. good point..... it is also interesting to see that MF has followed similar form-factory for their upgrade of a3.5 aka X100T, it is very cyrus style box with seperate psu. Will have a look at A90, Thanx, Ritesh [/b] actaully re the mf a3.5 suprised thats one you did not demo ? I saw one at e-home today. the x100T is infact not an upgrade of the a3.5 the x100T is part fo the x series to go with the xray cd player and like the rest of the x series has the upgrade potential with psu etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozcal Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 Interesting that's what I thought it would be like except the Creek Evo is quite lively, and has more snap than the Cyrus. But Al, is right, Cyrus is upgradable, can be used as just a pre down the line.... Not sure if any of these have HT input for seemless integration with the HT.... Ritesh [/b] I should have added that my comments were based on my hands on experience of both brands ,over 15 years ago :blush: .Both brands have changed hands in that time and I don't know if Mike Creek is still involved with the design of the brand.The original Cyrus stuff was designed by Henry Azima , one of the 2 brothers that owned Mission originally but Henry was beginning to suffer with hearing problems towards the end of the original companies days and I believe they had already started to hand off the design process to his juniors before the company was bought out.These days Cyrus is owned by some of the guys that used to work for Mission back in the early days and from what I have read their commitment to the brand quality is just as strong as it was back in the eighties. I used Cyrus amps for a long time and at one time ran 2 Cyrus2/psx combos , 1 per channel , driving my Gale401A's , boy did that sound good. Al's correct about the lack of ht bypass on the Cyrus amps and unfortunately this is one area where a lot of the UK brands still lag behind their US cousins. Oh well another trip down memory lane.Good luck with the hunt Ritesh. Gordon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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