ok, here's the thing. I've had an Arcam Alpha 1 stereo amp since 1990. It's a lovely little amp at its price point, but I stress the word little -- it only drives 20W per channel. This was fine when we lived in a smaller house and the Mission 760 speakers I bought with it were a good match. Now we live in a larger house and if all things remained equal I would probably still hang onto this amp because it's good. However, a few years back it developed a crackle. I had it fixed, but it's back. It used to be that it would crackle until warmed up, but now it does it pretty much all the time.

So, I'm looking to you good folks for some advice. I need to replace the amp. I still have a Technics tape deck, Sony CD player, and Rega Planar 2 turntable which I really like, so all I need is a new amp. I can pick up an Arcam Alpha 8 on Ebay for about £90 and, I presume, that would still work fine with my Mission 760s. But as I'm looking for a replacement, perhaps I should get something that will fill the larger space it now inhabits.

I have seen some good things said about the Cambridge Azure 650A which I can pick up new for about £349. But then I'll need new speakers as that baby puts out 75 W per channel.

So, anybody have and good amp and speaker recommendations?

...My hearing aid?

I'm just gonna come out and say it, I haven't a clue what you just said.

yahh uhm... i don't know either what your talking about