Audiolab 8000S with Turntable - Basic Question

Piercemeear

Hi all,

My dad gave me his Audiolab 8000S amplifier recently. I just bought a Project Debut turntable for it. I don't actually have speakers yet (on order), so I just set it up tonight to listen with my headphones (Grado R125s).

My question is a pretty basic one about amps I guess. The amp has no phono input so I put it in the Aux-In. Is this right? The output I'm getting is pretty quiet on the headphones. Sounds great though.

Do I need a separate pre-amp? I thought this amp was integrated — had a pre-amp within it. Or maybe it's just the headphones that are quiet, the speakers will be louder?

Any thoughts?

(here's the amp manual:
www.audiolab.co.uk/downloads/service/8000S/Brochure/8000S_11.pdf )

Idleater

The 8000s does not have a phono stage, so you will need to buy one of those.

The line level output from a record player needs to be amplified significantly more than other line level outputs (eg cd player).

Piercemeear

Okay, that makes sense. Thanks for the response. I will look around but can you recommend a decent but not too expensive phono stage? "Finest cheapest" etc. I'm not exactly an audiophile but don't want a piece of crap either.

Idleater

Richer sounds appear to have a few.
Such as this, this, or this
Presumably there are other shops that stock similar items, but you get the idea.

Slaphead07

Nerid speaks the truth. The older Audiolab amps had a great phono stage but this vontag, as you've found out, doesn't. That said it is a fantastic amp and any of those phono stages work be fine.

Piercemeear

Thanks folks. I am reading good things about the NAD PP2 and the price is right, so I'm going to see about ordering that.

Appreciate all the help.

Slaphead07

Piercemeear wrote: »

Thanks folks. I am reading good things about the NAD PP2 and the price is right, so I'm going to see about ordering that.

Appreciate all the help.

Might I suggest that when the time comes to buy speakers that you avoid anything that might 'jar' with the Audiolab? The amp has a lovely soft "British" sound and that gets lost if you use speakers such as Mission or B&W. Wharfdale or Kef would be good budget speakers, System Audio if you can spend a bit more (Cloney might have some second hand). If you don't already have a CD player, again choose carefully. Marantz used to be the natural partner of Audiolab but their sound has become tinny over the years. The better NAD players make a good match.

Piercemeear

Just to come back to the preamp for a moment: Richer Sounds are currently out of stock of the NAD PP2 but they're recommending the Cambridge Azur 540P and willing to do it at the same price. You think it's a good option?

Slaphead07 wrote: »

Might I suggest that when the time comes to buy speakers that you avoid anything that might 'jar' with the Audiolab? The amp has a lovely soft "British" sound and that gets lost if you use speakers such as Mission or B&W. Wharfdale or Kef would be good budget speakers, System Audio if you can spend a bit more (Cloney might have some second hand). If you don't already have a CD player, again choose carefully. Marantz used to be the natural partner of Audiolab but their sound has become tinny over the years. The better NAD players make a good match.

I was actually waiting on a pair of B&W's from Cloney. Well, I haven't ordered them, but they're unavailable until next month and I was thinking of a set of 685s. It seemed a well-recommended speaker that I could budget for. I guess I'll have to do some reading. Thanks for the pointer. I'll look up the options you've mentioned.

Slaphead07

Piercemeear wrote: »

Just to come back to the preamp for a moment: Richer Sounds are currently out of stock of the NAD PP2 but they're recommending the Cambridge Azur 540P and willing to do it at the same price. You think it's a good option?.

Grab it. It is a better box. Assuming your cart is a moving magnet one.

Piercemeear wrote: »

I was actually waiting on a pair of B&W's from Cloney. Well, I haven't ordered them, but they're unavailable until next month and I was thinking of a set of 685s. It seemed a well-recommended speaker that I could budget for. I guess I'll have to do some reading. Thanks for the pointer. I'll look up the options you've mentioned.

The B&Ws can't do justice to the subtlety of the Audiolab, Cloneys might have second-hand System Audio, Pro-ac or Castle any of which would be a better match. B&Ws can be a bit 'shouty' unless you're buying the big boys and they're serious money.

Piercemeear

Okay, cool. The preamp is ordered. I will have a read up and a chat with Cloney. Thanks, you've been really helpful.

Piercemeear

My preamp came yesterday. Sounding great and thanks for the advice.

Slaphead07 wrote: »

The B&Ws can't do justice to the subtlety of the Audiolab, Cloneys might have second-hand System Audio, Pro-ac or Castle any of which would be a better match. B&Ws can be a bit 'shouty' unless you're buying the big boys and they're serious money.

I asked the guy in Richer Sounds about speakers since I was on to them and he suggested the Monitor Audio RS1, which he said will sound great with the 8000. Any thoughts on these? I'm searching around and seeing mixed results, I guess I'm thinking in relation to my setup specifically.

Slaphead07

Piercemeear wrote: »

I asked the guy in Richer Sounds about speakers since I was on to them and he suggested the Monitor Audio RS1, which he said will sound great with the 8000.

Well he would wouldn't he?;) I'm not a fan of of MA speakers, fine for cinema but not very musical. (I'll now await Monitor Audio owners telling us how brilliant they are). Second Hand floorstanders would be the way to go. The Audiolab has a very "British" sound (i.e. polite) and works best with civilised speakers such as those I mentioned above. Ironically B&Ws, though made in Britain, have a very unBritish sound! Unless you get into the very top of the range B&Ws which are a whole other, and very desirable, beast.

Piercemeear

Slaphead07 wrote: »

Well he would wouldn't he?;)

Ah yeah, I take advice from sellers with a pinch of salt. That's why I'm here. I'll look into your suggestions above, thanks.

viperirl

I had MA speakers before and they were very bright. I had problems in taming this brightness at first. Not using silver cabling helped with this and a pair of Van Den Hul First Ultimate interconnects really settled things down. I probably should have changed the speakers instead but thats another story.

Their sound is very 'forward' and as Slaphead said above this would be ok for home cinema sound. For music, there are better options out there.

Dancing_Priest

I have a set of Wharfedale Diamond 9.4's that i'm using with a Mission Cyrus One hooked up to a Rega Planar 3 with a Grado Reference Platinum cart.
It's taken about a year to get them settled in (I've moved house 4 times since getting them ).
They have a very nice, laid back sound which is slightly warm and goes very well with the Cyrus One which has been accused of being quite bright (I cant comment, my last speakers were Wharfedale Linton 2's from the 70's)
To my ears the Wharfedales are a very pleasurable listening experience which may not be the last word in Hi-Fi but hooked up to my equipment they allways get my feet tapping.

EDIT: Oh and by the way, the stand mount 9.1's seem to get better reviews, but ive not heard them, and I find floorstanders take a lot of hastle and cost out of things in the long run.