Cyrus 2 is truly remarkable. After more than 30years of collecting countless amplifiers, It is hard to believe Cyrus 2 is now my reference amplifier. It is extremely neutral, transparent, fast and accurate. Its highs , mid and low bass are perfectly balanced. It has a more realistic timbre of cymbals, drum snare reverb and piano dynamics than my current marantz pm10 known for its sonic superiority. I have done a 10khz square wave scope test and was very amazed cyrus 2 produced a perfect square hardly found on amplifiers made in that era! Many amps produced today have disappointing 10khz square wave readouts Cyrus 1 is just as good but Cyrus 2 pumps ultra low bass to my power hungry Harbeth 40.1 to another realm. Its MM and MC phono stages are exemplary. Unmatched transparency, detail and noise-free. Sadly, the current cyrus produced these days do not have the vigor and sparkle of the ancient cyrus 2.

Poor looking design. But it is way ahead of its time.

I first listened to Cyrus amplifiers over 20 years ago and was very impressed with the sound quality then. Recently, I have been building my own amplifiers and enjoying listening to them but just bought a Cyrus Two (plastic version) off eBay for £85 including postage. After replacing the main power amplifier capacitors (about £5 total), it still sounds incredibly good and I cant believe the negative tosh some "reviewers" write about this lovely amp. No bass? - you are kidding! It has its faults (forward, bright sound with narrow soundstage) but for sheer musicality and listening enjoyment, this amplifier is hard to beat unless you spend £1000's more. The additional PSX power supply does add a bit more bass and oompf but the amplifier is already optimised to deliver great performance with many typical speaker systems so not an essential purchase. You would be far better to buy another Cyrus amp and convert into mono-blocs.

To begin with I was quite disapointed this amp. The vertion I have is the cyrus 2 mark 3. From what I have read the best of the bunch.
I found the treble was spashy and not much in the way of good detail. However the sound improved greatly after around 60 hours of use. I later realised new interconnects was the problem.
Now after around 300 hours of listning I can say I have fallen for this amp.
I like the minimal design. I dont mind the finish eather. Nextel finish, the mark 3 is all metal in construction.
The soundstage is fantastic, just try Dire Straights Alchemy and imagine being stood in the mixing booth.
The amp takes hold of the music and punches it out. Huge dynamics. I really could do with a bigger room to really wind this baby up.
Bass is well controlled, mids are very musical and treble sounds spot on. Although bass will go deep there may not be enough for bass heads.
The presentation of music is very very neutral. If the music was well recorded and the disk well mastered thats what you will hear, conversly the opposite is true.
This amp will take a while to warm up and you may notice it getting slightly louder as it does so.
This is an amp for vinyl lovers. If you want a amp for cd playback pass this over and leave it for someone
who wants to use it with a turntable.
I have read on other reviews here about a slight hum. I tryed to get mine to hum. Only with the volume wound right round with no source playing was a hum heard.
In summary hook this amp up with any decent vinyl set up for hours of plesure. Use bigger speakers if you want more bass I guess.

Mission Cyrus 2 + PSX metal box ms6 on lead-filled mounts

Superb phono-stage: used with almost any MM deck this will sound good

However with marantz CD6000 the bass is loose slow and woolly and the treble just shreiks, I also tried phillipsCD same result...this box just won't play classica/l orchestral/organ/opera....ok/good for rock/pop music due to the high compression in the recording...(.larger speakers might assist the messy sound stage)

Surprisingly in view of the above, FM reproduction is steady and assured even with a modest sony tuner...with a manual-tuned marantz ST300 it was equally assured...it would be interesting to hear how it will cope with the lower-quality of DAB....FM carrier-wave squeek was not noticeable


conclusion
pair with good quality record deck for a superb vinyl set up
Don't bother with the headphone socket ( it probably won't work anyway!)
may reward larger speakers to improve CD but ultimately there are better integrated amps out there if you wish to listen to CD. Should be able to pick up decent specimens around £350 all in

soundstage, mids and highs, clarity

deep bass is not to be expected

I guessed where to post this review - under Cyrus 1 or Cyrus 2.
In fact the amplifier I am describing is a Mission Cambridge - one which is similar to Mission Cyrus.
The looks is quite the same but the cover is made of metal rather than plastic.
I have not seen any written specs but I estimate it is somewhere in the 50W per channel region.
Just from the beginning I somewhat fell for this amplifier.
It sounded open and clear with a good soundstage.
Without pretending to be in the hi-end category it was obvious that this was a
quality product.
What I wanted to say is that I upgraded the amplifier:
1. replaced the 4 caps in the pre-amplifier section with Black Gates
2. replaced 2 sets of the input RCAs with Cardas
3. replaced the speaker terminals with Cardas Rhodium over copper
4. removed the cover - it simply coud not fit as the Black Gates I installed are bigger in size than the previous capacitors (although same values)
The amplifier is now in a different class - it is unbeliavable how much better it is.
There is a deep soundstage behind the speakers.
The highs and especially mids are astonishing.
The bass line is well defined (especially bass guitar) although there is no much power in the deep bass area.
But it is unrealistic to expect deep bass from an amplifier of this type and size.
I don't know which of the changes contributes most to this great effect but I guess that all are important.
I am sure that any Cyrus 2 amplifier can be upgraded in the same way to a great effect.
I strongly recommend the upgrade.

FantasticSound Quality.

Some options common in modern amps missing (not really necessary thou).

The Cyrus 2 is a legendary classic amp, a thoroughbred among many mass-market models available in the mid-80's and still sought after by audiophiles for its holographic imaging, full bass and sweet treble, though careful system matching and cabling is important to get the best sound. Some may find the sound hard with incorrect speakers, but careful matching will be rewarded with a solid dependable amp which can still out-perform moderm amplifiers under £1000. Used the Cyrus 2 can cost £150 - 270 with PSX power supply.

A PSX power supply is available which boosts the power and performance of the amp, but the original amp MUST have the two internal fuses removed from it otherwise connection to the PSX will result in blown fuses in the PSX. Also when set up the amps must be set up in sequence, and any alterations such as speaker cable/interconnect changes must be done while the units are switched off. Warming up time should be only one hour, these are Class AB amops and they run very hot, so no stting inside a rack, they must have a lot of ventilation.

Phono for MM / MC switchable, also CD output, Tuner, Headphones, Tape in and Tape out. One set of speaker terminals, biamping is uneccessary if a good quality single run of cable is used for each speaker.

If you manage to pick up one of these gems you will be "amply" rewarded!

Customer Service

Excellent web site and many service outlets nationwide.

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Various makes, most sound muddy compared to Cyrus 2

Detailed and fast, not much-but deep and taut bass. Solidly built.

Styling is extremely dated. lacking in depth. A hint of brightness. Power button and the inputs are not as well thought out or designed, or just plain hopeless.

Bought this amp to replace my NAD 310. Was looking for more power, and detail. Equipment used: Marantz CD67SE, Mordaunt Short MS10i, Wireworld Terra III speaker cables and Wireworld Oasis II interconnects. Initial impressions of the Cyrus 2 were, built like a tank, kinda ugly, listening wise..had good taut bass, lots of detail. I didn't have too much of a problem with the forwardness, as the soundstage feels large. Although i run them with tiny MS10i's, you can go really loud without any problems. Even 'busy' music played loud had everything solidly stuck on the soundstage. Made the speakers sound larger overall. Good for all types of music, including soft jazz and vocals to rock music. looking for a PSX now.

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none

no frills. great sound/price. strong bass. British

a little plasticy. speaker connectors too close together.

this is a huge improvement over the cambride audio amp that i had previously. the bass is very controlled and the detail is fantastic and all at a bargain price. however ther is a slight 'humming' from the amp. is this normal? i am thinking about upgrading with a psx power supply as the 'humm' sounds like its coming from the transformer and ive also been told that the external power supply help improve the all around sound quality. can the psx simply be pluged in or is any adaption of the amp required? also is the addition of the psx likely to cure the humm as the transformer will be outside the unit? if anyone could help me with this it would be great. send me an email.... also does anyone in the UK have a psx they want to sell?

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too many to list

AFTER modifications, very imporved at all fronts, Superb mid & high, good bass steering for sub (17cm alu) each channal, over all control and stereo image improved (according to other interlinks and speakercable)

Cause of lower powersupply voltage, a lower maximal output, but more currentdelivery by greater total supllyment (trafo&cap's) further NO weaknesses found so for in combination with my final 0.3's.:)))

Play Cyrus2+PSX, Full modified: higher Class A adjustment, other in-and out connectors, silver wire intern, other transformer in PSX, other Caps, other shielded 230V cable. Playing with Final 0.3 biwired.

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Adcom CD player GCD-575, Art Speak interlinks, Art Speak speaker cable (2x6mm2 bi-wired). Art Speak 230 V cable.

Heavy casework. Neutral sound (too neutral for me).

Weak connectors, speaker outputs to close. Thin sound. Compared to the Unico it's not much good.

Cyrus 2 + PSX. There are so many versions! Bought it for 500 euro. Loved it in first instance, but after a few weeks I realized it was lacking in solid bass and mid. High was sharp and uncontrolled. Traded it in for a Unison Research Unico (hybrid) (1250 euro). I was astonished. Everything is there and much more in balance. Sweet high, great mid (where the music is) and refined but solid bass. Once you get valves you never go back!

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Used in a setup with NAD C541i CD player and Vifa Carat speakers. LS cables VdH Royal Jade, Interconnect VdH Source