£2000 to spend - what on?

toweliechaos

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Hi,

I have looked at a Ruark R7 (and currently own the R2i) and obviously it is a beautiful thing. However, I hesitate at that sort of money for that kind of device.

Can anyone recommend a collection of separates that keeps a similar feature set for roughly the same amount? Still needs to look pretty though - going into the sitting room and needs wife approval.

Ideally, amp, CD player, tuner(s) and speakers. Turntable would also be nice, but I'd be adding that to the R7 also. However, unlike the R7, there would possibly be an additional need for a cabinet/stand of some description.

Looking forward to the wisdom and suggestions!
 

dim_span

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Yamaha NS1000 M monitor speakers .... there are a pair on ebay with a buy it now of £899

Musical Fidelity A5 intergrated amp ... theres one on ebay now for £699

Acoustic Precision Eikos CDP .... theres one on ebay now for £879

that brings the total to £2477 .... a bit over your £2k budget, but it will be hard to beat this combo IMHO (if set up properly)
 

James7

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Marantz PM6005, CD6005 and NA7004, with something like Q Acoustics Concept 20 on their dedicated stands, will leave money over even after cables and a rack to put towards a turntable. The amp has a built in phono stage.

There are other options of course. Cambridge, Denon, etc offer similarly priced, competitive alternatives, and if you could spend a little bit more, Rega's Apollo R and Brio R CD and amp would be worth checking out - A Rega turntable and speakers would make for an impressive one-make system, although you might need to look elsewhere for a streamer with tuners.

try to hear the R7 though - it might not be able to compete in some areas like soundstage but you might feel it gets close enough in sound quality that its convenience and looks win out.
 

drummerman

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You obviously like the 'wood look' and I have to say there is something very nice and certainly unusual about the R7. Perhaps the exposed middle bit kind of takes away a little from the retro look? That apart, it would be a talking point for visitors if they are as sad as me.

Peachtree Audio do a range of amplifiers/DAC's which may gain wife approval. If you go on their main website you'll also find good deals on refurbished products. However, they are not as comprehensivly specified as the the Ruark. - You could use your DVD player as transport though with the in-built DAC's of the Peachtree. You would have enough left over for speakers and a turntable.

Elipson do an interesting music centre (google it) with matching speakers which was very well reviewed by the press. It comes in under your budget but deviates from the retro-look. Still, I personally think it looks rather fetching, especially with the gloss-red speakers!

Bang and Olufsen just launched the 'Moment', an integrated music system for streaming. Looks fantastic. I think you'd need an active speaker with it. For example, a pair of AVI DM5. The two would be slightly over your budget by perhaps £300 and I'm not sure if the Moment has analogue ins for a turntable. Information is a little patchy as it is just launched.

Then there is Naim's Muso, which may appeal. Way under budget and from a big name in audio. Analogue in via 3.5mm.

The afromentioned AVI do smart looking/functioning active speakers (no need for separate amplifiers and in case of the ADM, it has built-in DAC too). Again, you'd need something to function as transport, such as a DVD player if you have one and they don't have streaming facilities built-in if that is important but they do have powerful amplifiers and lovely real wood veneers.

Other than that, there are several integrated solutions (one or two-box systems) from Naim, Cyrus and others also worth considering. With appropriate speakers they may win on sound quality but you'd loose the 'all-in-one' factor. However, if the Ruark tickles your fancy ... why not and I love that integrated remote controller! That plus there probably won't be to much about it on forums so you hopefully won't feel bullyed into 'upgrading' to soon ...

It may even get the 'chebby approval' ... much harder to obtain than the one from wifes ... ?

Speaking of the devil, he uses a Marantz MCR-610 which does all of the things of the Ruark (bar speakers) in small package for less money but also less style.
 

rainsoothe

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hi

1. what's the size of your room?

2. what music are you mostly into?

3. how necessary is the turntable - aka do you already own records, and, if not, will you really get into the record listening thingie? Because if you're unsure, it might be best to just get a higher quality CD/streaming setup then geting a turntable and letting it gather dust.

4. does the 2k budget include the turntable or not?
 

Superaintit

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The beolab 9 second hand can be had for that price. If you're like me you'll never want something else after that. My box swapping ended with them. Only buy music and blu rays nowadays
 

toweliechaos

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1. Low ceilinged room appx. 5.5m x 3m

2. I'm a musician and my taste selection incorporates a very, very wide range of styles

3. My vinyl has gone missing but will no doubt turn up one day and would be a 'very nice to have' if not a complete deal-clincher

4. Not necessarily. The Ruark is £2k without turntable for comparison

I've had a look at some of the suggestions and they all miss out here and there. I have auditioned the R7 and it is gorgeous in both sound and looks. My hesitation is in knowing that I might need/want to put a turntable nearby/on top which will rather shatter the styling. I would also quite like to have the speakers separate in order to better facilitate positioning of equipment.

Some of the suggestions are either missing Internet radio or a CD player or something else. Not sure why someone mentioned BeoLab 9s - a pair of speakers at £4k and no output device?!

I think logic says to go for the R7. Looks great, sounds great and all very neat and tidy. My heart however keeps saying "but surely you need separate speakers at the very least?". If the R7 was upgraded into a 5.1 DTS engine to which I could add my existing speakers, it would be a no-brainer to buy it along with the AV mount. But they've already confirmed that is nothing more than an idea at present.

If only stuff didn't need wires all the time...
 

Craig M.

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Pair of AVI DM10s? They are a complete system bar source, so the speakers contain the DAC and amps. They have analogue inputs so a TT and pre-amp could be plugged in, and optical inputs so any CD/DVD/BDP with an optical out could be used or an Airport Express via optical to wirelessly stream iTunes/internet radio/Spotify from your computer or phone.
 

davedotco

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Craig M. said:
Pair of AVI DM10s? They are a complete system bar source, so the speakers contain the DAC and amps. They have analogue inputs so a TT and pre-amp could be plugged in, and optical inputs so any CD/DVD/BDP with an optical out could be used or an Airport Express via optical to wirelessly stream iTunes/internet radio/Spotify from your computer or phone.

I was thinking along similar lines but using the Dynaudio Xeo set up.

Get a nice bit of furniture to take the sources and Xeo controller. keep them nicely out of sight and the wireless speakers go wherever you want, they just need mains power.
 

James7

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toweliechaos said:
1. Low ceilinged room appx. 5.5m x 3m

2. I'm a musician and my taste selection incorporates a very, very wide range of styles

3. My vinyl has gone missing but will no doubt turn up one day and would be a 'very nice to have' if not a complete deal-clincher

4. Not necessarily. The Ruark is £2k without turntable for comparison

I've had a look at some of the suggestions and they all miss out here and there. I have auditioned the R7 and it is gorgeous in both sound and looks. My hesitation is in knowing that I might need/want to put a turntable nearby/on top which will rather shatter the styling. I would also quite like to have the speakers separate in order to better facilitate positioning of equipment.

Some of the suggestions are either missing Internet radio or a CD player or something else. Not sure why someone mentioned BeoLab 9s - a pair of speakers at £4k and no output device?!

I think logic says to go for the R7. Looks great, sounds great and all very neat and tidy. My heart however keeps saying "but surely you need separate speakers at the very least?". If the R7 was upgraded into a 5.1 DTS engine to which I could add my existing speakers, it would be a no-brainer to buy it along with the AV mount. But they've already confirmed that is nothing more than an idea at present.

If only stuff didn't need wires all the time...

i think given your needs I would go for the R7. Looks and sounds great to my eyes and ears too. The only area that having speakers separted from the rest of the system would make a real difference is soundstaging, and if that matters enough perhaps the best option would be a Naim Unitilite, which has the cd drive, amp and streamer to cover your radio needs built into one neat and tidy package. Adding speakers will probably take you above the £2000 mark, but not by much if you go for something like the Q Acoustics Concept 20, though you'll need stands for these. No phono input for a turntable I don't think but the Ruark doesn't either so in either case you'd need a phono stage. Good luck!
 

rainsoothe

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toweliechaos said:
1. Low ceilinged room appx. 5.5m x 3m

2. I'm a musician and my taste selection incorporates a very, very wide range of styles

3. My vinyl has gone missing but will no doubt turn up one day and would be a 'very nice to have' if not a complete deal-clincher

4. Not necessarily. The Ruark is £2k without turntable for comparison

I've had a look at some of the suggestions and they all miss out here and there. I have auditioned the R7 and it is gorgeous in both sound and looks. My hesitation is in knowing that I might need/want to put a turntable nearby/on top which will rather shatter the styling. I would also quite like to have the speakers separate in order to better facilitate positioning of equipment.

Some of the suggestions are either missing Internet radio or a CD player or something else. Not sure why someone mentioned BeoLab 9s - a pair of speakers at £4k and no output device?!

I think logic says to go for the R7. Looks great, sounds great and all very neat and tidy. My heart however keeps saying "but surely you need separate speakers at the very least?". If the R7 was upgraded into a 5.1 DTS engine to which I could add my existing speakers, it would be a no-brainer to buy it along with the AV mount. But they've already confirmed that is nothing more than an idea at present.

If only stuff didn't need wires all the time...

Well, it's very important that you heard and liked the R7, so you know you wouldn't be dissabpointed. If you like it, go for it. But before parting with that kind of money, you should at least hear some variants. There's plenty of alternatives out there, my go-to would be a Naim Unitilite or Uniti2 if you find a cheap ex-dem one. They have everything but a phono stage (although they do have analogue inputs) so all will be nice and clean. That, and I, for one, love the Naim sound - but of course you should audition for yourself. Partner a Unitilite with Neat Motive 2SE, Martin Logan Motion 20 (floorstanders), PMC DB1i, Kef LS50 or Focal Aria 906 (standmounts) and you should have a good audition there.

Racks and stands from Atacama seem to be very well recieved, but if it is way overbudget, anything should be ok till you can afford better - I use IKEA stuff and tennis balls cut in half for now :p

As for turntable setup, it doesn't all need to be ugly looking - google Audio Suspension ASU 100, it looks great and has good reviews. Only small problem would be cables, but hey - can't live without them, and there's ways to make them part of the decoration. Look into Rega RP3 Exact (or with Goldring 1042 cartrige if you want a smoother sound) or VPI Traveler turntables with Rega Phono MM MK2 / Graham Slee Gram Amp 2 SE phono stages. Or even give a VPI Nomad a go (it has an integrated phonostage which cannot be bypassed) if you want 1 less box (the phonostage) - it has great reviews.
 

toweliechaos

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Thanks to all for the suggestions. Sadly, most of the alternatives work out quite a bit more. The Naim Unitilite can't be had for less than 2k as far as I can see and I've still got speakers to add to that.

I will try and get myself some audtion time with a few alternatives but I suspect that nothing will combine the sound quality, looks, features and convenience of the R7 for the same price range.

This is not necessarilly a bad thing as it comes with style and wife approval!
 

drummerman

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toweliechaos said:
This is not necessarilly a bad thing as it comes with style and wife approval!

Which, as we all know, means happyness.

Plus you wont feel the need to upgrade and don't have to dabble in wires.

I like the concept of the R7 and hope you'll report back.
 

rainsoothe

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toweliechaos said:
Thanks to all for the suggestions. Sadly, most of the alternatives work out quite a bit more. The Naim Unitilite can't be had for less than 2k as far as I can see and I've still got speakers to add to that.

I will try and get myself some audtion time with a few alternatives but I suspect that nothing will combine the sound quality, looks, features and convenience of the R7 for the same price range.

This is not necessarilly a bad thing as it comes with style and wife approval!

There's two types of Unitilite, there's the newer version and there's the older one - and I think (not 100% sure, but you can check with your dealer) that the only thing the new one brings is bluetooth. The old(er) version is somewhere around 1.4k.
 

toweliechaos

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So, the time eventually came and I purchased - not the ruark in the end. Just no way to have a turntable connected without it all looking eurghp.

In the end, I went for Monitor Audio Radius 270 speakers with Cambridge CX series amp, cd transport and network streamer and a Project carbon esprit turntable.

Looks beautiful, sounds awesome.

Thanks all!
 

Vladimir

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1) Expensive 30W-60W integrated amp.

2) Cheap standmount speakers.

3) Cheap rubberband turntable or expensive CDP/DAC, your choice.

4) Boutique cables.
 

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