£3-4k to replace old Rotel Amps & CD player

[Frank Harvey]

Any reason why this would be an option David?

The reason I ask about the possibility of keeping your power amp is that it is a bloody good one, and I can't imagine the 8200MB's bringing much more to the table. That alone will save you £2k, which is put towards the speakers. As mentioned, look at the Audiolab 8200CDQ as source and pre, which leaves the rest of your budget for speakers. Temporarily I've been using an 8200CDQ at work to feed a Bryston 4Bsst2 and KEF Blades. It does a great job, although I'd say it wasn't quite refined enough for that system for higher volumes, but in the context of your system, it'll fit right in and sound great.

Depending on what sort of sound you're looking for, there's the ProAc D18 or D28, KEF R900, Monitor Audio GX300, Dynaudio Focus 260, and PMC Twenty.24.

 

[altruistic.lemon]

Neat Elite SX are hard to beat, if you want floor standers. Heard some with a Naim system the other day - detailed but sweet. A good option if you don't have room for Magnepan, which you'll need space for.

 

[Frank Harvey]

Agreed AL - I missed those out for some reason.

 

[dbbloke]

If you need spend 3-4k on an amp setup then this might be good.

http://cattylink.com/page234a.html not had any problems with this company myself fwiw, customs in uk could be an issue.

If it were me though, I would get a chinese integrated or just power amp, sell the speakers for sure and get seome much better ones. BnW which isn;t of the 80x variety just isnt hifi. Bristol is a good idea, few speakers to listen to there, probably biased though on account of the sponsors elavig with you as pmc as only choice. Usher do 'some' good kit though.

Then get an arcam/lampizator/JKdac some kind of media streamer (not an expensive naim one or some other stupidly priced kit) potentially with pre amp built in if going power amp route - again, lampizator built in pre option looks nice http//lampizator.eu/NEWDAC/Lampizator/Volume_Control.html but loads of value options which sound amazing.

 

[Nimrod79]

Using the quote button would make your posts more understandable.

Thanks Ben, noted by the newbie

 

[Overdose]

Thanks overdose, great option albeit rather revolutionary for me. Any other speakers high up on your list for 3-4k on your radar?

None that need an external amplifier.

Quested S8 - use with the 8200CDQ.

AVI ADM9 RSS - use with your existing CD player.

BeoLab 9 - Propbably too revolutionary and would bust the budget, so you would need to recoup some money from the existing equipment.

Don't worry about the revolutionary idea, it's all just connections.

EDIT: Some PMC Actives come in around your budget too and look quite nice.

 

[Nimrod79]

You should try to get a listen to these speakers; Dynaudio Excite X32 , ProAc Response D18 and PMC Twenty 23 , you might not even feel the need to chnage your RB-991 which should also play well with these.

8200-CDQ seems like a very practical product in combining a CDP, DAC and Pre-amp in one box. And if you move more towards streaming later on you can simply connect a streamer via the 8200-CDQ and take advantage of its high quality dac and preamp section.

Interesting and thanks for the recommendations. I think I'm warming to the idea of keeping the RB-991 and plug in a DAC straight in through the balanced connections and spend most of the budget on a new set of speakers.

Inte

 

[Nimrod79]

Any reason why this would be an option David?

The reason I ask about the possibility of keeping your power amp is that it is a bloody good one, and I can't imagine the 8200MB's bringing much more to the table. That alone will save you £2k, which is put towards the speakers. As mentioned, look at the Audiolab 8200CDQ as source and pre, which leaves the rest of your budget for speakers. Temporarily I've been using an 8200CDQ at work to feed a Bryston 4Bsst2 and KEF Blades. It does a great job, although I'd say it wasn't quite refined enough for that system for higher volumes, but in the context of your system, it'll fit right in and sound great.

Depending on what sort of sound you're looking for, there's the ProAc D18 or D28, KEF R900, Monitor Audio GX300, Dynaudio Focus 260, and PMC Twenty.24.

Thanks David,

I am used to the bassiness of the b&ws and would want some speakers that could deliver well in the bass department (Electronica is my bag). Does anyone have any experience with the B&W 804s? Bottom line is I need to go and listen to some speakers when in London (both Passive and Active). In respect of the 8200CDQ, with a move towards streaming music, is there any need for the preamp as I can connect an Audiolab MDAC straight into the RB991? I'll only be using digital sources for my listeneing needs.

 

[Nimrod79]

You should try to get a listen to these speakers; Dynaudio Excite X32 , ProAc Response D18 and PMC Twenty 23 , you might not even feel the need to chnage your RB-991 which should also play well with these.

8200-CDQ seems like a very practical product in combining a CDP, DAC and Pre-amp in one box. And if you move more towards streaming later on you can simply connect a streamer via the 8200-CDQ and take advantage of its high quality dac and preamp section.

Interesting and thanks for the recommendations. I think I'm warming to the idea of keeping the RB-991 and plug in a DAC straight in through the balanced connections and spend most of the budget on a new set of speakers.

 

[Overdose]

Bottom line is I need to go and listen to some speakers when in London (both Passive and Active). In respect of the 8200CDQ, with a move towards streaming music, is there any need for the preamp as I can connect an Audiolab MDAC straight into the RB991? I'll only be using digital sources for my listeneing needs.

If you intend to purchase the M-DAC, then a preamp would not be necessary, as one is incorporated into it.

Your system will need a source, pre amp, power amp and speakers. Various solutions will have one or more of these items integrated, so you will need to be careful not to spend unecessarily on redundancy in the equipment.

For the money, I'd say that the 8200CDQ offered more VFM, being a pre amp, DAC and CD player. Like the M-DAC, this could then be used to plug a streaming solution into. If you are looking at preamp/DACs, then the Benchmark DAC2 HGC might do the job, but would leave you 'only' up to £2K for the speakers.

As a matter of interest, how high on the list of your priorites do the looks of the speakers come? If you are not too bothered about what some may consider 'utilitarian', then also have a look at Genelec, Event and other Quested monitors (some HERE).

With your budget, you can have a lot of fun and dealers should be bending over backwards to help you out with a good deal.

 

[Frank Harvey]

Thanks David,

I am used to the bassiness of the b&ws and would want some speakers that could deliver well in the bass department (Electronica is my bag). Does anyone have any experience with the B&W 804s? Bottom line is I need to go and listen to some speakers when in London (both Passive and Active). In respect of the 8200CDQ, with a move towards streaming music, is there any need for the preamp as I can connect an Audiolab MDAC straight into the RB991? I'll only be using digital sources for my listeneing needs.

If you're not in need of a CD player the mDAC will do fine.

 

[Timpd]

Edited

 

[Nimrod79]

Just wanted to thank everyone who's contributed to my first post. I have ordered an Audiolab MDAC which I'm going to plug straight into the Rotel RB-991. I have also organised a home demo of the B&W 804 Diamonds in piano black - can't wait, I'll be like a kid in a sweet shop once everything's hooked up :rofl:

Tim

 

[dbbloke]

Wow, audiolab, very mainstream. Sounds like you have a burning pocket.

I means 802's and above sound nice. Years ago used to live in Worthing, just down the road from B&W. Personally I think to integrate the tweeter is a struggle, much like Ushers berillium. Perhaps it just needs 1000 hours+ to run in??

Other than my gear focal sounds better for this sort of money or Aurum Cantus I heard a few years back sound amazing. Used Quad maybe now the new model is out if you don't love bass. But the amps will show.