2K to spend - on what?

[Charlie Jefferson]

I'm in the very fortunate position of being able to spend around £2,000 on my hifi.

I'm really happy with my system, as listed below, and don't know what I should be considering.

My options/preferences:
1) splash out on a single component, possibly a second hand turntable

2) have a crazy vinyl purchasing splurge. Okay, not £2,000's worth but some of the sum.

3) keep the cash and leave my hi fi as it is.

(other altruistic options, such as sharing it around the family unit are not really an issue, as this has been accounted for in the recent, unexpected windfall).

What would you do?

 

[Frank Harvey]

Seems relatively well balanced - are you happy with it? I mean, is there any aspect you're not entirely hapy with?

If so, buy some vinyl! :bigsmile:

 

[CnoEvil]

Possibly spend some on the source.....maybe a more expensive cartridge and/or phono amp + extra vinyl...but don't upset the balance (nice system, by the way).

Cno

 

[John Duncan]

I'm really happy with my system

3) keep the cash and leave my hi fi as it is

 

[6th.replicant]

Home demo an Arcam CD37 - £999 @ Sevenoaks - relish its SACD playback, use the balance of your £2k to invest in some SACDs.

Bliss

 

[amcluesent]

Squeezebox Touch into Chord 64 DAC, a Vortexbox Music Applicance and jump up to hi-rez 24/96 music which the Express can't process.

 

[shooter]

Nice pot 'o' gold you have there Charlie!

I think you have a nice balanced system. I presume the Arcam you use as a transport into the Chord as well as the A/E , so thats the digital front end sorted. If you want to go high resolution it could be an upgrade option. The Amp's and speakers look a nice balance and the Radius fit nicely too, so, what to do, if any thing.

How about the M/F phono stage and cartridge, what are they? If budget end this could be a possible spend, i know you love your vinyl so this could be worth while. Depends what they are though.

Over to you!

 

[True Blue]

If you're really happy with it, how about some vinyl and a lovely vinyl cleaning machince?

 

[crang]

You have a lovely system, one that I would love to have! I would splash out on some act active speakers & sell amp, or have a holiday! Happy spending!

 

[crang]

Meant ATC!

 

[sometimesuk]

Change the Speakers!!!

I auditioned the 805S a few years ago. Very accurate and detailed, but were too laid back, and IMO Boring.

I'm sure you would get far more enjoyment from your system if you changed the speakers. Personally, I would look at Audiovector speakers. I would also audition Dynaudio and Spendor.

 

[Lost Angeles]

Go and demo an Orbe turntable, if you think it's a significant step up from you Roksan then sell the Roksan and put the money from that onto a Origin Live or SME arm or a Benz Micro cartridge if you stick with the Technoarm.

It opens up the path for Phono amp etc upgrades in the future.

 

[idc]

I am sure that the biggest changes you can make are with the speakers and your heapdhones (what have you got).

Listening tests, sighted, blind and ABX find that speakers make the biggest difference to sound over all other parts of the hifi chain.

 

[Anonymous]

I'd get rid of the Roksan amps and buy a Musical Fidelity M6i, shouldn't cost you anything to do that. Then I'd sell the 805S' (£1400 ish) and spend the almost £3.5k on a pair of B&W 802N's if you can find them, or a good set of ProAc D38's, maybe even D80's if you can save an extra few quid and don't mind buying used.

Alternatively, sell your amps and use that plus the £2000 to buy the larger M6i 500, then sell your speakers and buy a pair of Kef Reference Model 4's.

So many options you lucky ******

 

[bretty]

All of your kit is strong Charlie and personally i'd resist the urge to spend for spendings sake, especially as you're happy with the sound as is.

If you absolutely HAVE to buy something, maybe sell the radius and get a Gyro and a great cart (Like the Grado Reference Master @£600. It's the model above my Platinum. VERY, VERY good)

 

[plastic penguin]

Book yourself a cracking holiday...

 

[Charlie Jefferson]

Thanks folks for all the replies. An interesting range of responses and opinions.

Technically the weak link in my system is my Arcam CD player,but it''s only used as a transport so no need to upgrade there. Some seem to be none too favourable towards my speakers, which I really like but I haven't heard much outside the B&W brand, so one day I may listen to some of the others mentioned.

Shooter and Bretty, I think you know me well enough to sense it's the vinyl route I'll go down, if indeed I do buy something. My phono stage is the MF X-LPv8, to be precise. The cart is a Goldring 2400. So those and a new deck may reap some rewards.

Idc, I'm not much of a headphone listener but when I do it's with a pair of Sennheiser 600's. And I've never been too impressed with them, to be honest.

So, I'll reflect on all my options. Would like to add 24bit playback too but don't think the whole budget is needed for that. Cheers everyone.

 

[Anonymous]

Hey Charlie, Sell the Arcam CD player, get an Oppo 95 , it has a fabulous analogue stereo board incorporated, With one if not the best DAC on the Market, get yourself a portable HDD 1TB like Western Digital or Iomega, They are tiny and can be powered off the bus on the Oppo, so no additional leads. Then transfer hundreds of your CDs to WAV or FLAC and play them through the Oppos DAC. It's the future not to mention 24/96 compatability and more ;-) And you should still have enough for a holiday, on your own off course.

 

[Charlie Jefferson]

Hi Squad 701,

Thanks for your suggestion. It's not the DAC part I'm concerned with, as I've got that covered with my Chord, but I'm intrigued if slightly confused by your suggestion of an external hard drive and the Oppo to enable 24bit playback.

Currently, I have a 500gb HD and another acts as a back up, which store 24,000 songs. These are streamed to my hifi via an Airport Express and my off board DAC. Not 24 bit, but sounds pretty good. How would your suggestion for a wirefree 24 bit solution integrate with my existing kit minus the Arcam?

 

[daveloc]

Technically the weak link in my system is my Arcam CD player,but it''s only used as a transport so no need to upgrade there.

Charlie, since you have a Chord64, see if you can get a demo of it being driven by a Meridian G08.2, using its 88.2 upsampling via the digiout, and with the Chord's WTA filtering on max (the delay will be lower than on straight CD)

Before my hearing went (tinnitus) and I severely downgraded the audio end of my system, that was the finest digital source combo I ever heard.

A G08 is about £2.5K now, but you should get a trade-in on the Arcam ;-)

 

[lindsayt]

You could keep your money.

Or, if you want better sounding - but larger speakers - you could try: elctrostatics, horns, or large sealed box speakers. Each of these has its' own strengths and weaknesses, with the best compromise being down to your taste in music and hi-fi.

Or you could try a better record player: one of the great classic idler or direct drive models.