Advice on set up please....

[Gerrardasnails]

I'm planning on buying the MA Bronze BR2s. I would like to add these to the system I already have (Sony STRDA1200ES receiver and Denon DVD1940). Would this be a waste of decent speakers? Should I buy a decent CD player and stereo amp or would a decent CD player linked to the Sony receiver be good enough? At the moment I have the Jamo 5.1 (A10....) speaker system linked to my home cinema equipment. I'm not happy with the CD sound and do not know if it's the speakers lack of oompf, the dvd player not playing cd's well enough or the receiver not doing the job, or most probably all of these factors. What I need to know is which of these is the lesser of the evils and what I need to buy to get a half decent sound. Any help is appreciated.

 

[Simon Lucas]

Hi Gerrardasnails (is that the same as $tevie Me?)

I think you're right to suspect that your lacklustre CD sound is down to a combination of factors. Your current system is a fine-value home cinema set-up, but I'm not surprised you're not enjoying CD sound so much.

If you can, buy a decent CD player (Cambridge Audio 340C, Marantz CD6002) and stereo amp (Rotel RA-04, Cambridge Audio 340A f'rinstance) to go alongside your new Bronze BR2s. A system built of this sort of equipment will easily outclass the sound you're currently getting. But if you can't accommodate another discrete system, the speakers are the first place to start upgrading what you've got. After that, Marantz's DVD7001 DVD player is a splendid CD player too, and should be your second change.

Come back to the forums when you're ready to upgrade the receiver - who knows, there might be a viable alternative to an Onkyo by then.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Thanks for that Simon.

Not quite sure what you mean in your opening line. Is $tevie Me another poster or are you talking about the greatest midfielder in the world?

Back to hifi.

If I matched say the new Marantz CD6002 with the BR2s and my Sony receiver, do you think it would make a huge difference. It would be good if I could add just one more box on to my rack rather than getting an additional one (a stereo amp). I'm well aware that the PM6002 or the Rotel RA-04 would be more beneficial than the Sony receiver I already have but I guess I need to know whether changing to a designated CD player is more important than changing to a stereo amp.