Age gets to us all

[admin_exported]

Hi all,

My current system is as follows:-

• LP: Manticore Mantra/Moth/Blue Point
• CD: Cyrus CD7/Ecosse Baton mk2 interconnect to Amp/Merlin power cable/statmat static cd mat/headphones fed from 2nd output
• Amp: Exposure X
• Speakers: MA 852md/Ecosse 2.3 leads
• Stands: Atacama Equinox
• Power: Tacima block
• Music: prog, mainly modern (Riverside/Satellite/The Tangent etc) but also alot of older stuff like Pink Floyd/Yes/Crimson/Tull. These days mostly cd's get played.

If I put my sensible hat on then there really isn't a problem with this setup right now but old age is starting to be an influence (no, not me this time, the equipment!). I don't know how long the amp will last (the power switch has been stuck 'on' for years) so I thought I would ask around to see what sort of cash I need to find to replace it.

I like the up-front, involving listen that I get from this setup and would not want to lose this. If I want to improve anything it would be more clarity/detail without sacrificing the 'punch'. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I might like to audition? I don't have any idea about budget but going over £1000 would not go down well with her indoors

Cheers.

 

[Thaiman]

I don't know anything about your Monitor Audio but electronics should gel very well.

Densen do sound great with progressive rock, newer exposure amp will be better than your old X or dare I suggest Naim's rocking NAIT 5i combination.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the feedback. I have been giving this more thought and realised that to build a useful shortlist I need to be more precise about what I have, the environment, as well as what I listen to, so here goes:-

For information, the turntable, amp and speakers are about 17 years old and basically unchanged (although I did have to have the Mantra's PCB rebuilt once). The speakers are one of MA's early metal tweeter range. Changes over the years have been in the way of CD players, cables etc.

I am fortunate to have a dedicated room but it's very small and because of doors/windows etc has limited options. The speakers are about 2ft away from the window behind (1ft away from curtains) and about 2ft from the side walls, toed-in to almost face the listener. The triangle lengths between speakers and listener are all 6-7ft, there's no room to increase that.

The sound level is certainly not deafening, even though I do like prog, rock and metal (amongst others), I can't bear the sound being blasted straight through my head and into the plasterwork.

So what am I really looking for? Clarity, good, controlled bass, good instrument/voice separation - all this at the volume levels I use. Basically I just want to have fun listening to music.

Is that too much to ask for my budget?

 

[Anonymous]

You know how it goes - lots of research, long wishlist, budget creep. I started to look at £1000+ amplifiers until she-who-must-be-obeyed put an end to that .

So I started to look at ex-demo and second-hand in order to get the quality I want but within my budget (-ish). While browsing the internet I came across UKD's bargain corner page (point your browser to http://www.ukd.co.uk/bargain_corner.asp). They were advertising an Audio Analogue Maestro Settanta at a price that was (almost) in my range. A quick email was followed up by a 'phone call from Nick @ UKD. After a brief conversation he invited me to go and have a listen - which I duly did and came away with a wonderful amplifier and a big grin that's been getting wider all weekend.

...now I have all those hundreds of CD's to listen to again!

 

[Thaiman]

Nick is a real nice guy, I am surprised that he didn't try to sell you some lovely Triangle speakers

The Meastro is very very good if you like warm sounding HiFi, well done

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Thaiman"]warm sounding HiFi[/quote]

I was surprised how 'natural' everything sounded when I got it set up at home. It seemed like the CD player and speakers had woken up. I am particularly impressed with the dynamic range - and I thought the Exposure had everything!