Arcam A85 Amplifier Monitor Audio RS6 Silver now gone. What now?

[max337]

Ah, I am tempted to 'go with what I know' i.e. another MA and Arcam setup but I think I may be missing out on that elusive ME system. No, kids are grown now but then again, that's no assurance that neither of them will knock them over!

If you have an open mind and an eclectic mix of brands to demo, your system can often head in an unexpected direction. I'm delighted that you are holding out for that "Me System."

I'm trying to break old habits whereby I shouldn't care what make it is, what it looks like or how expensive each component is. If a £300 amp sounds awesome to me with a pair of 1k speakers or £400 pair then so be it. It'll take much longer I expect but I'll stop wasting money on impulse buys or purchases made for irrelevant reasons. Took long enough but I got there. Maybe. Thanks. I do like the experience of trying and buying a new system but if done correctly it'll probably only be an every decade or so affair. haha.

 

[steve_1979]

Hahaha. I have gauged a similar *tongue in cheek* air from active owners.

Not at all. Active speaker ownership is a serious religious choice. It is a way of life that is not to be taken lightly. *wacko*

Will I be requiring much tin foil were I to be swayed over to that side?

No need to do anything silly like that. Simply pledging an oath of allegiance and spending the rest of your days raising hell on hifi forums will suffice.

*dance4*

 

[plastic penguin]

If you want 'synergy' you should try AVIs

I intend to. I want to know what the claimed difference is. I can only imagine it at the minute. Seems an odd idea to me, but hey, if it sounds good...

From a personal point of view and I admit that they may not be everyones cup of tea. But to me the really good quality active speakers like AVI, Genelec or Quested just sound right. They have a sort of clear and effortless sound to them.

Don't get me wrong, I've heard plenty of dodgy sounding actives aswell as some very fine sounding regular passive hifi speakers too. But after living with a good pair of actives I would find it difficult to go back to passive speakers again. While they can sound very good they all seem to add a very slight and subtle 'hard fuzz' to the sound (which I think may be due to phase iregularities around the crossover frequencies) and you probably wouldn't even notice it was there until you compared them to really good active speakers. But once I've heard it I can't help but notice it and for me at least it becomes irritating as I can't help but focus on it whenever I hear passive speakers now. With good active speakers it's more about what they don't do wrong than what they do do right if you get my drift.

Anyway, thats all just IMHO and I'm sure that there are many who disagree.

Have to admit that synergy is the major advantage with actives, and I've said this many times.

Think the OP needs to sort out what he really wants and needs to keep his expectations in check. No point looking at Rolls Royces when you only have Nissan Micra money.

 

[steve_1979]

If you have an open mind and an eclectic mix of brands to demo, your system can often head in an unexpected direction.

People have a habit of walking into a hifi shop 'knowing' what five star products they're going to like then walking out an hour later with something totally different.

 

[steve_1979]

If you want 'synergy' you should try AVIs

I intend to. I want to know what the claimed difference is. I can only imagine it at the minute. Seems an odd idea to me, but hey, if it sounds good...

From a personal point of view and I admit that they may not be everyones cup of tea. But to me the really good quality active speakers like AVI, Genelec or Quested just sound right. They have a sort of clear and effortless sound to them.

Don't get me wrong, I've heard plenty of dodgy sounding actives aswell as some very fine sounding regular passive hifi speakers too. But after living with a good pair of actives I would find it difficult to go back to passive speakers again. It's hard to describe exactly as passives can still sound very good but they all seem to add a very slight and subtle 'fuzz' to the sound (which I think may be due to phase iregularities) and you probably wouldn't even notice it was there until you compared them to really good active speakers. But once I've heard it I can't help but notice it and for me at least it becomes irritating as I can't help but focus on it whenever I hear passive speakers now. With good active speakers it's more about what they don't do wrong than what they do do right if you get my drift.

Anyway, thats all just IMHO and I'm sure that there are many who disagree.

 

[max337]

If you want  'synergy' you should try AVIs?

I intend to. I want to know what the claimed difference is. I can only imagine it at the minute. Seems an odd idea to me, but hey, if it sounds good...

From a personal point of view and I admit that they may not be everyones cup of tea. But to me the really good quality active speakers like AVI, Genelec or Quested just sound right. They have a sort of clear and effortless sound to them.

Don't get me wrong, I've heard plenty of dodgy sounding actives aswell as some very fine sounding regular passive hifi speakers too. But after living with a good pair of actives I would find it difficult to go back to passive speakers again. While they can sound very good they all seem to add a very slight and subtle 'hard fuzz' to the sound (which I think may be due to phase iregularities around the crossover frequencies) and you probably wouldn't even notice it was there until you compared them to really good active speakers. But once I've heard it I can't help but notice it and for me at least it becomes irritating as I can't help but focus on it whenever I hear passive speakers now. With good active speakers it's more about what they don't do wrong than what they do do right if you get my drift.

Anyway, thats all just IMHO and I'm sure that there are many who disagree.

Have to admit that synergy is the major advantage with actives, and I've said this many times.

Think the OP needs to sort out what he really wants and needs to keep his expectations in check. No point looking at Rolls Royces when you only have Nissan Micra money.

I have no real expectations. I'm hoping to discover, maybe to be surprised. I may lump for something to tide me over in the meantime but I know I could spend more, I simply refuse to. I've been down that avenue before with other things. If my experimenting prompts me to hanker after something new in the future it'd have to be a real sonic improvement.

PS. Nissan Micra? Pfft. *beee*

 

[plastic penguin]

The only reason why mention the expectation level is because you've mentioned "niggles" about your previous set-up. I've yet to hear a perfect system, regardless of cost.

 

[richardw42]

I haven't read through the whole thread, but you simply must demo some active speakers. Depeche Mode are my all time favourite and they sound immense on my speakers (along with NIN etc etc)

Likewise, Inception & Dark Knight never sounded better.

Something like the AVI DM5 + sub for £1500 would be pretty unbeatable, I'm suggesting them as I don't have massive experience with other brands, whereas Steve has heard lots.

 

[max337]

The only reason why mention the expectation level is because you've mentioned "niggles" about your previous set-up. I've yet to hear a perfect system, regardless of cost.

Thanks PP. I hope my daft soh didn't come across serious. I have a very good idea of what I want, also being realistic.

Cheers for all the help, I hope to be able to contribute once I've started to demo and whatnot.

Hope you had a nice couple of days over Xmas.

 

[max337]

I haven't read through the whole thread, but you simply must demo some active speakers. Depeche Mode are my all time favourite and they sound immense on my speakers (along with NIN etc etc)

Likewise, Inception & Dark Knight never sounded better.?

Something like the AVI DM5 + sub for £1500 would be pretty unbeatable, I'm suggesting them as I don't have massive experience with other brands, whereas Steve has heard lots.?

 

Ahhh. You're really strong arming me now haha. Inception et all is what I've been using as test material along with DM, of course!

I will be testing those have heard good things about avi. Is a sub necessary and could I not somehow incorporate my DALI av sub into that system?