Frank Harvey
Well-known member
Beta4Me: At those prices I may look into the Chord amps, they're moderately comparable to the Bryston. I do think, though, that I'm going to be getting 7.1 straight off because if I get 5.1 I just can't see going to 7.1 from it as it'll be like: 5.1 sounds good and was really expensive, won't pay for more, etc.Nothing wrong in a high quality 5.1 system! I'd rather that than an ill matching 7.1 system. 5.1 or 7.1, your system will sound great.
One thing I have learnt from ATC is that amps costing three times as much as the speakers are not overkill. Just buy the best you can afford. I'm going to try and do that but, like almost everybody, I don't have ludicrous amounts of money to spend so I'm trying to spend as little as possible whilst still acheiving a good result.Are you listening to multi-channel music as well as just watching film? Why not try a different approach? We've always found that the M&K loudspeakers outperform pretty much every package on the market when it comes to movies, so why not look into a 750 or even a 950 package? The 7.1 packages are roughly £4k and £5k depending on the sub being used, and although they do like oodles of power, they won't quite need as much expensive amplification to get the to sound stunning. You could look at the bryston 9B, but there are alternatives from Rotel, Arcam, Lexicon, Audiolab, NAD and Primare amongst others that will stand up to the job admirably. Movie-wise, the M&K's are extrenmely hard to beat - I myself 'upgraded' from huge high end loudspeakers down to a 750 system which was almost half the price and they just wiped the floor when it came to, punch, atmosphere, and the sheer amount of subtle detail that wasbrought to the forefront. Hi-fi speakers are different, they're much more 'polite' sounding, and therefore lack in certain areas. Just a thought.
I may in the end keep my current 19s as the fronts and get 2 pairs of SCM11s for the surrounds and then get a 9B-SST2 for the centre and surrounds and, say, a 3B-SST for the SCM19s. That would be MUCH more affordable.
Would it be really worth the increase in price to go from SCM19 + 2 x SCM11 to SCM40 + 2 x SCM19 (along with the appropriate increase in amps)? The 19's and 11's will be a closer match than the 40's and 19's, but then most AV systems that people buy, the rear speakers are usually smaller (lalong with the centre) and have a different timbre because of this. As already mentioned, if you listen to a lot of 2 channel music, go for the SCM40's.
One thing I have learnt from ATC is that amps costing three times as much as the speakers are not overkill. Just buy the best you can afford. I'm going to try and do that but, like almost everybody, I don't have ludicrous amounts of money to spend so I'm trying to spend as little as possible whilst still acheiving a good result.Are you listening to multi-channel music as well as just watching film? Why not try a different approach? We've always found that the M&K loudspeakers outperform pretty much every package on the market when it comes to movies, so why not look into a 750 or even a 950 package? The 7.1 packages are roughly £4k and £5k depending on the sub being used, and although they do like oodles of power, they won't quite need as much expensive amplification to get the to sound stunning. You could look at the bryston 9B, but there are alternatives from Rotel, Arcam, Lexicon, Audiolab, NAD and Primare amongst others that will stand up to the job admirably. Movie-wise, the M&K's are extrenmely hard to beat - I myself 'upgraded' from huge high end loudspeakers down to a 750 system which was almost half the price and they just wiped the floor when it came to, punch, atmosphere, and the sheer amount of subtle detail that wasbrought to the forefront. Hi-fi speakers are different, they're much more 'polite' sounding, and therefore lack in certain areas. Just a thought.
I may in the end keep my current 19s as the fronts and get 2 pairs of SCM11s for the surrounds and then get a 9B-SST2 for the centre and surrounds and, say, a 3B-SST for the SCM19s. That would be MUCH more affordable.
Would it be really worth the increase in price to go from SCM19 + 2 x SCM11 to SCM40 + 2 x SCM19 (along with the appropriate increase in amps)? The 19's and 11's will be a closer match than the 40's and 19's, but then most AV systems that people buy, the rear speakers are usually smaller (lalong with the centre) and have a different timbre because of this. As already mentioned, if you listen to a lot of 2 channel music, go for the SCM40's.