Best Manufacturers of Separates

[admin_exported]

Hi everyone, am new to the forums so go easy! Just a quick question for you all, and I'm not looking for a debate, but more of opinions off of people. What are the best manufacturers to go for when looking for creating a separates system? The main parts i'm looking for are: The Amplifier CD Player Tuner (Either traditional FM/AM or DAB) Speakers Any other devices that might enhance or add to the list of possible sources I'm kind of new to the HiFi scene and want to get as much info as possible. Money is not an object for me, but I'd like to know your opinions! Thanks for you help in advance jdavies11

 

[Lee H]

If money is no object, then you shouldn't be looking at all; people should be coming to you and consulting.

 

[chebby]

'm kind of new to the HiFi scene and want to get as much info as possible. Money is not an object for me...

http://www.absolutesounds.com/

 

[chebby]

.

 

[Inter_Voice]

Welcome to this forum :cheer:

IMHO there is no such thing as best manufacturer for hifi. It depends very much on how your ears and your brain interpretates the sound and music produced by a system. The most important of all are how different units of a system, like CDP, amplifier, speakers as well as interconnections matches with each other to produce the best music quality. Apart from that the size of your room and room acoustics are very important factors.

Very expensive equipment may not be necessarily produce good music quality if wrongly matched. Some mid range hifi combinations when rightly matched can also produce wonderful sound quality.

Sorry not be able to answer your question. BTW what type of music you are listening to and your room size ? Whether it is carpeted or with wooden flooring ?

 

[Lee H]

Very expensive equipment may not be necessarily produce good music quality if wrongly matched. Some mid range hifi combinations when rightly matched can also produce wonderful sound quality.

Exactly my point on consulting. For a money no object system, someone should be coming round, looking at your room, your musical tastes, how you like to live in your house and so on.

 

[cayorob]

If you're new to hifi, when you say "money is no object" I take it you realise it's quite easy to spend well into 6 figure sums on a simple CD, amp and speaker set up?

 

[Bodfish]

'm kind of new to the HiFi scene and want to get as much info as possible. Money is not an object for me...

http://www.absolutesounds.com/

Bingo! If money really is no object look at Zanden, Kondo, DartZeel and Audio Note...I know I would.

 

[John Duncan]

The de facto money-no-object magazine (which smells lovely and may or may not rhyme with Hifi Fluss) awarded its system of the year gong to the Cambridge Audio 650C and 650A pair...

 

[CnoEvil]

'm kind of new to the HiFi scene and want to get as much info as possible. Money is not an object for me...

http://www.absolutesounds.com/

I would echo all of the above posts, but we need to know how many "zeros" are in your budget....cause sure as shootin', what ever it is, we'll spend it.

Another place that does good kit is here: http://www.jordanacoustics.co.uk/

Basically we need to find out more about the type of music you listen to, and the size of room it's going in.

 

[Anonymous]

I would ignore the plea to go silly.

I assume, if money is really "no object", you have friends with great systems.

I would ask friends advice if that's the case, and listen to some with your own music and turn it UP.

Also, I'd be tempted to ditch FM or DAB and use internet radio through a streaming device, get a big NAS installed and get a third party company to rip all your CD's onto it. Grab yourself an android or Apple tablet and control everything via that (There are lots of apps)...You could even get under floor cat5 if you don't trust the wireless.

I'd look at active speakers for less boxes and more focused sound (starting with the ones I've got with the dedicated sub...then maybe some others such as the Adam Tensor series which I would love to try myself, but haven't so can't comment on SQ), or even a B&O system?

What I wouldn't do is walk into a dealer and say "Money is no object", but then maybe I am paranoid.

 

[Anonymous]

What a nice situation to be in, i'm envious . Presuming you've got a big room to fill with sound? Then i'd be looking at the likes of the B&O Beolab 5s, or perhaps some ATC SCM50As, both are active and sound fabulous.

 

[chebby]

I'd look at active speakers for less boxes and more focused sound (starting with the ones I've got with the dedicated sub...

The OP says he is a newcomer to this hifi forum and to the hifi scene. How is he expected to know what speakers you have got from your 'signature'?

"squeezebox/PC - ADM9.1T / small sub"

The only thing there that looks vaguely speaker'ish (to the unititiated) is "small sub" (and you have it laid out to suggest your PC is called 'ADM9.1T' which could also confuse).

I think you need to expand - for the OP's benefit - and provide links (to the manufacturer's site or WHF reviews, obviously, and not other forums).

 

[Anonymous]

I'd look at active speakers for less boxes and more focused sound (starting with the ones I've got with the dedicated sub...

The OP says he is a newcomer to this hifi forum and to the hifi scene. How is he expected to know what speakers you have got from your 'signature'?

"squeezebox/PC - ADM9.1T / small sub"

The only thing there that looks vaguely speaker'ish (to the unititiated) is "small sub" (and you have it laid out to suggest your PC is called 'ADM9.1T' which could also confuse).

I think you need to expand - for the OP's benefit - and provide links (to the manufacturer's site or WHF reviews, obviously, and not other forums).

Quite right Chebby. I missed that bit.

FYI (OP), My speakers are Avi ADM9T. They are a smallish standmount with built in amps (total 325 watts per channel), one for each drive unit (woofer and tweeter). The theory is that this creates far less distortion.

For a full blown system I would add the dedicated subwoofer...The total would be about 2k (I think). I haven't got the Avi sub, I have a borrowed pro 50 sub for now (looking into upgrading soon).

The speakers are very clear and revealing across the frequency range, more so than any I've heard previously...but strangely to my surprise, not critical of poor sources. I tried a phone into them for a quick demo to a friend and they still sounded fantastic.

You can find them at www.avihifi.co.uk.

Assuming you really want to go to town though, the other actives mentioned above are definitely worth looking into. But it all depends on room size, layout and probably if you are as loaded as people are assuming, what kind of look/style you want.

 

[John Duncan]

I would ignore the plea to go silly.

I assume, if money is really "no object", you have friends with great systems.

I would ask friends advice if that's the case, and listen to some with your own music and turn it UP.

Also, I'd be tempted to ditch FM or DAB and use internet radio through a streaming device, get a big NAS installed and get a third party company to rip all your CD's onto it. Grab yourself an android or Apple tablet and control everything via that (There are lots of apps)...You could even get under floor cat5 if you don't trust the wireless.

I'd look at active speakers for less boxes and more focused sound (starting with the ones I've got with the dedicated sub...then maybe some others such as the Adam Tensor series which I would love to try myself, but haven't so can't comment on SQ), or even a B&O system?

What I wouldn't do is walk into a dealer and say "Money is no object", but then maybe I am paranoid.

If i asked my friends what to buy (and for some of them money is no object), I would end up with a B&W Zeppelin or a Bose cinema all in one.

 

[Anonymous]

If i asked my friends what to buy (and for some of them money is no object), I would end up with a B&W Zeppelin or a Bose cinema all in one.

or worse still, a 20 kg glass block plinth / turntable and complicated oil filled mechanism, a 15 watt valve amp and a huge pair of horns.

 

[matthewpiano]

If money really is no object then there are some amazing bits of kit out there and you should do some very careful auditioning before parting with any cash. All I can give you is a list of the brands I'd be auditioning if money were no object:

Unison Research

Audio Note

Thorens (top-end decks if you want a vinyl source)

Sonus Faber

Sugden (their mono-block power amps are incredible)

Linn (very Klever solutions with absolutely superb, involving sound - you'll get my spelling of 'clever' when you look at Linn products!)

T+A

Vienna Acoustics

Magnepan

Martin Logan

There are plenty of other great manufacturers to explore as well, depending on your tastes in music and the sort of sound you wish to achieve.

 

[CnoEvil]

...and a huge pair of horns.

What's wrong with a "huge pair of horns!"

 

[John Duncan]

If i asked my friends what to buy (and for some of them money is no object), I would end up with a B&W Zeppelin or a Bose cinema all in one.

or worse still, a 20 kg glass block plinth / turntable and complicated oil filled mechanism, a 15 watt valve amp and a huge pair of horns.

And a nice headstone.

 

[altruistic.lemon]

I'd ask the OP how seriously his request is to be taken.

 

[Petherick]

I'd ask the OP how seriously his request is to be taken.

So I no longer have to resist the temptation to reply "M&S or C&A" then?

 

[Anonymous]

If i asked my friends what to buy (and for some of them money is no object), I would end up with a B&W Zeppelin or a Bose cinema all in one.

or worse still, a 20 kg glass block plinth / turntable and complicated oil filled mechanism, a 15 watt valve amp and a huge pair of horns.

And a nice headstone.

Don't get that one. But as long as he doesn't end up with a weedy amp feeding overpriced speakers I'm sure he'll be happy. I would be if I had an "unlimited" budget.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm starting to think it's a fake Apologies if you come back OP.

 

[John Duncan]

And a nice headstone.

Don't get that one.

If I bought that, I'd be deid.