Cyrus Upgrade Path

[admin_exported]

I've just bought a new system with an eye towards upgrading in the future. It consists of the following:

Cyrus 8SE (2010 model) CD player
Cyrus Pre XP pre-amp
Cyrus 8 Power amp + Cyrus PSX-R power supply
Vienna Acoustics Beethoven Baby Grand speakers

The next stage is to purchase another Cyrus 8 Power amp + PSX-R power supply so I have the speakers running off mono blocks. The 8 Power amps are factory upgradeable to X Power or Mono X by returning them to Cyrus. However, is it worth the upgrade from 8 Power to X Power? Other than a small power handling increase is there a sound quality improvement? I believe the cost of upgrading from 8 Power to Mono X is such that it would be better to sell the 8 Power with PSX-R privately and just purchase a Mono X instead. But again, is there a great improvement in audio quality between the 8 Power and Mono X?

Finally, I could add PSX-R power supplies to both the pre-amp and CD player. Does this make a great improvement in the sound quality of either unit? I will of course demo any changes before going ahead but I wonder if any of you have any experience in the worth of any of the upgrades I've mentioned?

Any advice gratefully accepted.

 

[JamesOK]

Richard_Lowe:
I've just bought a new system with an eye towards upgrading in the future. It consists of the following:

Cyrus 8SE (2010 model) CD player
Cyrus Pre XP pre-amp
Cyrus 8 Power amp + Cyrus PSX-R power supply
Vienna Acoustics Beethoven Baby Grand speakers

The next stage is to purchase another Cyrus 8 Power amp + PSX-R power supply so I have the speakers running off mono blocks. The 8 Power amps are factory upgradeable to X Power or Mono X by returning them to Cyrus. However, is it worth the upgrade from 8 Power to X Power? Other than a small power handling increase is there a sound quality improvement? I believe the cost of upgrading from 8 Power to Mono X is such that it would be better to sell the 8 Power with PSX-R privately and just purchase a Mono X instead. But again, is there a great improvement in audio quality between the 8 Power and Mono X?

Finally, I could add PSX-R power supplies to both the pre-amp and CD player. Does this make a great improvement in the sound quality of either unit? I will of course demo any changes before going ahead but I wonder if any of you have any experience in the worth of any of the upgrades I've mentioned?

Any advice gratefully accepted.

Richard - I cant comment on the mono blocks config etc, but I would suggest that your first upgrade is to stick a PSX-R on the CD player. I had a demo a month or two ago with CD8SE with and without PSX-R in to the 8XPD. The difference is extremely noticeable. The PSX-R seems to squeeze even more detail out of the CD player, and opens the soundstage up somewhat too.

If youre interested, you can read my original write up here

 

[JamesOK]

Also worth mentioning you can get a PSX-R graded version from Moorgate Acoustics for £350, a decent saving.

 

[Anonymous]

James, thanks for the advice and the link. I'll certainly demo the PSX-R upgrade on the CD unit. For the additional cost (£350 on a reprocessed supply) it could be a relatively cheap way of improving the sound significantly.

 

[Anonymous]

I understand the PSR makes more of a difference on the source or pre amp from various forums, including What Hi Fi. I've got a Cyrus DAC- X with PSR, connected to a Mac via optical toslink. I've tried the DAC without the PSR, but prefer it with, the timing/rhythm to music etc is that more accurate - why don't you switch from the power amp and try it on the 8SE and pre?
enjoy

 

[Anonymous]

Alan, I'm enjoying already thank you However, there's always room for improvement...

The reason I have the PSX-R on the power amp is to increase the power to the speakers. Once I have mono-blocks that will take care of increased power-handling, so I could take the PSX-R and connect it to the CD or Pre-amp. However, I'll try the PSX-R on the CD and pre-amp to demo the difference as soon as I can.

 

[AudioPlaya]

Richard_Lowe:The 8 Power amps are factory upgradeable to X Power or Mono X by returning them to Cyrus.

Personally, I'd be wary - they may offer this upgrade now but they have a habit of pulling support for upgrades when they are trying to push a new range (which they shortly will be).. I bought a 6vs2 and a Discmaster last year, both partly because of their fabled "upgradeability" - They have now stopped the 6vs2 to 8vs2 upgrade (shortly after the new xpd range came along) which also the PSX-R option as the 6vs2 doesn't have a port, someone on the unofficial forums also recently tried to get the QX upgrade for the discmaster8 only to be told "sorry, we don't do that anymore", the discmaster had design/build issues of it's own of course and has been withdrawn without replacement.

Do they treat their higher-end customers better? maybe.

Cyrus Upgradeability? Makes me laugh but in an angry way!

 

[eternaloptimist]

Richard_Lowe:
I've just bought a new system with an eye towards upgrading in the future. It consists of the following:

Cyrus 8SE (2010 model) CD player
Cyrus Pre XP pre-amp
Cyrus 8 Power amp + Cyrus PSX-R power supply
Vienna Acoustics Beethoven Baby Grand speakers

The next stage is to purchase another Cyrus 8 Power amp + PSX-R power supply so I have the speakers running off mono blocks. The 8 Power amps are factory upgradeable to X Power or Mono X by returning them to Cyrus. However, is it worth the upgrade from 8 Power to X Power? Other than a small power handling increase is there a sound quality improvement? I believe the cost of upgrading from 8 Power to Mono X is such that it would be better to sell the 8 Power with PSX-R privately and just purchase a Mono X instead. But again, is there a great improvement in audio quality between the 8 Power and Mono X?

Finally, I could add PSX-R power supplies to both the pre-amp and CD player. Does this make a great improvement in the sound quality of either unit? I will of course demo any changes before going ahead but I wonder if any of you have any experience in the worth of any of the upgrades I've mentioned?

Any advice gratefully accepted.

Welcome to the Cyrus club!

Lovely system you have there. I nearly came home with your speakers, was a close call - lovely sound.

If you haven't visited, have a look at www.cyrusunofficial.co.uk forums... lots of useful Cyrus info.

I tried the 8 power vs X power and found the latter sounded quite a bit better - (blinded trial). Would you consider upgrading the 8 power to the X power while you still can? PSXs will always be around.... BTW, I agree with the recommendation to move the PSX to the source - I would add one to the 6SE if I could - though I think the latter will be my last CD player...

The other think to consider is whether you are interested in digital music sources for the future (ie streaming lossless files from a laptop / music server etc) and whether the Qx module upgrade is on the list.... I'm hoping Santa might have one in the sack, but after the recent Audiovector speaker upgrade I think he might bypass this house...

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Anonymous]

Eternaloptimist,

Thanks for the reply, and amazingly I've just discovered the cyrusunofficial forums so I'll have a good dig around there. I would happily upgrade the 8 Power to X Power as soon as I can. First though I would like to get another 8 Power so I have 2 x monoblocks. That will hopefully involve a visit from the fat bearded one in December, but I don't hold out too much hope...

I also find myself in the extremely fortunate position of having a friend who is going to be out of the country for a while and will leave his system in my custody. He has a DAC XP, 2 x Mono X's and a PSX-R that I can plug into my system to see how far it will improve. Of course that could be a double-edged sword if I discover nothing short of twin Mono X 300's will do...

He also has a set of Audiovector S3's. I know how good those are and I would probably have snapped up the S3 Signature, but there were none to audition when I was looking to buy.