Decent amplification required.

[admin_exported]

Hello All,
My 7.2 system as it stands right now is in urgent need of improvement;

Pioneer PDP-434HDE plasma display
Pioneer VSX-AX5i multichannel receiver
Pioneer DV-868AVi DVD player
ATC SCM35 main front loudspeakers
ATC C1CA centre channel loudspeaker
2 pairs of ATC SCM7 loudspeakers for the left/right rear channels and centre rear channels
2 REL Q150e sub-bass units

The plasma is hooked up to the external box with Wireworld Ultraviolet DVI and the DVD player has a Ultraviolet HDMI cable to link it to the external box aswell. All loudspeakers are bi-wired with Supra Rondo 4x2.5.

I'm quite happy with the cinema sound but the music listening in stereo is, ...well quite honestly it's extremely poor. Of course the Pioneer amplifier is a very weak link here and I'm VERY aware that the SCM35's deserve far better amplification than the AX5i! I've heard the 35's with a pair of Meridian monoblocks, which was a huge improvement.
A possible upgrade I'm thinking of would be a pair of Cyrus Mono X amplifiers and possibly a CD8x CD player.

The one thing with the CD8x is that I wish it had a variable output so that its volume could be adjusted without the need for a separate Pre-Amp. As the only source that would be connected to the Mono X's would be a CD player, a Pre-Amp is a bit of an extravagance as well as an unnecessary extra link in the chain.

Any suggestions would be gladly received

 

[Andrew Everard]

Sounds like a good case for using a good integrated amp and a CD player in tandem with your system. Try Cyrus, Roksan and the usual suspects, with the preouts on the AV amp fed into the stereo amp. That way your home cinema system is out of the equation when playing music

Give me some better idea of dosh available for upgrade and I'll give some more specific advice.

 

[Anonymous]

Hello Andrew, thanks for the reply,

Yes I suppose a good integrated might be worth considering, suggestions welcome of course.
What attracted me to the Cyrus Mono X is not only their quality but their size and shape would be very beneficial aswell.

Funds wise, I'd be thinking of around 3400 for both amp and CD player.

Regards
Lee.