Difficult room to buy for!

[admin_exported]

I live in Portugal and am looking for a system to suit new house. A converted barn the listening room is 7 metres by 7metres with a 10 metre beamed open ceiling. Floors and walls are stone and at the moment there is very little soft furnishings - consequently the room is very 'live'. I have considered Cyrus 8x and 8vs2 with MA RS6 or JMLab focal 716V but suspect the Cyrus stuff might be very bright! It is difficult to hear systems at a dealer here and so I am going mainly by reviews. I have access to Roksan equipment (via mail order in Lisbon) and to Rega via a lisbon dealer (but he sells only rega speakers), Possibilities too of Musical Fidelity electronics. Any advice would be appreciated. Many thanks

 

[Trahern]

Can't comment on all the equipment you mention but I have the MA GS20's and they have metal tweeters as do the BR6 so they tend to be bright anyway. I found that when I matched them to the Cyrus and MF that the system was just too bright and in your room it likely to be even worse. I found that the best match for my kit was either Arcam FMJ or Primare. I suspect that the Arcam DIVA range will work just as well.

Andrew

 

[Anonymous]

Many thanks

Andrew

My budget doesn't run to top of range Primare but could afford either Primare 121 amp and CD31 Cd

or

Primare 130 amp and CD 21. I like the look (appearance) of them too. Both available by mail order in Lisbon. Which combination do

you think would be most successful - more expensive amp or more expensive cd? Diva 192 available too but is there an equally good

Arcam amp to match it?

Again thanks for your help

 

[Anonymous]

People often say you should spend most on the source, so by that rational you should go with the more expensive cd player.

 

[Trahern]

I have the CD 31 and it's a great CD player and the I30 is a great amp. I haven't heard either of the other two however both have received good reviews.

I would be tempted I think to go with the CD31 and I21. If you can find a dealer who is prepared to let you have them on trial that would be a really good idea. There are dealers in the UK who will do this Mail Order provided you pay for the gear on loan until you return it.

Andrew

 

[John Duncan]

Whereas I'd be more inclined to go the other way round, if you were so inclined - CD21 and i30. The i30 is more better than the i21 than the CD31 is better than the i21.

So to speak.

 

[fr0g]

...And I agree with JD. The Amp is more important when it comes to digital sources.

 

[Craig M.]

me too, the difference between the cdp's will be smaller then the difference between the amps.

 

[Anonymous]

yeah i didnt notice as much of a difference as i expected for the cd5i over the nad c542, but figured it might be different for the primare kit.

 

[Anonymous]

Again many thanks to you all - this is most helpful! You all seem to agree that Cyrus electronics will be too bright? Primare looks good to me but any experiences of Roksan? Rega Apollo plus Roksan Kandy III both Products of the Year in What-HiFi 2008 - would a combination of these two be of significant lower quality than Cyrus or Primare? Any views on mixing Roksan Caspian with Roksan Kandy? Equally, any thoughts on alternative floorstanding speakers? B&W 684? Focal Chorus? I apologise for adding this new dimension but so difficult here when it is impossible to try combinations together in dealer demos and relying on mixing and matching from alternative dealers! Also .... is my room likely to be totally impossible for good sound????

 

[John Duncan]

None of the kit you mention is 'too' bright in isolation. It's when you add speakers that have that same sort of characteristic that it all becomes too bright - with Cyrus or Roksan I'd go for mellower speakers - with Primare and Arcam, say, you could afford to go a brighter route like MA. As for lesser or greater quality, you're talking about the kind of kit where none of the components are bad, in fact most are fabulous and just carry their own nuances - it's just a case of finding a combination that you like the sound of.

That being said, though, as has been said already - you're constrained by a big, bright sounding room, so you should try to cater for that in your choices.

 

[Craig M.]

i have roksan kandy cdp and amp and they seem to match well with dynaudio speakers. you might have bad resonance problems with your room being square and i would imagine what ever components you end up with you will need to damp your room down. covering the floor with a large rug between you and the speakers will help.

 

[Anonymous]

After reading comments here I'm leaning towards Azur 840 cd and amp - all reviews seem to suggest good compromise - lacking in detail of Cyrus but with greater warmth? Cheaper here too than cyrus combo - but am i missing too much???? Are MA RS6's now likely to be a good match? I listen to mainly classical, some jazz and some rock (Clapton, Dylan, Dire Straits etc). PS. my square 7 metre by 7 metre room is a little unusual in that back wall is not really a solid wall - it has a mezzanine floor about 1 metre up into dining room which is open for 6 metres! Aiii - this is so complicated!

 

[Craig M.]

wow, that is a huge space to fill with sound. from the reviews i have read the 840's should be ideal for the type of music you listen to, less so with hard rock and dance type music. you might have a problem with lack of bass in your room if the mezzanine wall is not high enough to reflect some of the bass back, could you turn your room side on so that the mezzanine is to your side rather then behind? in my slightly L-shaped room if i fire the speakers along the longest dimension my listening position would be half way between the front and rear walls, there is no bass or power at all in this position. you might have no such problems but worth trying if you are lacking bass impact.

 

[Anonymous]

Craig

Thanks for your response

The back wall with mezzanine dining room above it is about 1.5 metres high. Furniture and tv/fireplace layout makes changing position a little difficult. If i buy Azur stuff i save about £250.00 on Cyrus. This leaves approx £1000 for speakers - would I need bigger speakers (than say MA RS6) for bigger room and if so any suggestions. I used to be much more aware of Hi Fi a few years ago - had Linn Sondek and Rega record players in the 80's but out of touch a bit nowand since I have been living in Portugal, hence looking at magazine reviews and joining this forum. Any help greatly appreciated!

 

[Anonymous]

In addition to above queries can anyone tell me if supplied interconnects for Azur CD and Amp are of good quality and just how important specialist speaker cable might be in the system. Again many thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

My listening room is 18 feet by 12 feet and I use the Roksan LIII & Rega Apollo and they are both fantastic. You need a powerful amplifier considering the size of your room - I suspect the Cyrus will struggle considerably to 'fill your room', so to speak.

 

[Anonymous]

I finally ordered Azur 840C and 840A with MA RS6 speakers and am very happy with the result. After some experimenting speakers pointing across the room rather than down, about 3 metres apart and with sitting position also 3 metres. Amp and CD currently on floor (stone tiled) just behind and to right of speakers. I've ordered atacama base unit (2 shelves) from england - can I expect any changes since i suspect that the tiled floor is a very solid base already? Sound is clear and not bright at all (something i worried about initially) with good stereo width but not much depth. Using Harmonic Technology speaker cable and Audioquest Copperhead interconnects. Incidentally the amp/cd player allows for balanced connection using xlr inputs - is this likely to improve performance? Many thanks for any responses