Ebay got the better of me

jbill

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Hi all,

I have been lurking here a while now gathering info in order to buy a new system since my old Denon mini system broke. I wanted to get some decent seperates on about a £300 budget and had just about decided to get the Cambridge system at Richer Sounds BUT.... Today I made the mistake of looking at second hand stuff on ebay and ended up winning an Arcam A65 amp for £130, I have always liked Arcam stuff and just couldn't help myself!!

My problem now is I dont know what to match it with. I realise I may have to spend more than I orginally planned. There are a couple of Arcam CD72's going second hand which I assume would be good but what about other options? Also speakers, I was obviously thinking of Cambridge Audios S30's originally or Tannoy F1's, but would these be bad with the Arcam stuff? Any other options?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 

JoelSim

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The CD72 is a good choice, or if you can push it a CD92 and a matching power amp for the amp you've just bought. I have an all Arcam set-up and it will be miles better than the Cambridge system.

Match it with some EPOS.
 

gregory

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have to agree with joelsim on this one but the cd 92 may go a bit over budget but the cd 72 is nice paired with the a 65 and a pair of b&w speakers like the dm 602's3.
 

d_a_n1979

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I feel your pain

Im currently watching a few items and selling a few on Ebay too

I agree with Joel - Arcam power amp would be the next major upgrade. B&W speakers all the way too
 
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Anonymous

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i replaced my CA 640C v2 with the Arcam CD72 and couldnt be happier with the 72 - in my opinion it simply blew away the 640C in every department!
you can always upgrade your 72 to a 92 later through ARcams upgrade program...
 

jbill

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Thanks for all the advice everyone it is really appreciated. I ended up buying a CD72 this afternoon, this has been an expensive couple of days.

I still can't decide what to do about speakers both Joel's Linn's and the B&W's look great but I am worried about space, I am not sure that I can persuade my wife to have stands and large'ish speakers. Any suggestions for anything smaller? Or would I be wasting my system?

My music is pretty much guitar orientated. Current faves are The Hold Steady, and I am also heavily into Americana like Calexico, Ryan Adams, Jayhawks etc. I very rarely listen to classical. Now you are going to tell me I have bought the wrong things!!
emotion-1.gif
 

d_a_n1979

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Not all. V good music actually, my girlfriends parents have some Ryan Adams and Jayhawks. Not somethhing i'd go out and buy but nice to listen too when its on.

It's totally down to you as to what speakers to go for. I can understand where youre coming from in getting the wife to like them but both the Linn and B&W speakers need to have stands as to make them sound at their best. Also, i feel stand-mount speakers with decent stands really look good, retro in style. They make the finishing touches to the system.

I was going to see my B&Ws together with the stands but decided for seperare auctions. If someone were to appraoch me with a price for both i'd consider it. Watching some floorstanding speakers on Ebay now and would love to be able to sort both at roughly the same time haha...
 

jbill

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I just thought I would update in case anyone is interested or it helps someone make up their mind. I have finally put my system together, with the Arcam A65 and CD72 from ebay (both in superb condition, boxes manuals etc a real bargain) but after arguing endlessly with my wife about the size of speakers in the end I had to go small and got a pair of MA BR1's. I have never spent so much on cabling, £35 on a Chord interconnect and £5.50 a meter on speaker cable, and the result is.......

Stunning. It sounds so good, cd's I thought I knew so well have revealed new layers and instruments I didn't know were on there!!! What I was more surprised about is how the stereo seperation is so much better as well. Of course I am sure that with better speakers the result would be even better, but for the moment I am very happy.

Thanks for the advice.
 
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Anonymous

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excellent! i am trully glad to hear you love your new system - this is what hi-fi is all about!!! i took a gamble by replacing my CA 640C v2 with an Arcam CD72 (also bought off ebay) but was blown away by the results the Arcam delivered - i didnt even bother plugging the Cambridge Audio back in after! i am now looking to upgrade my amp to ARcam as well. i think you may want to upgrade you interconnect sometime though - £35 is not a lot to spend on an IC unless you bought it secondhand... a good IC can make a huge difference especially when you are running some quality components such as yours.
 

JoelSim

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I don't think you can go wrong with Arcam in this price bracket. Pleased you're happy. Upgrade path is definitely to get a matching power amp and biamp. Your CD and amp will also serve you through a speaker upgrade too in the future. I've got Arcam stuff and Dali Ikon 6 floorstanders and the combination is just excellent across all types of music. I've also got a Linn Classik and Epos ELS3s in the bedroom as don't have too much room, which is ok but the difference between the two systems in huge.
 

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