help and advice

[gillieboy67]

hi all,hoping you'll be kind and helpful to this noob,in the past have always had budget hi fi systems,however now i have the oppurtunity to put together a decent system,i have a budget of £10000,i mostly listen to vinyl and occasionally cd's,any tips,advice,recommended reading ectera would be most appreciated

 

[shep1968]

Go see David at hifix in Coventry. Have a listen to some high end kit, possibly cyrus or naim. Don't forget to tell him about my 10% commissiom

 

[Al ears]

hi all,hoping you'll be kind and helpful to this noob,in the past have always had budget hi fi systems,however now i have the oppurtunity to put together a decent system,i have a budget of £10000,i mostly listen to vinyl and occasionally cd's,any tips,advice,recommended reading ectera would be most appreciated

Take the £10000 in notes to a series of dealers, wave it under their noses, ask 'what can you do for me' and go with the first one that calls you 'Sir'. 🙂

 

[the record spot]

Have you decided that your £10,000 is what you want to spend or would you spend less? Just trying to get an idea of where you're coming from. For that kind of cash it'd be stuff that looks good as well as sounds it. Do you know or have a preference for the kind of amp or speakers? Solid state, valves, electrostatic speakers....?

If it was my money, I'd be looking at getting the kind of gear that is visually as well as audibly appealing. Sound quality is always a first for me, but with £10k to chuck around, I'd be finding the kind of dealer that stocks higher end gear that goes beyond black box hell.

 

[gillieboy67]

turntables that interest me are the rega rp8,michell gyrodec se duction and the nottingham analogue ace spacedeck,problem is dont really know whats best to go for pre amp-power amps or integrated,also setting up turntables isnt something i've ever done

 

[gillieboy67]

real helpful!,thats exactly what i dont want to do

 

[davedotco]

For that sort of money you have lots of options, far too many really for anyone to be really helpful.

You can help narrow it down by giving an idea of the functionality that you require, whether or not looks and other domestic issues play a part and of course help further by saying what, if anything, you have heard and enjoyed and what you have not.

 

[Macspur]

As others have said, for that kind of budget, you are able to consider some serious kit, but without further information from yourself, I can only advise you what I would try.

Amps...

Electrocompaniet intigrated or pre/power

Sugden A21 or Masterclass IA-4

Pathos

Musical Fidelity

Devialet

Accuphase

Plinius

Lavardin

Speakers

Harbeth

ProAc

PMC

Spendor

Kef

Sonas Faber

I know very little about current day turntables, so I will leave that for others to suggest.

CDP

Electrocompaniet

Pathos

Sugden

Rega

Unison Research

second hand Accuphase

Ultimately, you will have to demo for yourself... what brands do you have access to?

Mac

www.macsmusic.blogbubble.net

 

[tino]

Yikes ... that's a serious amount of money. What system do you currently have, and what is your collection of music .. taste and amount? What are your aspirations - do you want a 'statement' system for occasional use or something to use day in, day out? Are you fussy about aesthetics, number of cables, boxes etc?

A good dealer can inform you and guide you in your selection so you should look there first, then try and validate some of your thoughts and first impressions with the people on this forum.

If I had that sort of budget I would start by halving it and get a dealer to demonstrate or convince me that paying more gives me a better experience.

You might be looking at around 1.5K for a turntable, 1.5K - 4K for an amp roughly the same for speakers.

In terms of amps, you could do well to look at Devialet, Gato Audio, Yamaha AS3000 (these are all more than the 2K I said above)

Speakers ... why not listen to the Sonus Faber Venere series or Golden Ear Triton series.

 

[matt49]

As others have said, for that kind of budget, you are able to consider some serious kit, but without further information from yourself, I can only advise you what I would try.

Amps...

Electrocompaniet intigrated or pre/power

Sugden A21 or Masterclass IA-4

Pathos

Musical Fidelity

Devialet

Accuphase

Plinius

Lavardin

Speakers

Harbeth

ProAc

PMC

Spendor

Kef

Sonas Faber

I know very little about current day turntables, so I will leave that for others to suggest.

CDP

Electrocompaniet

Pathos

Sugden

Rega

Unison Research

second hand Accuphase

Ultimately, you will have to demo for yourself... what brands do you have access to?

Mac

www.macsmusic.blogbubble.net

Excellent list, Mac.

I'd add that before you commit to anything at all, you should try to hear some panel speakers. The most widely stocked brands in the UK are Magneplanar, Quad and Martin Logan. Of these Martin Logans are the easiest to fit into a normal domestic space.

Panel speakers do things that IMHO no dynamic speaker can (or at least no dynamic speaker I've heard).

Good luck, especially with sticking to your budget! I started out a year ago with a budget of £10k and ended up spending quite a bit more, though I've ended up with sound that I didn't think was even possible from a hifi system.

:cheers:

Matt

 

[gillieboy67]

i want a system for everyday use,i listen to modern jazz and sixties/early seventies soul(6000+ records),sound quality matters more than looks,i have a pair of b&w 683 s2's that my girlfriend bought me,so will be using them in new system,my old system consisted of a rega rp1,denon dcd-425 cd player and an onkyo reciever with an old pair of b&w dm604's,my main issue is should i go pre/power amp or intergrated,phono stage or not,like i say,have zero experience of setting up a decent mid/high end system

 

[bigfish786]

if you are heavily biased towards vinyl go for the best turntable/amp/speaker combo you can find.

after listening to a gyrodec se a few weeks back, i'd start there. if you could find a used Palmer turntable that may set you up for life.

speaker and amp suggestions are probably endless. i'd go with a hi quality integrated, rather than a pre-power.

you could spend a lifetime trying speakers out with that sort of budget. good luck finding what you want, and send me an invite when you have it all set up.