HELP - I FEEL LIKE A CHANGE

[Kubs]

Koksan MK III Amp

Marantz KI Sig CD player (over 10 years old)

Quad 12L Speakers

Friends - I need some advice, I feel like spending some money on my hi fi set up and I'm thinking of changing the CD player. I have read some reviews on the M KI Sig stating that it still punches a decent sound which on a par with similar priced 'modern' CD players - how true is this?

Should I upgrade or am I waiting my money ..... I enjoy a wide variety of music.

Many thanks - Kub.

 

[Kubs]

I should mention its the Marantz 63 - MK II Signiture

 

[shooter]

What is it you don't like about your system?

 

[Kubs]

Thanks for the reply!

Its lacking something .... let me elaborate - having moved to London I had to downsize from a house to a 1 bed flat so I had to get rid of my Mourdant Short 208 floor stands ... way too big. So I'm not sure if its the fact that the system is set up in a smaller room or is it becasue the speakers do not match the source and amp???

To be honest, I bought the speakers due to their size and their finish (the misses wanted something not too intrusive looking) ...... The sound is lacking soundstage, expanse and depth ...... I'm not getting that immersed feeling you get when you are drawn into the music.

So in my frustration I want to spend some money to put it right ..... do I need a new system - it will need to built around the speakers though ....

Kub

 

[Craig M.]

if your missus can't be convinced that you buy speakers for their sound and pictures for looking at, then i wouldn't bother changing anything. can't see how you will get a change to the sort of sound you want without different speakers...

 

[shooter]

Shame that as the amp and CDP are good bit's of kit.

I would have a look at the Audiolab 8000 series, nice synergy with Quad and prices are good but not so the look's, but it's a starting point.

I'm sure you'll get some great advise here..

 

[Anonymous]

http://www.the-home-cinema-guide.com/image-files/monitor-audio-gs10-bookshelf-speaker.jpg

monitor audio gs 10/gr10 worth a look

these are pretty unobtrusive looking.

my mums the same hence my poor dad's had the same rubbish sony micro system for years

 

[Kubs]

Thanks for the tips ...... Just had a peek at your set up - NICE!

So, my CD player doesnt need an upgrade .... it is over 10 years old?

 

[shooter]

Before spending any money how have you got the system set up regarding speaker placement.

How about the room, would you say it's acoustically challenged?

Can you post a picture of the set up?

On the CDP, if it was good before then it's good now and no need to change.

 

[Kubs]

Here is a pic of my set up

 

[Kubs]

...... for some reason the pic does not show up.

 

[shooter]

To get a picture up you'll need to upload it to Photobucket or Flickr.

 

[Anonymous]

CD player is sound - I have a CD63 (NOT SE, NOT KI) and I compared that to the Audiolab 8200CD and yes the 8200CD is better, a bit cleaner, a wider soundstage, but the CD63 gives me a very good soundstage already and your SE KI should be better anyway. Two dealers have even suggested that I could keep the CD63 if I wanted, so its clearly held in high regard against current players.

I bought a Quad 909 amp, just for more power, not expecting a huge sound improvement over my Audiolab 8000A - but that really expanded the soundstage and has been a revelation. I may now even not change the speakers as I had intended becasue the 909 has improved the sound so much.

You'd then need a pre-amp of course which is where I found myself, so I decided to go for the 8200CDQ becasue for pre-amp money, I get the latest CD player thrown in almost free.

Still no idea what speakers I will end up with though. However, I improved the sound and soundstage massively by putting lead in the speaker stands and re-making all my speaker leads. Speaker connections do develop contact resistance over time depending on binding materials. So pull the whole lot apart and re-make all the connections before you do anything else.

I've got the bug now, but really I think I have already fixed the issue I had which was rather like yours. So I suggest decent stands, solidly planted, lead filling and hefty copper cable (not fancy XYZ cable, just 12AWG OFC copper - you can't beat low impedance cables IMHO). Once I had done that, I should have stopped!