Help needed to choose speakers/amp - £600 budget

[danbeatles78]

Morning allLooking to chop in my current setup which is Yamaha rxv673 amp and Q Acoustics 7000 5.1 set/Q Acoustics 2010iLooking at returning to good old 2 channel stereo as music is my main love and not really wanting 7 speakers dotted around the loungeHaven't really got a chance to demo equipment but would like you guys to give me some ideas which would suit my budget Currently eyeing up Marantz pm6004 or Nad D3020 amps, but wanted this to be my last purchase for a while Front room is quite big so wouldn't rule out floorstanding speakers

 

[d_a_n1979]

What will be your source (CD player, iTunes & AirPlay, Sonos etc...)?

Are you happy with quality 2nd hand or do you want brand new?

What music do you generally listen to?

Do you want/need separates or would you consider a decent all-in-one system?

 

[danbeatles78]

What will be your source (CD player, iTunes & AirPlay, Sonos etc...)? music will be coming from my pc, use JRiver - I have a cheap DAC to connect from pc to the amp

Are you happy with quality 2nd hand or do you want brand new? - not fussed either way , i previously had Yamaha as500 so would like to try something different

What music do you generally listen to? main music is Rock, AV amp doesn't give a great sound with drums - so decided to go for stereo setup

Do you want/need separates or would you consider a decent all-in-one system? i only use FLAC files so wouldn't need a cd player, amp would be suffice

 

[d_a_n1979]

What will be your source (CD player, iTunes & AirPlay, Sonos etc...)? music will be coming from my pc, use JRiver - I have a cheap DAC to connect from pc to the amp

Are you happy with quality 2nd hand or do you want brand new? - not fussed either way , i previously had Yamaha as500 so would like to try something different

What music do you generally listen to? main music is Rock, AV amp doesn't give a great sound with drums - so decided to go for stereo setup

Do you want/need separates or would you consider a decent all-in-one system? i only use FLAC files so wouldn't need a cd player, amp would be suffice

Ok thanks for that

With your taste in music personally I'd look at the following:

Amps:

NAD C326BEE

Marantz PM6004

NAD D3020 (in-bulit DAC also) - new or poss 2nd hand/ex-demo

Marantz PM6005 (as above) - new or poss 2nd hand/ex-demo

Arcam Alpha 9

Roksan Kandy LIII

Rega BrioR - 2nd hand




Speakers:

Monitor Audio RS6's

Monitor Audio BX5's

Monitor Audio RX2's (standmount)

B&W 685's (standmount)

B&W 603 S2's or S3's

Acoustic Energy AE Neo 3's

All the above is on or can be found on eBay easy enough (obviously when it comes to speakers sometimes people won't post unless they've got the boxes etc...)

My choice would be the Arcam Alpha 9, NAD C326BEE or Marantz PM6004 amp with the MA BX5 speakers (or poss the RX2's if you can find them within budget)

Dont forget you'll need speaker cable (QED Silver Anniversary or Chord Carnival Silverscreen will be more than sufficient) and speaker stands if you do decide to go for standmount speakers (Soundstyle Z2's or Atacama Nexus 6's again will be more than sufficient but see if you can get some Atacama Atabites so you can mass load them as well)

 

[danbeatles78]

lovely mate, really appreciate your advice and i'll have a hunt round to see what is available

i'll report back and let you know how i got on

 

[Steve Reichert PR Manager ArmourHome]

Some people might think I'm a little biased on this subject - and they'd be right - but I'd suggest you considered two award-winning Q Acoustics models; the standmount Concept 20 and floorstanding 2050i.

A slightly more 'off the wall' suggestion, is to hook up your existing 7000 L+R or 2010i loudspeakers and 7000 subwoofer, to your new stereo amplifier when you get it, in a 2.1 configuation. It may not be what you're looking for, but I guarantee the sonic result will both surprise and impress you.

Best regards

Steve Reichert, PR manager - Armour Home (Q Acoustics)

 

[Pistol Pete1]

Some people might think I'm a little biased on this subject - and they'd be right - but I'd suggest you considered two award-winning Q Acoustics models; the standmount Concept 20 and floorstanding 2050i.

A slightly more 'off the wall' suggestion, is to hook up your existing 7000 L+R or 2010i loudspeakers and 7000 subwoofer, to your new stereo amplifier when you get it, in a 2.1 configuation. It may not be what you're looking for, but I guarantee the sonic result will both surprise and impress you.

Best regards

Steve Reichert, PR manager - Armour Home (Q Acoustics)

And there I was thinking you'd be recommend something other than Q Acoustics products Steve!!! :rofl:

 

[davedotco]

For a completely different slant on this, you could simply buy a pair of active monitors.

My favourite Presonus Eris 8 are a pound or two under £400, leaving funds over for stand and cables and if needed, a better usb dac, such as the excellent Epiphany EDac for just £100.

http://www.presonus.com/products/Eris

http://epiphany-acoustics.co.uk/products-page/dacs/e-dac-24bit-miniature-usb-dac/

Elsewhere on this site you will see a thread on the Adam F5, it's bigger brother the F7 is just £500, so also within budget.

http://www.adam-audio.com/en/pro-audio/products/f7/description

If you want to play rock music with clarity, power and punch I am hard pressed to think of better options, minimalist but excellent.

 

[davedotco]

Double post....... :doh:

 

[fr0g]

I would a) follow the above advice regarding actives, or b) spend all the money on the speakers

I guarantee that a good pair of passive speakers for the whole budget will sound better through the Yamaha AV amp, than spreading your money between a cheap stereo amp and speakers...

I used to use a Lyngdorf SDAI2175 with Dali Ikon 6. When I sold the Lyngdorf I used my Dalis in my AV system with a Yamaha RXV667

The difference was minimal (I am not saying non existant), but a £1300 amp v a £300 AV amp was far too close considering the price difference.

The speakers are way the most important link and where you will find the biggest improvements in sound.

 

[danbeatles78]

thanks chaps much appreciated

would the q acoustics 7000 L+R be strong enough as front on a stereo amp?

 

[28marcus]

If you want to lower your box count have a look at What Hi-Fi's latest news. Quad active speakers '9AS' with an in-built dac and power amps in each speaker. Definately worth a listen to and £600.

Cheers

 

[altruistic.lemon]

d_a_n's advice is good. Active speakers have their place, but not at the lower end of the market. Most are designed to be home studio monitors, which means they tend to be bright, and tooth-achingly clinical. There's also the problem of limited inputs, and, in the case of pro actives, the need to buy some kind of pre-amp.

Q Acoustics plus NAD would seem a good choice.

 

[Craig M.]

For a completely different slant on this, you could simply buy a pair of active monitors.

+1. Pop along to your nearest pro-audio shop and see what they have at your budget. £600 would get you something pretty good.

If you already have a dac and your source is a pc, you won't need a pre-amp. Just plug the dac straight into them and control volume from the pc.

 

[davedotco]

d_a_n's advice is good. Active speakers have their place, but not at the lower end of the market. Most are designed to be home studio monitors, which means they tend to be bright, and tooth-achingly clinical. There's also the problem of limited inputs, and, in the case of pro actives, the need to buy some kind of pre-amp.

Q Acoustics plus NAD would seem a good choice.

Same old, same old, eh Al.

It is abundandly clear that you have no experience of the speakers I recommend as your remarks are so far from the truth as to be obviously made up.

The big advantages of active speakers are actually more noticeable at the lower price levels, active drive controls the necessarily inexpensive drivers better than a comparable passive setup, dedicated amplifiers are more efficient than stand alone types and the relatively high cost of the amplifier case is dispensed with completely.

The inexpensive monitors I recommend above are fantastic value for money, to pretend otherwise is sheer nonsense. I specifically recommend these kinds of solutions for simpler systems such as that proposed by the OP, who incidentality favours rock music, a style of music that my selections will excell at.

Regarding the pre-amp, it is not needed in many setups, certainly not the OP's, who uses JRiver which provides full control of volume.

 

[altruistic.lemon]

No, I have listened to many an active and owned some.

Don't confuse your own listening preferences with universal truths, my friend.

 

[matthewpiano]

Perhaps we can avoid turning this thread into another actives vs passives discussion and allow the OP to explore the active and passive options put forward and make his own mind up.

 

[alienmango]

I have not heard the acitves dave recommends but they likely sound good for 400...

However for my money I'd get a pair of rx2's assuming you want bookshelves, and put a nad c370 or alpha 10 behind them. the reason is the speakers dave recommended had a lot of port noise when pushed, the rx2's will have less.

This will come to around £450-550 depending on luck essentially.

 

[davedotco]

At this price level there are always compromises and it depends what you find works best for you.

Personally I find speakers like the MAs mentioned a long way from my tastes, but then I find most budget loudspeakers to be quite objectional.

I find Dali and Q Acoustics to be the best of what is to me a very average bunch but they still lack scale and presence and, when powered by the usual budget amplifiers, the sound falls apart very easily indeed.

I am well aware that my views fall a long way from the mainstream and my general contention that most modern 'budget' systems are actually pretty poor at the basics of playing music is fairly well known, though I do try and temper my views as I am concious that others think and feel differently.

I rarely make any recomendations on conventional budget components, considering all of them to be much of a muchness in terms of capability though they do of course vary in presentation.

I do recommend active monitors where I think they might be appropriate, this thread for example where the OP uses a single (computer) source, favours rock music and has a limited budget.

As regards port noise, many small speakers suffer from this issue, particularly if played loud in a studio environment. I have had the Presonus at home and domestically, they play at quite antisocial levels without a hint of port noise. More importantly in my view, they do so without any noticeable cabinet boom or dynamic compression, which is not the case with most conventional hi-fi speakers that I have tried.

 

[matthewpiano]

Have to say I find the RX2s problematic. Bass is hardly taut and controlled and the overall presentation lacks clarity.

 

[davedotco]

Have to say I find the RX2s problematic. Bass is hardly taut and controlled and the overall presentation lacks clarity.

Since you brought it up, I find them, and most of the cheaper MAs to be complete ********!