help with the upgrading bug

[admin_exported]

hi all I am thinking of upgrading all my cables and interconnects so would be grateful of any advice i currently hav cable talk biwire for my speakers and audioquest interconnects , i hav been thinking along the lines of Chord ,Nordost and VDH , also what about mains cables are they worth the money and would they still make a difference when used with the tacima 6 way ? I am also thinking of upgrading my amp and i dont know whether to get an Audiolab power amp and bi-amp or should i maybe go full hog down the A5 route and get the full system be it either integrated or pre power , or should i really be looking elsewhere maybe Sugden or Chord electronics ??

 

[Thaiman]

Lots of questions!

-Chords

-I am using Tacima and can't hear one bit of different (imo)

-Sugden pre/A5 power = amazing sound but your Kef might not be able to make the most of electronics

-lastly....Chord's sound need a long Demo, many love them and some......

 

[Anonymous]

thx

i did find a slight difference wen i plugged the tacima in , it seemed t make the sound quite a bit cleaner and more focused . i do swing chord way for cables especially speaker cables ,and have been thinkin of either rumour4 or oddysey4, but i also like the sound of the nordost red dawn and VDH the first for interconnects. wouldnt i be better having sugden pre/power rather than the a5 power? they do appeal to me as i'm from yorkshire myself and there should be some nice discounts about with the release of the new model masterclass ;-) only thing left then is to upgrade my speakers the joys of hifi

 

[Thaiman]

Great answer to all your (own) questions

 

[Anonymous]

haha not entirely answered just queried its just a multitude of ideas running round my head , waiting for the right opportunities on ebay evry little helps with decision making

 

[Thaiman]

I had a home demo with Sugden masterclass power amp and although it sounded pretty amazing it was lacking in bass welly and kick for my taste in music not to mention the heat it produced! You can sell off you radiators if you going down that route that's for sure!

Cables, You can have my old 0.5 metre VDH the first for £50! I never get on with them. Darren's Clearer Audio copperline suppose to be very good, many awards from many Magazines why don't give them a try? Otherwise my mate's Krystal Kables down in cornwall, they produced some very well made, high quality cables.

Speakers is the starting point in hifi system imo.

 

[Anonymous]

that is the age old question of hifi , which component do you or should you spend the most on . I was for many years convinced it had to be the source as that has to be where it starts as in you can only get out wot you put in .It is the same with speakers they can only put out wot you put into them which has leaned me more towards amps over the last cpl of yrs . it's a never ending circle really which i dont think you would ever be convinced of unless you could prove it to your ears , with a bottomless pocket may i ask wot puts you off VDH ?? cant say i have heard of Krystal Kables but i have clearer audio . i'm just really after the best i can get for as little as possible , I am a Yorkshireman after all

 

[Thaiman]

My VDH the 1st can cause interference (slight hum that kinna thing) the sound is decent enough but again many cables sound the same to me (not all though), for any yorkshire man I would recommended Gotham from Ebay....£12 and sound as good as any!

[quote user="m0172uk"]which component do you or should you spend the most on [/quote]

I use to spend most on source when I first take up the hobby because everybody keep telling me bad in/bad out (polite way) and all that but after changing my Hifi a few times I think many CD players sounded so similar...well up until a certain price point anyway.

Speakers and room is the most important IMO

 

[Anonymous]

ok thx, so in your opinion would you suggest spending money on new speakers or spend the same money on an older pair that was dearer in its time ??

 

[Thaiman]

[quote user="m0172uk"]would you suggest spending money on new speakers or spend the same money on an
older pair that was dearer in its time ??[/quote]

Clever money is on the latter. You should make your mind up first what is the sound that you after? (not many pairs are good all rounder!) What kinna music you mostly listening to and what is your room accoustic like! The last bit is very tricky I must admit.

 

[Anonymous]

I listen to quite a variety of music from jazz to dance , dont really have a preference , maybe slightly more towards electronica , i will listen to anything tho if it pleases my ears :-S my room is roughly 5m x 5m in a flat above a shop my sound does fill my room quite adequately . I have been thinking of Monitor Audio Studio 20's but me and a friend have been arguing for some time whether i should go standmount , i like bass extension so i have always stuck with the big box and wouldnt want t go down the sub route if needed to back up a smaller box. as for sound i'm after then i guess that would be rich and as detailed as possible with a lovely round bass but tight and coherent, sweet top end never harsh

 

[Anonymous]

Cables: I use all three brands you have mentioned to tune my system. Chord Chorus 2 for the CD player. The Nordust enhances my Revox B77Mk11 adding a more open sense to the sound stage. Finally the Van Den Hul for my Nakamichi Dragon to give an extra degree of smoothness. A while back I was very sceptical on mains cables. I owned a Krell PBS28 CD player at the time and was convinced that a power cable would make no difference to CD player with such a well designed power supply. That was until a friend dropped in with the £60 mains lead. EVERYTHING improved. I still don't know why, but it was one of those real HI Fi moments. Now months later every piece of kit is using relatively high end mains leads. Amps: The only one your list I have tried is a Chord Electronics CPM 3350 integrated. Great build, fabulous blue light show, but not as controlled in the low end and therefore not as satisfying for my musical taste as brands like Krell.

 

[Anonymous]

cool , it's certainly the first place i'm thinkin of starting the slow process of upgrading by starting with all cables , unless the oportunity comes along to purchase an amp or speakers at the rite price there is something about krell but i have never really looked towards them i dont no why but i just havent , always thought of them far 2 big and bulky , but then i saw the MF kw500 n thought now there's an amp i want :-S thx for ure opinion tho it all helps

 

[clearer_audio]

Hello m0172uk, My name is Darren Smith and I am the Managing Director of Clearer Audio. If you have not already done so then I would strongly recommend that you try a power cable on your Musical Fidelity A5. The A5 is a fine player and I would recommend our Silver-line Power Cable which will give a significant improvement to sound quality; as 303 pointed out the difference can be quite staggering! All of our power cables will give an improvement in performance when used directly with your Tacima although for optimal performance we would recommend plugging straight into the wall socket (a high quality unswitched socket ideally) or using one of our HUBs which have been designed around our power cables. If budget allows I would also recommend using another power cable on your Audiolab 8000A: our Copper-line Power Cable would be an ideal choice and again you can expect a boost in performance. Once you have power cables in place on both your A5 and 8000A you can then re-evaluate your system and see what you think. The next step would be to look at interconnects and for your system I would recommend our Silver-line Interconnect. Finally speaker cables can be looked at but which ones to go for would depend on many factors so it would be best to call us to discuss your options in depth if you are interested in any of ours. We offer a 60 Day Money Back Guarantee on all of our products thus allowing you to test them out in your own system either on their own or in comparison to other cables that might be of interest to you. I hope that I have been of assistance to you. For further detailed information along with customer and magazine reviews on the products mentioned above please visit our website. If you have any further questions or queries then you can contact us on 01702 543981 Monday-Friday 9am-6pm. Kind regards, Darren Smith