Hi-Fi system on a 20k$+ budget

[admin_exported]

Hi all.

I'm using an 5 years old all-in-one 5.1 system.

But I think it time to start to build Hi-Fi system of my dream.

Have a budget of 20k+.(will it change something if I would have 40k?).

But the problem is that I live in the country where it is difficult to test technics in the store(.

I listen to music 70% of my time, but I would like to build a system for both music and cinema.

That's why i really need your advice.

Thanks.

 

[Helmut80]

minute detail but are we talking US dollars or pounds sterling?

 

[Anonymous]

US Dollars.

 

[CnoEvil]

Can you give a few more details like:

- What sort of music do you listen to?

- How do you like the sound presented ie. smoother or more analytical?

- Details of your room (size/shape etc) and how it's furnished

- What brands are available in your area, and have you heard anything in the past that you liked?

- Is this for 2 channel only?

 

[Anonymous]

1. Mainly I listen Rock music.

2.Smoother.

3.Size of the room - 6m x 9m.

Some sofas for watching movies and listening to music.

4.I can buy and bring any brand available in Germany.

5.Honestly, I can spend 40k US Dollars on the system.

I meant for the 2 ch speakers + subwoofer + center + rear speakers + all the rest.

But will I really feel the difference between 20k and 40 k system?

Thanks.

 

[John Duncan]

Given the right system, yes. Given the wrong system, the 20k one could sound better than the 40k one.

With that sort of money I'd be looking at the top of the range Arcam processor/power amp, a PMC 5.1 set and a Cambridge 751BD.

 

[FennerMachine]

With a budget that big you need to try the system first , preferably in your own home.

I'm sure you could allocate some of the budget to travelling to somewhere where you can try the kit first, or get them to bring it to you for a home demo.

You don't want to spend 20K and find its no better than what you already have!

 

[Anonymous]

It's unposiible to test it at home.

But I can travel and test some in the store.

But please, recommend some brands.

Thanks.

 

[CnoEvil]

Given the right system, yes. Given the wrong system, the 20k one could sound better than the 40k one.

With that sort of money I'd be looking at the top of the range Arcam processor/power amp, a PMC 5.1 set and a Cambridge 751BD.

JD pretty much beat me to it, though I would also throw in Kef Refs as an alternative speaker set with a Velodyne sub (from the DD range); and a good streamer or Dac for quality 2 channel.....Job done (until other temptations are dangled in front of you).

 

[franklin2829]

Hi,

With that sort of budget the worlds your lobster!

Speakers to consider- Monitor Audio Platinum, KEf reference and B&W 800 series

Sub-Paradigm or REL

AV Amp- Anthem Statement (D2V and p5) more focussed on AV but very very good. Alternatively Arcam's Flagship

or consider brands like Meridian and go in a completely different direction. Your very lucky you have a good budget to spend but take your time, make sure you demo you want to ensure your 20k or 40k goes as far as possible.

 

[the record spot]

It's unposiible to test it at home.

But I can travel and test some in the store.

But please, recommend some brands.

Thanks.

It depends what you want from your system. Draw up a list of wants, the kind of music and what kind of functionality or connectivity you might want. There's any amount of stuff out there that will deliver what you're probably looking for for significantly less than you want to spend. That said, if you also want premium design or styling, then the high end niche market will certainly deliver that.

 

[Anonymous]

Could you please tell me full brandname of Kef Refs?

 

[altruistic.lemon]

What country are you in? If brands such as Magnepan, Martin Logan, Sonus Faber, Opera, Harbeth, Spendor etc are available, I'd look at them.

 

[Anonymous]

Speakerwise I would consider the B&W 802D, 805D, Diamond Series Center and DB1 Sub

 

[CnoEvil]

Could you please tell me full brandname of Kef Refs?

Yes of course.

Kef Reference range consist of:

Standmount.......201/2
Floorstanders....203/2; 205/2; 207/2
Centre Speakers..202/2c; 204/2c
Surround.........206/2ds

Given the percentage of 2 channel that you listen to, added to the size of your room, I would be ideally looking at the 205/2 for front L & R.

Have a look here: http://www.hifix.co.uk/kef

or here: http://www.kef.com/html/gb/showroom/hi-fi_series/reference_series/overview/

 

[FennerMachine]

I've put together two possible systems costing about £20,000 or about $30,000 USD.

I got rough prices from a few UK sites.

These are the systems I would like to try based on a system to do stereo and surround.

Both systems would benefit from a dedicated CD player or other source components depending on what you mainly listen to/from. Both systems would do surround for movies but are both built around mainly stereo listening, the second system more so. Classé also do dedicated stereo power amps so you can then have a 7.1 system if you ever wanted or just better control for the front speakers. I have not included sub-woofers.

System 1

Source: Cambridge Audio Azur 751BD £800.00

Processor: Classé SSP-800 £7,350.00

Amp: Classé CA-5300 Five-Channel £7,950.00

Front: Spendor A6 £2,295.00

Centre: C5.2 £795.00

Rear: Spendor S3 5R2 £925.00

Total: £20,115.00

System 2

Source: Cambridge Audio Azur 751BD £800.00

AV amp: Denon AVC-A1HDA £5,000.00

Stereo amp: Pathos Inpol 2 £5,650.00

Front: Spendor Statement ST Carbon £6,495.00

Centre: C5.2 £795.00

Rear: Spendor S3 5R2 £925.00

Total: £19,665.00

I personally like the Spendor sound, a warmer less tiring sound than some others.

I tried PMC and ProAC but preferred Spendor.

PMC was too clinical for my tastes and the ProAC just didn't do it for me.

I've always like Denon for AV duties.

The other amps listed I've never tried, but like the look and they have good reviews.

I will likely never risk demoing them as I will get the upgrade bug again!

 

[CnoEvil]

System 1

Source: Cambridge Audio Azur 751BD £800.00

Processor: Classé SSP-800 £7,350.00

Amp: Classé CA-5300 Five-Channel £7,950.00

Front: Spendor A6 £2,295.00

Centre: C5.2 £795.00

Rear: Spendor S3 5R2 £925.00

Total: £20,115.00

System 2

Source: Cambridge Audio Azur 751BD £800.00

AV amp: Denon AVC-A1HDA £5,000.00

Stereo amp: Pathos Inpol 2 £5,650.00

Front: Spendor Statement ST Carbon £6,495.00

Centre: C5.2 £795.00

Rear: Spendor S3 5R2 £925.00

Total: £19,665.00

I personally like the Spendor sound, a warmer less tiring sound than some others.

I tried PMC and ProAC but preferred Spendor.

PMC was too clinical for my tastes and the ProAC just didn't do it for me.

I've always like Denon for AV duties.

The other amps listed I've never tried, but like the look and they have good reviews.

I will likely never risk demoing them as I will get the upgrade bug again!

FM, very interesting suggestions.....for a big stereo bias, I would take system 2 but might replace the Pathos with the Musical Fidelity AMS 35i.

For AV, the Spendors might lack a little impact (especially the all important centre).....but that might not matter to the OP.

 

[BenLaw]

I would say that there are some decisions you need to make as to what general direction you want to go in, otherwise you risk just getting lists of people's ideal kit (although you have had some very good suggestions so far).

1. Source: as you will be playing movies, you will want a high end blu ray player. Any of the high end players from Oppo, Cambridge (not sure if you'll get this in Germany?), Denon, Marantz, Onkyo or Yamaha will be good, and if you didn't audition I'm sure you'd be delighted with any of them.

Any of those are (to a greater or lesser degree) a 'universal player'. So, you need to decide if you want an alternative source for stereo duties? A CDP costing £500 upwards would probably be an improvement, but personally I can't see much point in having 2 'disc spinners'. But, do you want a streaming solution for audio? A separate DAC?

2. Active / passive: At your budget, having an active setup becomes a possibility. Personally, if I had £30k to spend I'd be going for a fully active ATC 5.1 setup. You could also consider active fronts and passive centre and surrounds from the same manufacturer, which may optimise stereo and AV. This choice would also dicatate amplification, as an active system would require a pre/pro.

3. Amplification: do you want a separate stereo amp for music? If not, you have a relatively limited selection of high end 'musical' AV amps, such as from Primare, Arcam and (arguably) Anthem. If you have a separate stereo amp you have to spread the budget around a bit more but you massively increase your options.

 

[lindsayt]

Vinyl source: EMT 930 ($3000) or 948 ($2000) or 950 ($3000). There are enough of these for sale on German eBay. Or Pioneer Exclusive P3a ($5000). The EMT’s and the Exclusive sound as good as any record players ever made. No need to spend more on a vinyl source.

Speakers for rock music: Electro Voice Patricians ($9000) for the clarity, dynamics, great bass, midrange and treble. There’s no need for a subwoofer with the Patricians. They are not amp fussy speakers and would sound fantastic with your existing amp. If you want to max-out the amplification go for nice 45 or 2a3 or 300b SET's for these high efficiency speakers. Maybe something from Coincident, Jeff Korneff, Yamamoto or a custom built one? Avoid small speakers in your 6m by 9m room as they will sound like small speakers shouting to be heard.

Digital source: custom made music and video server PC for $3000 or less.

If you have the money left over in your budget you could also buy a Studer reel to reel tape machine plus some reel to reel tapes for ultimate sound quality.

For movies, use whatever centre and rear speakers plus 5.1 amplifier you’ve already got.

The trouble with going to a dealers is that $20k to $40k usually doesn’t buy you much in terms of sound quality. If you follow my recommendations you will have a stereo that will sound about as good as any on this planet.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

Some advice:

This is a very good budget and it is worth taking your time to:

- understand what you want - what formats you want to play (music and movies), how you want to store, access and playback all that

- how to realilse it - i.e. what configuration you want: computer based or CD/SACD? Universal bluray player? AV amp + stereo amp or just AV? active or passive? big or small? more boxes or less boxes?

- not at all the least - try to imagine step by step how you will manage and control everything? just take yourself through the steps of, say, picking a song and playing it: what do you need to switch on, select inputs, how do you find the actual song? or how do you add a new song to your collection and, say, add it to a playlist? is it easy enough for you? for your other family? this is not trivial - once you have thousands of songs and a system integrating AV and stereo. At you budget you ought to demand seamless integration and the most slick of control interfaces.

before moving into 'what brands' are you clear on what you want? I for example was far from clear and it was good fun taking time to understand what I want and what is possible with today's products and my budget.

- allocate some of your budget to the search i.e. travel to a shop where you can try the kit or pay for return shipping. it would be really sad if you spent a lot of cash and be disappointed after a week ot two and have regrets.

- take your time!

in terms of more specific advice -

- spend more on speakers/sub, less on sources, go active speakers if you want realistic, low distortion sound (ATC, Adam Audio, Genelec and others)

- think intergation through really really well

- allocate budget for a good remote control (if different componets are not integrating well)

- go for a configuration with the least box count (they gather dust). again, active speakers will help here.

- you do not need to spend the whole 20 or 40K. you may find what you want for much less! treat your favourite girl or kids (or even your parents!) with the rest ;-) don't underestimate the goodness of inexpensive kit like e.g. Squeezebox Touch or Sonson - they are brilliant!

an example of a 20K system (AV + stereo, active + passive) is in the link below.

 

[Anonymous]

At that price range, if not already taken care of, I would definitaly take a piece of the budget for room acoustic. For brand names, I'll leave it to the many forum expertsss

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks all for your advices. I'll coment them later on.

 

[Anonymous]

Wish I had $40k to spare.

BTW how old are you? Hearing deteriorates with age, many people in their 60s have quite a degree of hearing impariment and probably can't get much out of such an expensive set of kit.

 

[Electro]

Wish I had $40k to spare.

BTW how old are you? Hearing deteriorates with age, many people in their 60s have quite a degree of hearing impariment and probably can't get much out of such an expensive set of kit.

You are obviously quite young

 

[AlmaataKZ]

Thanks all for your advices. I'll coment them later on.

I think forum members will be very interested to read about the evolution your system. And see the pics once it materialises, of cause. would be great.