Hifi upgrade - where to start?

rchinn

New member
Feb 28, 2015
10
0
0
Visit site
Hello. After lots of enjoyable reading on the forum and hypothetical speculation, I thought it would be better to turn it over to your expert advice. I'm looking to gradually upgrade my hifi, but I don't know where to start. My current set-up is:

_Cambridge Audio Topaz AM10 amp (2011)
_Accoustic Energy Aegis Evo 3 floorstanding speakers (2007)
_Arcam irDAC (2015)
_Apple Airport (2008)
_2 x Technics 1210 turntables (2007)
_Pioneer DJM 400 (2011)

As you may gather I play a mix of digital files and vinyl. Genre-wise mainly electronic, ambient, modern classical and pop. I know the turntable set-up is more DJ than hifi - but I have the option of plugging one turntable directly into the amp.

What is the weakest link? Should I buy a more powerful amp like Arcam A19 or Rega Brio-R? Or should I buy some speakers with better definition like Tannoy DC6TSE?

Any advice greatly appreciated. Thank you.
 
Always try a nagaoka cart on one of your decks, to see if you can get a bit more performance out of it, an amp upgrade would probably be first though. There are tons of used bargains out there. You'll get way more bang for your buck.
 

davedotco

New member
Apr 24, 2013
20
1
0
Visit site
Interesting.

If your mixer has a spare input to suit the irDac (not sure if it has), then I would change both the amplifier and the speakers.

I would replace them with a pair of Yamaha HS8 monitors, powerfull, punchy sound, absolutely ideal for your needs and excellent value for money, less than £450 pair.
 

rchinn

New member
Feb 28, 2015
10
0
0
Visit site
Cheers for the tips. I'm happy to buy an amp second-hand. I can get a Rega Brio-R for around £220 or an Arcam A19 for £450. Any recommendations to look out for?

With the irDAC handling the digitial inputs, I thought it might be better to go for a simple but high-quality analogue amp. I'm not fussed about remote, internal DAC or many features.

Ultimately I'd like to change my mixer to a rotatory mixer, but that would be more expensive than any of the other upgrades - so I thought it better to look at amp and speakers first.

R
 

rchinn

New member
Feb 28, 2015
10
0
0
Visit site
I ended up buying an A19 amp, which is a big boost on the system when playing vinyl. The phono stage is great. I'm seeing less improvement when playing digital stuff through the irDAC. This could be a range of things from 320mp3's, to power-supply, to the older speakers being less responsive to less substantial sources.

Of course I want new speakers now, but I wonder does the irDAC need time to burn-in? Is a power-supply upgrade worth it? Better inter-connects could only be a marginal improvement, etc etc. Any thoughts appreciated.
 

bluebrazil

New member
Jul 2, 2009
19
0
0
Visit site
your first thought was right, new speakers.

dac burn in, power supply and interconnects. all absoloutely superiflious to anything unless you get the amp/speaker. combo right

and its new speaker and room acoustics that makes the difference.

dont waste your money on the other things. i am too polite to call it bull but i have spent a lot of money there and i wished i had known better then.

never heard your dac but 320 aint bad, try ripping into lossless if your curious
 
I just got the ir dac myself two weeks ago and it's getting better with each session, it's on a par and probably better than my Arcam cd82,which was a £600 player in it's day and still sounds great. I would be looking at the speakers like others have suggested, it looks like you prefer the bassy sound of floorstanders, but don't discount a pair of decent standmounts along with a sub, (which would give you that detail and refinement a pair of sub £1000 pair of f/s's just can't muster) ,Along with tight controlled bass. a pair of cm1's or cm 5,and a pv1 sub from b&w would be a interesting option, but you'd probably have to trail through the second hand market for those specific speakers and sub, but you get the idea. ps, I doubt the cm5's really need a sub, the bass extension/control from these relatively small cabinet's has to be seen/heard to be believed. I love em. And they jump all over my previous monitor audio silver rx 6's (floorstanders) for detail and refinement.
 

rchinn

New member
Feb 28, 2015
10
0
0
Visit site
Thanks for all the tips and help so far.

I've purchased some B&W 683 S2's which will arrive on Thursday. This will mean a whole new chain from source to ear. Exciting! Hopefully a more detailed soundstage that what I've had for the last eight years. The only thing remaining at the moment is speaker cable but of course I want to change that now too.

So wise forum, what cable do you recommend to go from A19 to 683's? Left speaker is about 1m from the amp and the right about 3m, but I typically buy the same length of cable for each around 5m.
 

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts