I want to feel the music

Ernie

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I listen to a lot of music through a Denon Micro I bough 4 or 5 years ago with some Tannoy Mercury F1 speakers. It sounds ok but I want to be able to close my eyes and feel like I am there watching it live, being able to hear every string of a guitar.

I have a 2 - 2.5k budget to spend and hope I can get that something special. My main question is weather to go for an integrated amp or get a pre and power amp and spend less on speakers as a result. My music collection is now mainly streaming via Deezer, and iTunes. So would I need a dac to get the best from this?

If anyone has any recommendations for a good set up then please share your thoughts.

Many thanks in advance for your advice.

Ernie
 

chebby

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Hi.

Just a few questions to get an idea.

Would the level of realism you want include 'concert realistic' volume levels?

What kinds of music do you enjoy the most?

What size room do you play your music in?

Do you require lots of deep bass?

Sorry if that all reads a bit like an interrogation, but it helps prevent us from recommending inappropriate systems.
 

matt49

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With that budget you should be able to achieve what you want.

More questions:

Ernie said:
My music collection is now mainly streaming via Deezer, and iTunes.

Where is your music stored? On a Mac/PC or a NAS drive?

:cheers:

Matt
 

Ernie

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Hi Chebby, thanks you for your reply.

I don't necessarily want concert realistic volume levels. I listen to it loud at times, in a 16 x 13 ft living room (no neighbours attached thankfully).

MyI main taste is modern pop, e.g Calvin Harris, Bastille, Avicil, James Blunt, but also like the occasional instrumental day and really enjoy piano and guitar as well as the odd Jazz album. Deep bass isn't important for me. What I would like is to get some really good clarity and control from my tastes.

thanks again.

Ernie
 

matthewpiano

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Ernie said:
Hi Chebby, thanks you for your reply.

I don't necessarily want concert realistic volume levels. I listen to it loud at times, in a 16 x 13 ft living room (no neighbours attached thankfully).

MyI main taste is modern pop, e.g Calvin Harris, Bastille, Avicil, James Blunt, but also like the occasional instrumental day and really enjoy piano and guitar as well as the odd Jazz album. Deep bass isn't important for me. What I would like is to get some really good clarity and control from my tastes.

thanks again.

Ernie

Everything you say suggests to me that you should be looking at active speakers. If I had your budget I would be looking at auditioning the AVI ADM9.1RSS with and without the sub, as everything I have heard about them fits with your requirements. Also my experience of hearing other actives suggests this to be a good avenue for you.
 

matt49

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Ernie said:
Hi Matt

It's stored on an ipad and I can access Deezer from both ipad and pc.

thanks

Ernie

So you'll stream wirelessly from the iPad. In which case you could stick with Apple infrastructure and get, say, an Apple TV (£99) and connect that via optical audio to the DAC in your (new) hifi system.

As far as the hifi's concerned, you might want to think about how many boxes you want. There are many different ways to skin this particular cat, and none is necessarily better than the other.
 

Electro

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These may be a little over budget but they will probably do everything you want and more , they are active DSP speakers with analog and digital inputs so just add your source .

You will definitely feel the music with these !

This pair are B stock speakers priced close to you budget and are a bit of a bargain IMO :)

http://www.studiocare.com/pmc-twotwo-6-active-2-way-studio-monitor-pair-b-stock.html?___store=default&gclid=CMq2tKOt6rsCFYbHtAod2QkAoQ
 

matt49

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Electro said:
These may be a little over budget but they will probably do everything you want and more , they are active DSP speakers with analog and digital inputs so just add your source .

You will definitely feel the music with these !

This pair are B stock speakers priced close to you budget and are a bit of a bargain IMO :)

http://www.studiocare.com/pmc-twotwo-6-active-2-way-studio-monitor-pair-b-stock.html?___store=default&gclid=CMq2tKOt6rsCFYbHtAod2QkAoQ

Hi Electro,

Have you heard the PMCs? I really like the look of them: serious pedigree. While on the subject of actives, the Adam ARTist series is very good (I have the little 3 model in my office). The new X-ART ribbon tweeters are very sweet, and more revealing IMO than the AVI ADM9s, which I found a bit disappointing. No accounting for taste ...

To the OP: I certainly wouldn't take it as an article of faith that actives are superior at this price point. There are some lovely passive speakers around the £1K mark, by PMC, KEF, ATC, Sonus faber, Dynaudio etc etc.

I'd also give serious consideration to second-hand amps: a good Sugden A21a can be picked up for under £700 and is a thing of beauty (well, soundwise at least).

:cheers:

Matt
 

MakkaPakka

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Ernie said:
MyI main taste is modern pop, e.g Calvin Harris, Bastille, Avicil, James Blunt,

My advice would be to save your money then. That is music made for ipods and tinny speakers and will sound very poor when 'upscaled' to a proper system.

Check out any of those acts on the dynamic range database:

http://www.dr.loudness-war.info/

All firmly in the 'bad' category meaning their music lacks dynamic and likely has a general disregard for sound quality altogether.

If that's the bulk of your listening get a spotify premium membership and don't spend more than a few hundred on your system.
 

matt49

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MakkaPakka said:
Ernie said:
MyI main taste is modern pop, e.g Calvin Harris, Bastille, Avicil, James Blunt,

My advice would be to save your money then. That is music made for ipods and tinny speakers and will sound very poor when 'upscaled' to a proper system.

Check out any of those acts on the dynamic range database:

http://www.dr.loudness-war.info/

All firmly in the 'bad' category meaning their music lacks dynamic and likely has a general disregard for sound quality altogether.

If that's the bulk of your listening get a spotify premium membership and don't spend more than a few hundred on your system.

Hmm, not sure I agree with all of that. OK, some of these recordings are compressed, but I find the Bastille 'Bad Blood' CD sounds pretty good on my main system (Devialet + Sonus faber). Sure, it'd be better if it weren't compressed, but the inference that spending money on a system to play these recordings is a waste of money is, I think, flawed, both in logic and experience.

I also have quite a few very old recordings (1930s jazz, archive classical stuff, early C&W) which are distinctly ropey. I'd still rather listen to them on my main system than on cheaper kit.
 

Ernie

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Thanks for your replies folks. I hadn't previously considered active speakers but will certainly look into them a little more along side the seperatez.

MakkaPakka are you saying that the music I listen too will not sound superior on a quality system? Would I be better off purchasing CD's and as such a CD player to see greater benefits?

Thanks

Ernie
 

matthewpiano

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matt49 said:
MakkaPakka said:
Ernie said:
MyI main taste is modern pop, e.g Calvin Harris, Bastille, Avicil, James Blunt,

My advice would be to save your money then. That is music made for ipods and tinny speakers and will sound very poor when 'upscaled' to a proper system.

Check out any of those acts on the dynamic range database:

http://www.dr.loudness-war.info/

All firmly in the 'bad' category meaning their music lacks dynamic and likely has a general disregard for sound quality altogether.

If that's the bulk of your listening get a spotify premium membership and don't spend more than a few hundred on your system.

Hmm, not sure I agree with all of that. OK, some of these recordings are compressed, but I find the Bastille 'Bad Blood' CD sounds pretty good on my main system (Devialet + Sonus faber). Sure, it'd be better if it weren't compressed, but the inference that spending money on a system to play these recordings is a waste of money is, I think, flawed, both in logic and experience.

I also have quite a few very old recordings (1930s jazz, archive classical stuff, early C&W) which are distinctly ropey. I'd still rather listen to them on my main system than on cheaper kit.

Yes, I agree with you Matt. I notice, as one example, that Muse's 'Absolution' scores pretty badly overall on the chart Makka Pakka linked to, and yet I still feel it benefits greatly from being played on a good system. OK, so it doesn't have the same quality of sound as some other albums, but playing it on something decent certainly enhances my enjoyment of what I feel to be the band's finest hour.
 

matt49

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MakkaPakka's point has less to do with the medium (CD vs digital download), than with the mastering of the original digital file. Much recent pop/rock music (classical music and jazz is much less affected by this problem) is mastered in such a way as to compress its dynamics, and this applies to the CD version as much as it does to e.g. an iTunes download.

There is a separate issue, which is the bitrate and sample rate of the digital files. Most of my listening is CDs ripped to a hard drive in a lossless format (FLAC or AIFF or Apple Lossless). Given the low cost of memory these days, i think there's no point in not ripping in a lossless format. Having said that, there are good "lossy" codecs, as used by, say, Spotify Premium (Ogg Vorbis at 320Kbps), and these are very hard (some would say impossible) to distinguish from lossless codecs. However, I find that anything less than 320Kbps sounds bad. I think that even on my car stereo I can tell the difference between iTunes downloads and lossless CD rips.

In other words, if you're downloading e.g. Bastille from iTunes you'll suffer a double whammy: compression and low bitrate. The CD version (or a lossless rip of the same) will still suffer from compression, but it will, in my opinion, sound a lot better than a lower bitrate iTunes download.
 

AlmaataKZ

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matthewpiano said:
Ernie said:
Hi Chebby, thanks you for your reply.

I don't necessarily want concert realistic volume levels. I listen to it loud at times, in a 16 x 13 ft living room (no neighbours attached thankfully).

MyI main taste is modern pop, e.g Calvin Harris, Bastille, Avicil, James Blunt, but also like the occasional instrumental day and really enjoy piano and guitar as well as the odd Jazz album. Deep bass isn't important for me. What I would like is to get some really good clarity and control from my tastes.

thanks again.

Ernie

Everything you say suggests to me that you should be looking at active speakers. If I had your budget I would be looking at auditioning the AVI ADM9.1RSS with and without the sub, as everything I have heard about them fits with your requirements. Also my experience of hearing other actives suggests this to be a good avenue for you.

+1
 

Vladimir

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Roksan Kandy K2 BT integrated amplifier

Roksan Kandy K2 TR5 speakers

Speaker stands

Speaker cables

and you're good to go.

The amp has a Bluetooth connection to its integrated DAC and plays flac files at CD quality. If you want the best quality you need Apt-X compatible bluetooth dongle for your PC (10 GBP). Your Apple pad and phone already support it so they are all set.

Cheers
 

BigH

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Ernie said:
Thanks for your replies folks. I hadn't previously considered active speakers but will certainly look into them a little more along side the seperatez.

MakkaPakka are you saying that the music I listen too will not sound superior on a quality system? Would I be better off purchasing CD's and as such a CD player to see greater benefits?

Thanks

Ernie

No, cds will be no better, he is saying the recordings are compressed so will not sound good, however I don't entirely agree with him. If you want clarity then some active speakers like AVI should suit your set up very well.
 

Electro

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matt49 said:
Electro said:
These may be a little over budget but they will probably do everything you want and more , they are active DSP speakers with analog and digital inputs so just add your source .

You will definitely feel the music with these !

This pair are B stock speakers priced close to you budget and are a bit of a bargain IMO :)

http://www.studiocare.com/pmc-twotwo-6-active-2-way-studio-monitor-pair-b-stock.html?___store=default&gclid=CMq2tKOt6rsCFYbHtAod2QkAoQ

Hi Electro,

Have you heard the PMCs? I really like the look of them: serious pedigree. While on the subject of actives, the Adam ARTist series is very good (I have the little 3 model in my office). The new X-ART ribbon tweeters are very sweet, and more revealing IMO than the AVI ADM9s, which I found a bit disappointing. No accounting for taste ...

To the OP: I certainly wouldn't take it as an article of faith that actives are superior at this price point. There are some lovely passive speakers around the £1K mark, by PMC, KEF, ATC, Sonus faber, Dynaudio etc etc.

I'd also give serious consideration to second-hand amps: a good Sugden A21a can be picked up for under £700 and is a thing of beauty (well, soundwise at least).

:cheers:

Matt

Hi Matt ,

I have not heard the two two range personally but a friend of mine has and he was absolutely bowled over by them , and from his description they should do everything the OP wants especially at the reduced price of the pair in the link and I thought they might be of interest . :)
 

Ernie

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Thank you all for taking the time to post and offer your advice. I have looked into the active speakers which I agree would fit the bill for me, but the look of them is "apparently" not to the taste of my wife. I have also done some research into the quality of the audio that I get from streaming music and this has been a good education for me. I am setting out next week to find a retailer where I could audition the following set up or something very similar,

Marantz pm6005 + cd6005

Dali Mentor Menuet speakers

Then with some quality speaker cables, speaker stands and a cabinet to go with it.

The 6005's both have a built in dac to improve the quality of my digital music. I have also been in the loft and dusted off some CDs I stored away and I am definately noticing a nice improvement in the quality of sound.

I would love to hear what you guys think of the set I have suggested? And I am expecting massive improvements over my current denon micro and tannoy mercurys.
 

shep1968

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Ernie said:
Thank you all for taking the time to post and offer your advice. I have looked into the active speakers which I agree would fit the bill for me, but the look of them is "apparently" not to the taste of my wife. I have also done some research into the quality of the audio that I get from streaming music and this has been a good education for me. I am setting out next week to find a retailer where I could audition the following set up or something very similar,

Marantz pm6005 + cd6005

Dali Mentor Menuet speakers

Then with some quality speaker cables, speaker stands and a cabinet to go with it.

The 6005's both have a built in dac to improve the quality of my digital music. I have also been in the loft and dusted off some CDs I stored away and I am definately noticing a nice improvement in the quality of sound.

I would love to hear what you guys think of the set I have suggested? And I am expecting massive improvements over my current denon micro and tannoy mercurys.
£1244 for the whole system excluding cables, speaker cables, a rack and a stand. Should get everything within £2k. I had the 6002 which recently died and loved the sound it produced. Where do you live? Two or three places you could listen to this in the Midlands.
 

BigH

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Ernie said:
Thank you all for taking the time to post and offer your advice. I have looked into the active speakers which I agree would fit the bill for me, but the look of them is "apparently" not to the taste of my wife. I have also done some research into the quality of the audio that I get from streaming music and this has been a good education for me. I am setting out next week to find a retailer where I could audition the following set up or something very similar,

Marantz pm6005 + cd6005

Dali Mentor Menuet speakers

Then with some quality speaker cables, speaker stands and a cabinet to go with it.

The 6005's both have a built in dac to improve the quality of my digital music. I have also been in the loft and dusted off some CDs I stored away and I am definately noticing a nice improvement in the quality of sound.

I would love to hear what you guys think of the set I have suggested? And I am expecting massive improvements over my current denon micro and tannoy mercurys.

I think its a budget system, think you can do better for that money, the amp is probably the weak part, esp. if you want a bit of volume.

Which actives speakers are you looking at? There are loads of different ones, some don't look much different from the DAlis.
 

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