If you were starting from scratch with £2k.........?

[paradiziac]

I spent until the early hours of this morning looking up sample rates and bit rates to try to understand whether it should bother me that the Rega DAC can only do 16/48 through the USB and whether any improvement above 24/96 is physically possible to be audible only to remind myself that none of my 2,500 or so tracks in iTunes currently are above a sample rate of 44.1kHz (192 kbps or 256 kbps) which is CD equivalent anyway!!!)

It shouldn't bother you that the Rega DAC only does 16/48 over USB, but it probably should bother you that its USB input is known to sound inferior to the SDPIF.

So if your main use was USB out of a computer, you'd need to add a USB converter to bring the USB to the quality of the other inputs. The V-Link does the job at £100, but of course you can spend more on that as well... :wall: ...

 

[CnoEvil]

Yes, but the references out there in this forum alone that suggest accuracy equates to scratchy or clinical and lacking emotion is misguided thinking. Compared with some of the current crop of passives, those Genelecs pictured above will leave most if not all standing. Interesting to note the trend in recent years for many electronics, not just some passive speaker brands, lean towards brightness which I imagine influences this excessive tendency.

Which references?

AL, instead of causing trouble, go and post some pics of your magnum opus.

Nobody will scoff. :roll:

 

[altruistic.lemon]

You're the one causing trouble now, cno. Not home yet, so no lemons!

 

[CnoEvil]

You're the one causing trouble now, cno...

......Me! Surely not, Mr. Procrastinating Lemon.

 

[hoopsontoast]

Option 1, and possibly sway the RS3 for some used R7 or Ex-demo RS7.

Alternativley Option 2 but with ATC SCM7 would be a good match, if your room is not too big. The Audiolab/ATC is a good match IMO.

 

[steve_1979]

If you kept an eye out on eBay you could probably pick up a second hand pair of Event Opals for under £2000. Like the AVI and Quested active monitors these would easily blow away any traditional amp and passive speaker combination. They're also much better looking in the flesh than the photos suggest.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug09/articles/eventopal.htm

 

[altruistic.lemon]

If you kept an eye out on eBay you could probably pick up a second hand pair of Event Opals for under £2000. Like the AVI and Quested active monitors these would easily blow away any traditional amp and passive speaker combination.

No, they won't. Simply not true. Also note you are talking about monitors, which are not designed to be used as domestic hifi speakers.

 

[steve_1979]

No, they won't. Simply not true.

Have you ever heard the Event Opals or Quested 2.1 systems? They may not be to everyones taste but I think that they're some of the finest speakers ever made.

Also note you are talking about monitors, which are not designed to be used as domestic hifi speakers.

This is true, they are all monitors. But there's no reason why they can't be used as domestic hifi speakers and many people do. Whenever I've spoken to the staff at pro audio shops they say that there's plenty of people upgrading their expensive hifi systems for cheaper active monitors because they just sound better. Aparrently a few years ago it was quite rare but now a significant proportion of their bussiness comes from people who are sick of the audiofoolerey and snake oil you get with conventional hifi and just want a realistic, low distortion sound that doesn't fatigue.

 

[FennerMachine]

If I where to start from scratch with £2000.00 I would probably try to get something similar to what I currently have. I would definitely go down the second hand route. I can listen to my system for hours with no fatigue and as soon as the music stops I want to put the next CD on.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

This year I heard almost all the items listed in all the 3 options, but not exactly in the same setups you are proposing.

My heart falled in love with the 5I, so for me it's option 3. But obviously looking at my signature I'm not sure about speaker yet... I want to take my time and buy something that will be a keeper for long.

 

[Anonymous]

Nice system Fennermachine. Superb little monitors.

 

[FennerMachine]

Thanks to various frequenters of the forums including yourself igglebert I managed to choose the speakers & pre-amp, got them second hand and have never boon happier with my sound system.

 

[Anonymous]

I've thrown in my lot with Rega in the end (Rega DAC, Rega Brio-R and Rega RS3s and V-Link II) as I absolutely loved the hour or so I spent trying it out. I know there were a huge amount of (maybe even better) options for this kind of money and I can't thank all of you who took the time to give me advice enough, but I'm absolutely confident this will keep me smiling for the foreseeable............the £200 off RRP helped a bit as well.

Now I wait.............................................