In todays Hifi Market

[admin_exported]

Thinking of upgrading my Arcam Alpha 10 amp and Alpha 9 CD player. How much would I need to spend today to get a better sound, bearing in mind in their day they were £1000 & £900 respectively?

Would 50% of their original price buy you bettter equipment in todays market, bearing in mind the advances in technology and how cheap it has become?

Thanks for looking.

 

[matthewpiano]

To get a decent improvement I think you would have to be looking at a pretty big spend - more than your existing kit originally cost you. Your Arcams are still excellent now and are going to take some beating.

 

[Anonymous]

before you sell, check what the arcams sell for on ebay, then go audition systems that cost similar to what you will receive

you may find that you will be keeping your arcams ....

if you want to upgrade, sell the cdp and get a Rega Apollo cdp, see if you can get one to audition at home with your amp and speakers ... you can find new ones for under £450

or, if you want to upgrade the amp aswell, perhaps look at a 2nd hand Musical Fidelity A5 or similar (they sell for approx £700 on ebay in good condition) .... but check how it sounds with your speakers/cdp first

 

[Anonymous]

Blimey that does surprise me thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks dim span I will look in to that 1. Also was thinking about pre amp & pwr amp from rotel what do you think?

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry I can't comment on Rotel pre / power amp combis but getting back to your original question about upgrading. I am in a similar position though a little lower on the fidelity pecking order inso far as I have a Marantz KI Signature combination and the cost of upgrading to achieve a significant improvement is going to be (at least in my terms) huge.

Currently I am considering going down the line of a Cyrus XP pairing but this might not provide a significant improvement for you over the Arcams.

 

[the record spot]

Edmundo:
Thinking of upgrading my Arcam Alpha 10 amp and Alpha 9 CD player. How much would I need to spend today to get a better sound, bearing in mind in their day they were £1000 & £900 respectively?

Would 50% of their original price buy you bettter equipment in todays market, bearing in mind the advances in technology and how cheap it has become?

Thanks for looking.

Reckon you'd need to spend at least as much and then somewhat more.

Or, buy an Alpha 10P power amp and bolt it on to your integrated - expect to spend around £250-300 but that'll be a big step up in control for the speakers. If the CDP is in good condition, see if you can clap hands on a new DAC to try out (kind of thinking the Stello SA100 if you can get it - around £750). Don't be too surprised if this doesn't seem like the great leap forward. That Arcam kit was very decent stuff a decade back. If they'd stuck a decent fascia on it instead of the heavy plastic, you'd be looking at even pricier kit if you'd bought it new then.

One other used suggestion - the higher end Sansui amps; way over-engineered, effortless power, massive build (my 717 amp is about 40lbs) but you'd need to hand over the best part of £1000 notes to top it IMO. You can expect to land a 717 if/when they come up on Ebay for around £200. Allow another £200 for servicing and recapping and you'll have an absolute stunner on your hands.

 

[Anonymous]

The idea of the apollo cd player might be a good one, or the saturn from rega also.

It will change the sound from a bit laid back, but will give a better sound in my opinion.

 

[Anonymous]

Having had the same arcam kit as you, Rotel Pre and Power and various others over the past 15 years I would recommend listening to a Naim setup, perhaps the Nait XS amp £1350, and the Naim CD5i. I did last year and it completely changed my outlook.

Personally I found I missed the incredibly detailed sound that the Arcam produces. But after a while I realised the Naim for me produces a more musical sound. For very little money even a budget Naim setup would give you a very musical sound. It's so engaging, it compels you to listen and enjoy the music rather than analyse it. All Naim equipment has the solid pace, rhythm and timing that characterises the Naim sound. It's wonderful.

I'm certainly a huge Naim fan, I don't think I could be swayed to have anything else now. Currently using a Naim pre and 150x power, CD5, Rega P3/24 through a Naim Stageline N, all firing out of a new pair of PMC GB1i's. Can't fault it. The 150x has plenty of umph where you need it. The whole system sings. Regardless of the fact it's classed as entry level.

There is one significant problem with Naim - it's so good that you once you have the Naim bug it's hard to stop investing more and more and more and more and guess what... more cash.

 

[smbmetal]

Edmundo:Thanks dim span I will look in to that 1. Also was thinking about pre amp & pwr amp from rotel what do you think?

If it helps, I have a Rotel RC-03 pre amp connected to two RB-03 power amps with an Arcam CD92 cd player. I think the Rotels sound great, lively and detailed, but I've never owned any Arcam amps so can't really compare the Rotels to anything!

 

[Anonymous]

if you are based in the UK, or a country that can use Spotify, my suggestion is to spend some cash to connect your pc to your hifi and keep your existing items ...

will be a lot cheaper, and a really good upgrade IMHO

 

[Anonymous]

Thats some intresting information thankyou, although not unhappy with the sound Ive got, would definately prefer a more engaging sound and dare I say it more exciting thats why I was originally looking at Rotel/roksan setups. Have never herd any Naim kit as no dealers locally will have to look further a field and demo some thanks again.

 

[Anonymous]

Like the sound of that.