Integrated Amp & Speakers £2.5k budget

[255044]

Hi All,

I am hoping someone can help me out.

I currently have a yamaha amp, TDL studio 5 speakers, tannoy SFX sub (all purchased when i was a poor student).
Sources i have a Sonos connect (sounds quality of these things is pretty poor so i need a DAC), Audio Technica AT-LP5 TT.

I am looking to purchase a new Amp and Speakers for around £2.5k. I would happily spend lower or slightly more depending on how good things sound. For example in the past i have listed to a cheaper system which i prefered over a more expensive system.

Ideally i was thinking approx £1k speakers, £1k amp, £500 DAC?

So far i have been into richer sounds where i could demo an Arcam A19 (i found the mids very harsh, its very punchy, robotic, unnatural and the it was an uncomfortable listen) and an Arcam A29 (much smoother and warmer however lacking any excitement) with some Dynaudio DM 3/7 and Tannoy XT 6F.

I would like to hear some reccomendations as i am finding it really difficult to get anything decent out of the sales staff at my two local shops. The richer sounds bunch near me don't really know their stuff and the other smaller retailer that i called up seemed determined for me to buy a Rega Brio (every review i have read so far has said the brio is nowhere near as good as the Elex R).

The amps i am interested in are

Rega Elex-R
Marantz PM8005
Naim Nait 5si
Yamaha A-S1100 (yamaha are not that popular but i currently have a yamaha and i actually love it).

Speakers, i honestly have no real idea, There is no brand i wont look at however my other half has said no way can they be black!

When trialling the Dynaudios i was quite shocked at how bad they sounded when playing EBTG - the tannoys via the A29 however were much nicer.

I was thinking maybe focal, MA or Dali.

My living room is 7.10M long and 3.5m wide. So its quite a long throw however this is a livingroom/dining room. I mainly listen while sitting on the sofa which is about 3.3m away

Any help or suggestions would be great.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Hi All,

I am hoping someone can help me out.

I currently have a yamaha amp, TDL studio 5 speakers, tannoy SFX sub (all purchased when i was a poor student).Sources i have a Sonos connect (sounds quality of these things is pretty poor so i need a DAC), Audio Technica AT-LP5 TT.

I am looking to purchase a new Amp and Speakers for around £2.5k. I would happily spend lower or slightly more depending on how good things sound. For example in the past i have listed to a cheaper system which i prefered over a more expensive system.

Ideally i was thinking approx £1k speakers, £1k amp, £500 DAC?

So far i have been into richer sounds where i could demo an Arcam A19 (i found the mids very harsh, its very punchy, robotic, unnatural and the it was an uncomfortable listen) and an Arcam A29 (much smoother and warmer however lacking any excitement) with some Dynaudio DM 3/7 and Tannoy XT 6F.

I would like to hear some reccomendations as i am finding it really difficult to get anything decent out of the sales staff at my two local shops. The richer sounds bunch near me don't really know their stuff and the other smaller retailer that i called up seemed determined for me to buy a Rega Brio (every review i have read so far has said the brio is nowhere near as good as the Elex R).

The amps i am interested in are

Elex-RMarantz PM8005Naim Nait 5siYamaha A-S1100 (yamaha are not that popular but i currently have a yamaha and i actually love it).

Speakers, i honestly have no real idea, There is no brand i wont look at however my other half has said no way can they be black!

When trialling the Dynaudios i was quite shocked at how bad they sounded when playing EBTG - the tannoys via the A29 however were much nicer.

I was thinking maybe focal, MA or Dali.

My living room is 7.10M long and 3.5m wide. So its quite a long throw however this is a livingroom/dining room. I mainly listen while sitting on the sofa which is about 3.3m away

Any help or suggestions would be great.

the marantz pm8005 is a very good amp for the money but you will not get one from richer sounds as at the time i could not get one from them i had to get mine from harrow hifi which will have to be a buy without having a demo but still better then the arcam a19 i felt the same as you when i had a demo on the arcam but the arcam a29 was better . did they show you the rosken k3 amp at richer sounds ? i was not keen on that one but the marantz was a £1000 when it first came out but now you can pick one up for £600 new which is a bargain or try something you will not pick up in any of the shops in the uk which is what i upgraded to from the marantz pm8005 which is an even better amp the abrahamsen 2up which is £899 new which is a monster of an amp colin from iQ speakers sells them he is based in the uk he just imports them form norway and cuts the middle men out so you will get the abrahamsen lot cheaper but will worth a think about . yes the Rega elex R is a good amp too but this are around £1500 new and the abrahamsen will out class the rega elex R for cheaper money . speakers i am using dali opticon 6s which are amazing speakers they cost £1100 new but this are floorstanding speakers but worth a demo down at richer sounds

 

[255044]

Great, thank you for the reply. Exactly the sort of thing i was looking for.

No, richer sounds only showed me the Arcam, i was up for more but the salesman was not the best. He was trying hard but was just a bit out of his depth (he had never used spotify, didn't know what 320 bitrate was, didn't know what a DAC was, when asked what music he liked all he could tell me was adele).

I am actually waiting to hear now but my friend used to work for Marantz, he still has friends there so fingers crossed i might get a heavy discount... should know in a few hours!

How are the Dali for rock / house / soul ?

First time i have heard of Abrahamsen, had a quick google and they look nice! whats the characteristics of the sound?

Thanks

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Great, thank you for the reply. Exactly the sort of thing i was looking for.

No, richer sounds only showed me the Arcam, i was up for more but the salesman was not the best. He was trying hard but was just a bit out of his depth (he had never used spotify, didn't know what 320 bitrate was, didn't know what a DAC was, when asked what music he liked all he could tell me was adele).

I am actually waiting to hear now but my friend used to work for Marantz, he still has friends there so fingers crossed i might get a heavy discount... should know in a few hours!

How are the Dali for rock / house / soul ?

First time i have heard of Abrahamsen, had a quick google and they look nice! whats the characteristics of the sound?

Thanks

well i like metal , rock and a mix of other stuff and the dali's will keep up with anything you feed them very detailed will keep up with fast pace of any music and the bass goes nice and low and well bulit so this is why i say try them in a demo but find a better hifi shop that will give you a good demo on them just take some cds with you . the abrahamsen has characteristics like marantz which is warm , detailed low down bass so things sound how they should do the abrahamsen has a big power supply and the amp is heavy 16 kg bulit like a tank you can have a demo of all the abrahamsen stuff at colin's which is iQ speakers if wanted to go down that road but i have had the marantz pm6005 , pm8005 with matching cd players both very good and i do love marantz stuff but i took a risk on changing to abrahamsen a company i never heard of before myself but glad i did change to abrahamsen well worth the money anyday

 

[james_LR90]

You should also be seriously considering NVA for amplification, speakers and cables. With your budget you could get a very good pre/power set up with a pair of their Cube speakers. They only sell direct so you get 30 days to decide if you want to keep or send back. They also have a really upgrade deal where if you want to upgrade within 2 years you only pay the difference between what you have and what you want to upgrade to.

As far as DACs go I'm of little help as mine is just a cheapo one. I'm currently scratching my head trying to decide what DAC to get next although I will probably end up getting a Beresford.

 

[richardw42]

Consider a pair of AVI DM10 speakers.

They are active speaker so all amplification is on board. They also have DAC / pre amp with digital and RCA inputs. So you could just connect your Sonos via an optical cable. (That's what I do).

Re. expensive seperate DACS. Don't be surprised if you hear no real improvement, a phone DAC for instance is typically just as good.

 

[stevee1966]

You can pick up the 8005 for around £600 - £650 which is great value. Gives you plenty of spare cash to sort speakers, music source and cables.

 

[philpot1001]

I picked my PM8005 up for about £580 in Dec, so if / when you buy do so in person, and dont be afraid to negotiate / haggle if you decided to go that route. I posted a review on mine not long back on this forum, essentially i have nothing but praise for the Marantz.

As for speakers, ive demo'd the Dali opticons and Kef R500, - for me the KEF's were significantly better. So i would defo demo them as well.

FWIW, my shortlist for speakers (if i ever get around to buying - which will be a long way off the way my investments are going!) is as follows: KEF R500, Monitor Audio Silver 8, Dali Opticon, Tannoy Precision 6.2, B&W CM9. I know the CM9's are more expensive than the others and in a different price bracket, i just want to hear them.

 

[ultrarunner]

My local (ish) dealer (Moorgate Acoustics in Sheffield) has the Cyrus 8a at the madly low price of £650 currently (as an idea, I've just seen one at a second hand dealer for £695, and on special offer elsewhere at £995).

That's one hell of an amp to get you started. I partnered it with some Spendor A3 speakers (also on offer at £1000), but with the saving you're making on the amp you could go up to the A5R, which may be better as you have a larger room than me.

I demo'ed a couple of different things and ended up here. The punch of the Cyrus works so well with the warm musicality of the Spendor - there's a reason they share rooms at Exhibitions (for example they have 3 rooms together at the upcoming Bristol Show) - they just work well together.

I also tried the Rega RX3 and some PMC standmounts. The Regas were very good (and in fact I preferred the look of them, but the Spendor just sounded even more "right"), the PMC were extremely detailed, but I found them too much to listen to - I was listening to hifi, not music.

With the money left you could then get a Cyrus DAC (keep it in the family, share a remote) or one of the other many options around.

Si

 

[rainsoothe]

Hi. Your list is very good, try to audition all that stuff. Imo Naim is better suited for that kind of music, they boogie like no other. If I were to add anything, it would be Wharfedale Jade 3 + Hegel H80 or the Nait 5si+arcam ir Dac. Or my current setup(check my sig).

 

[philpot1001]

My local (ish) dealer (Moorgate Acoustics in Sheffield) has the Cyrus 8a at the madly low price of £650 currently (as an idea, I've just seen one at a second hand dealer for £695, and on special offer elsewhere at £995).

That's one hell of an amp to get you started. I partnered it with some Spendor A3 speakers (also on offer at £1000), but with the saving you're making on the amp you could go up to the A5R, which may be better as you have a larger room than me.

I demo'ed a couple of different things and ended up here. The punch of the Cyrus works so well with the warm musicality of the Spendor - there's a reason they share rooms at Exhibitions (for example they have 3 rooms together at the upcoming Bristol Show) - they just work well together.

I also tried the Rega RX3 and some PMC standmounts. The Regas were very good (and in fact I preferred the look of them, but the Spendor just sounded even more "right"), the PMC were extremely detailed, but I found them too much to listen to - I was listening to hifi, not music.

With the money left you could then get a Cyrus DAC (keep it in the family, share a remote) or one of the other many options around.

Si

That is cheap!