Is Cyrus Pre VS2 / PSX -R / 8 Power set up any good?

[Dr Beat]

Hi folks

I am new at this and was wondering if i could get advice on how best to start my first set up.

I have some limitations. Based on my budget, and i have a 20 ft by 20 ft room size, i have gone to do listen to some demo set ups. Unfortunately, most shops around me are sole agents for one brand or another, so they keep pushing for their own carrying brands. It's difficult to get listen to certain speakers matched with certain amps. However, i have managed to shortlist what's available and sounded good.

the recommendations i have to date are:

[*]Plinius 9100 int. amp, matched with Dynaudio Focus 110,
[*]Naim nait 5i int. amp matched with Neat Motive 2,
[*]Roksan Kandy 3 matched with Neat Motive 2,
[*]Cyrus Preamp VS2 and PSX - R /Series 8 Power, matched with Neat Motive 2, and lastly
[*]Cyrus Preamp VS2 and PSX - R /Series 8 Power matched with Dynaudio Focus 110.

(Cables used, consistently Chord Epic - BTW, is that an overkill or can i eventually get Chord Odyssey? How about Atlas Hyper 2.0??).

Any advice? I am slanting towards Option 5 - Cyrus set up. My music is diverse, bits of jazz to bits of rock. .

Appreciate any and all advice.

Thanks a bunch.

 

[Anonymous]

Hiya Dr,

I might be able to help you here. I've heard the Focus 110s with a 6vs, preVs2/6power, preVs2/8power. But in the end I ended up going for the preVs2 with an Xpower, I was offered a good price ex-demo and have not regretted it. Since you room is quite large it might be worth considering.

For speakers I got some Dynaudio 52se which after audition I found to be very similar to the Focus but again got a really good deal on a new pair. Both great speakers tho.

Regarding cables I've tried Epic and found it too fatiguing (brilliant) with the cyrus, Hyper 2 sounded great tho, and I've heard good things about Kimber with cyrus.

What's your source? Also do you have lots of soft furnishing in your room?

jules.

 

[Craig M.]

i've not heard cyrus and dynaudio together but the general opinion on a lot of forums of those who have say that they are a good match. if you want to save some money it might be worth considering getting a kandy amp on home demo and then take it to the shop with the 110's to compare to the cyrus, i love the sound that comes from my system but you need to compare for yourself. a kandy amp with 110's will easily fill your room with sound and loves going loud.

 

[Dr Beat]

Hi Jules

Many thanks for the advice. Answering your query, i have converted my Cd collection into lossless Apple ipod files (160GB iPod) . I plan to connect them via the iChord. A mate of mine told me that i should get the arcam rDock, which will give a better sound. But another mate told me that the wadia i70 ipod dock is the only one that gives a stereo reproduction, only he is unsure if it is compatible with the Cyrus, or even the Kandy. Any advice?

I am also considering to use my CDs again, but that's another project. What CD player are you using?

BTW, have you any thoughts on whether i should consider Chord Odyssey? Any advice on the interconnects?

Appreciate it.

 

[Dr Beat]

Hi Jules

Me again, forgot to answer you about furnishings. I only have two wooden rocking chairs in the room. and a small coffee table in between to put the drinks on.

Cheers!

 

[Dr Beat]

Hi Craig

I liked the Kandy too but it was matched with Neat Motive 2 and Motive 3. I thought they sounded pretty good. Any thoughts on the match or the speakers themselves (Motives 2 and 3??)

BTW, why atlas hyper 3.0?? Why not chord Odyssey? Do Atlas cables work better on Kandy and Cyrus?

Thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

Hiya mate,

I use a Cyrus CD8X cd player. I don't know if anyone else has an opinion but I'd say using an Ipod as a source will never give you a sound worthy of the amp and speakers you're considering. Unless you, say, used the Wadia dock into a Cyrus Dac-X for example. I'd try out the CD6SE if you can since it's said to be better that the 8X.

When i said room furnishings I meant curtains, rugs, carpet etc. or have you got wooden floors and venitian blinds etc.

jules.

 

[Dr Beat]

Sorry Jules, am new at this. Besides the chairs, it's got wooden strip floors and heavy curtains on one side, rest are bare walls.

I see your point also for the source. I think i will take your advice and see both the CD6SE and also check out the Cyrus DAC-X as i am quite attacheto the idea of having my collection on one simple mode (a bit lazy to get up and switch bands when you can do all this by programming your playlist.).

Cheers.

 

[Anonymous]

Hiya,

You might want to consider getting a nice think rug on the floor, it will help the acoustics no end.

I think you should ask you dealer for a home demo of the Cyrus CD6SE, PreVs2, 8power (or Xpower if you can..) with the Dynaudio Focus 110s. Cyrus interconnects and Atlas Hyper or Cyrus speaker cable should suffice. Odds on you'll never pick you ipod up again!

jules.

 

[Craig M.]

couldn't agree more with jules re: your room accoustics. as for why i have atlas cables, i got a whopping great discount on them when i bought my kit and at the time there wasn't a lot of decent alternatives in the shop. i can't comment on neat speakers as i have never heard them.

 

[Dr Beat]

Jules / Craig

guys, after browsing the stuff on various threads, i was going to try to get the shop to set up the Cyrus set that Jules has, (PreVS2 and Mono x) but partner it with BW 805s? What do you guys think? I called them and don't carry Spendor speakers , like some threads are suggesting. They don't even carry Cyrus connections and cables, so the demo will be on Chord Epic cables and Chord chorus interconnects. Anything else i should try?

BTW, Craig, thought i read in one of yoru threads that adding a Dac X to the set up will enhance drastically the sound if one wants to play Appple Lossless music. Is this something i should add/ budget for? The shop does not carry the CA or Beresford DAC.

Again, many thanks for the advice.

 

[SHAXOS]

Id go for the cyrus with the neats. BUT i would sack off the psxr and put the money towards an xpower. The difference between the x and the 8 is massive. The psxr makes little difference in my experience.

 

[Anonymous]

If you are serious about spending that sort of money you should audition in the shop (like you are going to) then I would HIGHLY recommend you get them to lend you the (run in) system. Spend at least 3 days or preferebly a week at home with the system listening to some tunes.

From what you say - lightly furnished room, Cyrus electronics, 805s speakers and Epic cable sounds like it's going to be overly bright to me! Dynaudios might tame it a bit and Hyper cables.

BTW I have an Xpower not the MonoX.

jules.

 

[Dr Beat]

Hi Guys Finally decided to narrow it to the Cyrus, and i have decided to take your advice to set it up as follows: Cyrus Pre VS2 and Xpower. Cables, Hyper 3.0. The speakers are either Dynaudio Focus 110 .The 605s were, in the end, too much for the wallet. BTW, the agent was trying very hard to push the BW 685 and the Neat Motive 3.

The sound test was on the 685 was okay, using Cyrus 6SE, but i found it a bit dull. The BW CM1 was better but the LF was a bit much relative to the vocals.

We don't have the convenience of taking demo sets back, nor partnering it with other than what the agent carries (in this case only the BW) . So, i will have to test the Focus, whose agent is the agent for Plinius (he matches it with the Plinius 9100) and the Neat M.3 with Naim Nac122x/Nap150X. This is a toughie!!! How do you choose blind without advice from you guys out there?? I have gone to hear both. I think the Plinius sounds closest to the Cyrus set up and thus, i think the Focus is the better bet. Plus, you guys have said the Focus will/might sound better with Cyrus.

So, i welcome any advice to this "blind" test matchmaking exercise.

Currently, it looks like that.

If i haven't said it , thanks again for all your advice out there.

 

[Craig M.]

hi doc, will you please post your thoughts on the plinius - focus pairing?

 

[Anonymous]

Ok let me get this straight: it's the Cyrus with either the Dyn Focus 110 or the Neats Motive 3??

I beleive the Neats would give you a more upfront exciting sound and the Dyns a fuller, chunkier sound.

Ok 3 questions:

What sort of music do you listen to mainly? Classical, rock, hip hop etc ???

Are the speakers going to be near the wall or out in the open space???

Are you going to buy a rug?

jules.

 

[Craig M.]

good point, the dyn's will need at least 50cm behind them.

 

[Dr Beat]

Hi Jules / Craig

Firstly, i bought a THICK rug over the weekend to replace the existing smaller rug. almost No wooden flooring now.

Secondly, the music that i listen to ranges from rock (Linkin Park, U2) to pop (Maroon 5) to R&B (Quincy Jones, etc) to Hip hop (eg Outkast) to jazz ( Fourplay, Grover Washington, etc). No classical.

Thirdly, i did audition the Focus 110 but it was matched with the Plinius 9100, using a Kandy CD player. Speaker cables was QED XT 400. We tested mostly jazz CDs (the shop only had jazz CDs). The sound was very good but not excellent. The bass was punchy, treble was clear , not overly bright. But i felt the bass sort of overwhelmed the mid notes. The one thing that stuck in my head after the demo was the great bass.

Lastly, the speakers will not be on a shelf but proper stands. But still about be about 1.5 feet away from the wall.

BTW, my cousin came over the weekend and gave me his Quad L-ite subwoofer. I plan to connect (i assume it can) that to the Cyrus Pre VS2 and the X-power. That should be a blast!

He did advice me to try out the new Spendor SA1. What do you guys think? After having demo-ed both Neats (on Naim amp) and Dyn 110 ( on Plinius 9100 amp), i am a bit tilting towards the Neats. I am trying to see who is the local agent for the Spendor, and which amp do they partner it with.

Many thanks for all of your great comments.

 

[Anonymous]

Spendor would be very approving of you pairing the SA1s with the Mono X and PreVS2. Not heard the combo myself.

In terms of sound you will get something quite different to the Neats (I think). The SA1s major on naturalness and imaging but the bass will sound considerably less than the Dynaudios. The sub would be very helpful in this situation. If you like what the Neats give you then I'm not so sure that the SA1s are going to float your boat. Try them though, you never know...

 

[Anonymous]

Ummmmm. Well I think it'll come down to personal preference then. If you were going to place speakers near the wall I'd have said Neat and if you wasn't plannng on the rug I'd have said Dyn....

I've not heard the Neats to be honest but I can say the Dyns will give you plenty of bass for your quite large room and will probably be more tolerant of 'POP' recordings, they also go very loud. You can also use the bungs to reduce the quantity of bass if things are getting to much (I do).

You seem to like the Neats tho so you might be better off going with your own feelings, Hyper 3.0 will probably stop the treble getting out of control... tho if you start playing 128kbps mp3 files of Linkin Park from you Ipod it could start to sound a bit crude methinks.

Let us know what you choose.

jules.

 

[Dr Beat]

Hi Guys

Spent yesterday at the hifi centre again, listening to the Neat Motive 2 and 3, which was partnered with the Naim set up. Then Plinius 9100 with the Dyn Fous 110, and the Spendor SA1 with the Arcam.

My comments are asf ollows: Music tested were varied but included jazz, r&b, rock and pop.

The Neats were bright , but the bass did not come out as strong. I think this is because the HF were too bright. I felt that guitar riffs, or vocals came out too sharp. I think if this was partnered with a subW to boost the bass a bit, it would sound better. BTW, they were using Atlas Ascent 3.5 cables.

The Dyn Focus with the Plinius was bass all the way, mid freq were not that prominent but the HF was good. No subW required here. I think the Plinius really brought out the good bits from the Focus. (Sounded even much better when for un, they partnered it with the 9200).

The Spendor was different from the other two. The mid was prominent, but the HF and LF was not that present. It wa tested with a Sugden amp then a Dysen. I managed to get the guy to test it on the Plinius 9100, next door (the shops were mates), and the SA1 performed much better. The vocals became more natural and the bass came alive (The bass was more even compared to the rest , not over powering). I could hear the bass drum and the high hats of the drum on Queen, linkin Park and Fourplay. The guitar on Don't Stop me now was pleasing to the ear.

Drum roll please.........i am pleased to say that i have decided that the Spendor SA1 is the type of sound that i prefer. Furthermore, i can put it in different positions without affecting the sound quality. As for the set up, i have decided on the Cyrus pre VS2 and the X Block. cables, i have opted for the Cyrus own cables and interconnects. The shop is also going to lend me a demo Cyrrus CD6 SE for a test and the DAC /xtse, as i told the guy that i wanted the iPod Lossless files as my co-main source (when i am too lazy to move) and the CD as my other source.

BTW, the guy is asking me to consider the DAC/XP to replace my Pre VS2, but maybe putting in the CA Dac Magic is a better addition to my selection, at least more cost effective. The DAC magic is STG200 but the DAC/XP is way more expensive. Anyone has any thoughts?

The guy is ordering the set up as they don't have the stok on them as yet. It will be delivered in 2 weeks. Thanks for all the advice and i as i have not taken shipment yet, all comments are welcome to either commend on the choices or asking me to rethink on any part. All is appreciated.

Jules, Craig M, Igglebert, any comments? Thanks or your comments to date.

 

[Anonymous]

Comments? Bloody good choice with the Spendors! They really are quite something and will deliver a very high end sound that should last a lot of upgrades in my opinion (with current experiences). They give a very balanced sound with sublime mids and treble, and the bass is actually very well judged and defined. On my very first listen I asked for the spec sheet and was stunned that they only rated down to 75hz; they sounded bassier than the Proac Tab Ref 8 Sigs that are rated to 38hz but I guess they need a wall for reinforcement. I like them more every time I listen to them. Did you go for the stands? I'm very interested to hear about your experiences when you get them. Enjoy...

 

[Anonymous]

Yep the SA1 speakers are great, if you like what they do I can't image anything else coming close for the price.

Re electronics. I'd go for the CD6se/Prevs2/X-power, I think this will be a great match for the spendors. The DAC/XP is an amazing bit of kit if you have lots of other digital sources, but you could always trade up to that later if you wanted.

jules.