Mix second hand with new. Thoughts please

[alex_bro]

I've been looking to consolidate my home entertainment systems. Some of you may have read my last post here:

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/home-cinema/need-advise-on-a-new-set-up-budget-around-2000

Basically I have a budget of around £2000. I've listened to a couple of AVR's around the £500 price bracket and I'm not really that impressed with them in terms of playing music, which is going to be a big part of what I need the system to do.

So after much more reading, I'm thinking about going for a 2nd hand AVR, one that is more suited to making the most of music as well as film. I've read lot's of good things about the Arcam AVR350. It seem to have much praise in terms of handling both music and films and whilst a little old now, it would mean I get a great amp for a lower price. My current amp is an Arcam alpha 5 and I've been more than happy with that in terms of laid back and relaxed sound and build quality over the years I've owned it.

I'm thinking abot the following set up:

Arcam AVR350 - 2nd hand

B&W 685 (front left & right)

B&W HTM62 (centre)

Marantz UD5005

(I can get the B&W 686 rears as budget and space permit in the furure)

This would leave me about £500 for a sub and cables

I've got a few questions:

What are peoples thoughts on this set up?

Any recommendation on a sub to match with the B&W speakers?

I believe cables are going to be very important to get the most from the amp and speakers. What cables would be recommended?

Would very much appreciate your thoughts...

 

[The_Lhc]

Is there anything particularly wrong with the Alpha 5? If you still like the way it sounds could you use both? Run the preouts from an AV amp into an aux input on the Alpha to run the front stereo speakers, that way the Alpha would be used for music and both would be in use for movies.

 

[alex_bro]

It's a good idea but i'm really trying to reduce the number of 'boxes' that I have. Otherwise, I would probably just keep the old alpha 5 for music and have a seperate home cinema set up. Ideally we'd like to have just the one amp that can drive a DVD / CD and a turntable (to be added later). The AVR350 seemed to have lots of positive reviews regarding both music and movies. Second hand would be in my budget so I wonderd what the general consensus was.

 

[aliEnRIK]

Id recommend leaving the sub out of it.

Id be inclined to get far better 2nd hand speakers (Some floorstanders for left and right) for bass duties (And better music/sound overall). Something like the Monitor Audio silver range (old 8is etc). Trust me, the 8is are capable of ground shaking bass when driven with a decent amp, and would sound far better than a cheap sub trying to 'gel' with the smaller speakers

Cables: id buy van Damme UP LC-OFC all round for interconnects and speakers (Youd have to spend far more to get better)

Av boxes are not good for music. If you want an all in one box solution then I suppose youve no choice, but id recommend an av box with pre outs to a half decent 2 channel amp for music