My new system choices £500 ish - your views?

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I'm looking to replace my ageing system (based around a NAD 3020 which is over 30 years old!). I really don't want to spend more that £500 ish on an amp, cd and speakers

3 systems under consideration

1. NAD C325BEE Amp

NAD C525BEE CD

Wharfedale 9.1 Speakers

£538.90

2. Cambridge Audio 540A v2 amp

Cambridge Audio 540C CD

Mordaunt-Short 902i Speakers

£499.99

3. Cambridge Audio 540A v2 amp

Cambridge Audio 540C CD

Wharfedale 9.1 Speakers

Best price TBC

I have decent interconnects and stands already and am planning to buy new QES silver anniversary xt speaker cable with QED plugs plus a reasonably decent ipod dock.

I listen to a wide range of music (folk, indie rock, classical etc etc) and probably more from ipod rather than CD nowadays quite a lot of my ipod stuff is old vinyl rips so the source quality isn't fantastic but as it's obscure stuff it's all that's available, I'll also use this for audio from the TV and DVD. A major consideration is convenience so I'd rather have the same brand of amp & cd to cut down on the remote control confusion.

Any thoughts or other alternatives I've overlooked?

All feedback welcome

Cheers

R
 

d_a_n1979

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IMO the first system is the best. The NAD separates give a good soundstage with penty of punch but with decent, smooth midrange and crisp treble.

I persoanlly am not a huge fan of the C/A sound. It can be a bit bright and too forward sometimes, clinical sounding.

Have you thought about some M/A BR2 speakers. Thjese partner well with NAD separates and again, IMO, sound better than the Wharedale'.
 
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Anonymous

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Alternatively you could replace the Wharfedales with the Mordaunt Short 902i's as they are more upfront speakers which will obviously be welcome in terms of listening to rock music and in addition you can now buy them for under 110.00 new.
 

ianandyr

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rogthedodge:
I'm looking to replace my ageing system (based around a NAD 3020 which is over 30 years old!).ÿ

First amp I ever owned. Was it really 30 years !ÿ
 

John Duncan

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hi fi newbie:

Alternatively you could replace the Wharfedales with the Mordaunt Short 902i's as they are more upfront speakers which will obviously be welcome in terms of listening to rock music and in addition you can now buy them for under 110.00 new.

And you get them free when you get that combo at Richer Sounds.........
 
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Anonymous

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Apologies to regular forum users that I keep banging on about this - it's not a personal crusade, just a piece of information that would have saved me a lot of time and effort.

OP - be aware that some users have had channel balance issues with the Cambridge 540 pairing, i.e. one channel louder than the other at low to medium-low volumes. This seems to be due to the design of the voume control on the amp and may be exacerbated by a high "line-level" output from the CD player. I found it so annoying that I gave up on the 540A entirely. I never got a particularly satisfactory response from Cambridge in this regard. I know that the Cambridge CEO has been known to drop in on these forums. If you read this, perhaps you could comment?

Good luck choosing your system. Don't rule out the Cambridge pairing, it's a fantastic, dynamic sound, but if you routinely listen at low(ish) volumes, you may find the above issue annoying.
 
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Anonymous

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Ah yes John I forgot about that and as for the Cambridge mention, well I find that truly shocking and insulting that they would bring a product to market with such a defect.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Thanks for the responses so far - more welcome!

Thanks for the comments on CA, low volume listening is important to me (only some folk music is now accepted by the wider audience :) ) so it may rule that option out

Interesting suggestion on the speakers (there goes the budget!) I'll try to check them out.

On the 3020 - everyone's surprised when I say that but I bought mine 29 and a bit years ago and it was 2nd hand then!

Cheers

R
 

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