need advice for a proper set-up for my speakers

[admin_exported]

Hello, i'd like to ask if anyone can give me some buying advice concerning my first "proper" Hi-Fi system. I have recently been lucky enough to have been given a pair of Kef Reference 2 speakers (standard 2's not 2.2's) by a family member. He bought them new c.mid 1990's. I was also lucky enough to hear them a few years ago through his Naim HiFi set-up.

Having recently moved to a new detached house with the Mrs i am now trying to decide what the best set-up would be (amp & cd) to really get the best out of these speakers in a simple stereo system (home cinema all taken care of in another room thanks). I have been looking a various amp & cd combinations from the same manufacturer & would like some advice/opinons from anyone. My music collection is all on CD so i'm looking to get a decent CD player & an Integrated amp or a pre-amp/power amp set-up. In the future i may add a tunner/DAB also. My main concern is these speakers are 4 ohm & quoted as "Reference" standard so will show up inferior components and therefore require a good system to drive them. I would also love to bi-amp the speakers as i have been informed this will really "open them up". I'd like to keep things British if possible so i have been looking at makes such as; Roksan, Quad, Arcam, Cyrus, etc. I tend to listen to house/dance music, rock music, & vocal pop. Finally, my budget is around £1,500. For this budget i'd ideally like to get a cd player, & intergrated amp (that i could add a power amp to later to bi-amp????). I also don't mind buying second hand, opinons please

 

[batonwielder]

Those are great speakers, congratulations!

Please do look around and see if you can locate the Quad CDP2 with variable output and then add two 99's to it.

They are having a closeout sale at the moment, so I believe you can get them under your budget.

They sound fantastic. Right up there with the Naim stuff.

 

[JoelSim]

You could do a lot worse than the current Arcam end-of-line CD players and amps going for half price new at the moment.

 

[Messiah]

JoelSim:You could do a lot worse than the current Arcam end-of-line CD players and amps going for half price new at the moment.

Didn't see that coming!

I would agree though....

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks, i did like the Quad CDP2 system because it would enable me to by-pass having a pre-amp for the amps. Has anyone got an opinon on the Roksan Liii Amp & CD player, i've seen that package going for c.£995 & though about adding a stereo power amp? or How about the Roksan Caspain (not M 1 series) stuff. Is there a lot of difference between them? I've never heard a Roksan set-up but there seems to be a lot of good press coverage for them of recent?