Never ending question about system consistency

[admin_exported]

Hi everybody!

Firstly , woudl lik to thank all community for very interetsing and informative posts.

An accidental visit of this forum made me a Hi-Fi enthusiast

I have spent some time in 2 local HI-Fi stores, of course my mind was BLOWN away! Amazing, its a petty I have never shown any interest in tis before, and when seeing an LP store the only thought that came across my mind was "Who buys this sh*t nowadays??".

Well, not anymore

So, I am on my first steps of appreciation, and would greatly appreciate an advice on the system.

As an introduction, the room I will have my sytem in is a 4x6, I like to listen to indie rock, old school rock, and Classical music ( really into detail .

So far, I know that the speakers would be Dynaudio Dm 2/6 or 7/6 (depends on your advice if the first one will suffice for my room). LP player woud be Rega. As of model, firstly i was for an RP1, but now i know that new RP3 came out as a repalcement of P3-24 and I am hoping to find some good deal on the latter . In the end, the question comes to the amp. I know that the DM's, as I have read here, need a punchy amp. I was looking at Cyrus 6XP, but unfortunately the price is not affordable for me at least at that moment. If i would go for Cyrus, I will definately have to stick to Rega RP1, but I prefer to rather get a better source thank amp. So, I am left with a budget of around $1000, and open to your suggestions

If anyone has any remarks, do not be silent. Please!

Thanks in advance.

 

[CnoEvil]

Hi bpitch and welcome to the forum

If you were bassed in the UK, I would be pointing to the Leema Pulse which is on sale here at the moment.

Where do you live and what makes are available at better value? If you are in the States British hifi can be expensive.

What other brands have you heard? The Rega and Dynaudio are great choices. Cyrus is a love/hate brand, so it's worth trying other lively punchy amps like Musical Fidelity M3i (£999 so may stretch budget a bit). Moon may be worth a look if it's cheaper than the UK.

Cno

 

[oldric_naubhoff]

HI!

if I were to buy an amp to drive Dyns I would go for an amp with best SQ possible as Dyns are very revealing speakers, even in their budget range.

you can't go better with SQ than class A amp. for up to GBP 1000 you can have a Musical Fidelity A1 (from flea bay). this is the new version with USB input (if you wanted to connect your computer to feed music files from it). it also has MM phono stage (something useful when you're buying a turntable too, one box less). although it's only 36Wpc but it's better to have high quality 36Watts rather than class B or D 85Watts or so. and it's going to be enough to fill your room too.

as for Dyns. I would go for DM 2/7 rather than 2/6. I know they are more expensive but they use better, larger woofers (you can see by the look, they are very characteristic). you have rather large room so it's going to be easier to get deeper low end (something important with classical music).

there is another inexpensive class A amp on the market you might consider. XTZ A100. one fella on this forum once switched from Marantz MCR - 603 and he was simply blown away by the difference in presentation. especially deeper and more controlled bass but also more shades and subtlety in music too. (speakers were some Mission floorstaders)

I too have Dyns speakers and were driving them with 2 amps so far. one was class D TEAC AGH600DNT and the other Pathos Classic One. I'll only say here that Dyns definitely benefit from quality amplification...

 

[Overdose]

HI!

if I were to buy an amp to drive Dyns I would go for an amp with best SQ possible as Dyns are very revealing speakers, even in their budget range.

you can't go better with SQ than class A amp. for up to GBP 1000 you can have a Musical Fidelity A1 (from flea bay). this is the new version with USB input (if you wanted to connect your computer to feed music files from it). it also has MM phono stage (something useful when you're buying a turntable too, one box less). although it's only 36Wpc but it's better to have high quality 36Watts rather than class B or D 85Watts or so. and it's going to be enough to fill your room too.

as for Dyns. I would go for DM 2/7 rather than 2/6. I know they are more expensive but they use better, larger woofers (you can see by the look, they are very characteristic). you have rather large room so it's going to be easier to get deeper low end (something important with classical music).

there is another inexpensive class A amp on the market you might consider. XTZ A100. one fella on this forum once switched from Marantz MCR - 603 and he was simply blown away by the difference in presentation. especially deeper and more controlled bass but also more shades and subtlety in music too. (speakers were some Mission floorstaders)

I too have Dyns speakers and were driving them with 2 amps so far. one was class D TEAC AGH600DNT and the other Pathos Classic One. I'll only say here that Dyns definitely benefit from quality amplification...

Not having heard either of the two following recommendations, my advice is based on my own personal experience, that amplifiers need to have plenty of power on tap.

XTZ A 100 D3 and Harmon Kardon HK990. If I had not already been converted to active speakers, then this would be my route.

 

[jaxwired]

Welcome bpitch! I have the perfect answer. Roksan Kandy K2. This amp has plenty of power for the either Dyn speaker. It has detail and clarity in spades. It's cheaper than your price point and it is a very synergistic match for Dyn speakers. Listen to the K2 and you'll be buying it. Also a previous WFH annual award winner for best amp in its category.

 

[the record spot]

Seconded re: the XTZ and HK amps. Both have ample power on tap, good current delivery and will drive and control your speakers well. Both offer similar specs, the HK being the more powerful of the two at 150wpc and the XTZ 105 (at 8 ohms). In addition, both offer good MM phono stages and additional DACs, so you wouldn't need to factor in either of these if your system develops over time.

 

[Overdose]

Welcome bpitch! I have the perfect answer. Roksan Kandy K2. This amp has plenty of power for the either Dyn speaker. It has detail and clarity in spades. It's cheaper than your price point and it is a very synergistic match for Dyn speakers. Listen to the K2 and you'll be buying it. Also a previous WFH annual award winner for best amp in its category.

A bit of a cheap feel to it though and does not have its own internal DAC.

 

[oldric_naubhoff]

I guess such is the way of internet fora. you ask for advice and what you get is mutually exclusive opinions.

I'd say bpitch, you'd rather get educated in this electrical field so you know how to make good decisions on your own in the future. in the end it's your money which is going to be spent and it's better to spend them wise. it's too easy to buy expensive junk if you don't know what to look for.

in the mean time I'd suggest you try and contact the manufacturer for any amp recommendations directly. they should know which amp should work fine with their speakers. they built them, didn't they?

 

[Anonymous]

Hi again everyone!

Thank you for your suggestions and advices.

Cnoevil is very correct when saying that US prices are often not a match to the UK, but most importantly they are very hard to find. Sometimes just one person in the area can be found carrying some of the products.

That's what has happened with Cyrus. The only North American retailer is in Canada, and while they told me they were willing to sell to me, on my other request for a return policy in case I won't like - no reply whatsoever.

Moon and Music fidelity Mi3 are might be good, in fact I can test moon locally, but it falls beyond my stretched budget

Same is with Roksan and HK.

XTZ sounds interesting, and the price is even more interesting Will think and read more about it, might be a real way to go (what upsets me is that it does not have a Mic out which is strange and I sometimes will want to enjoy the sound when my family is sleeping).

The other amp I checked was Rotel-RA1520, it has good reviews, and falls into my budget. the drawback is that its just 60 w per channel aat 8ohms. Feels like my speakers would be working not quiet to their potential.

As correectly mentioned by oldric will have to explore more into the electrical field to understand the data better and reach some effective conclusions

So far, communication with the local stores was not very successful. I get a feeling that I am not being listened and instead being pushed towards other products. Like when I went to explore the Rega turntable and thinking about RP1($450) or P3-24 w/ Ellys 2 ($1000) the person just kept telling me that these are ok, but I should check out the other one. He showed me the other turntable( which truly looks very nice and very well made to say the least) but he told it costs $4000!!( it was Linn LP12, and that was my first acquintance). When i told him that its very expensive for me, instead of getting back to Rega i was hearing aout a story how my grandsons would benefit if I would get Linn. Had to politely run away from there )

Alas, thank you for your advices again, and if anyone has anything to say/advice more I am very open

So far, information wise this forum is the most usefull. Just getting the names of the different hifi products makes it way easier to check on their aspects.

 

[CnoEvil]

It can be very frustrating when a dealer doesn't listen and tries to push you in a direction that doesn't suit......sometimes a nubie is seen as a soft target.

The Linn is a superb TT but is clearly out of budget, and is finickity to set up and keep. The Rega is the way to go as it's available at a more realistic budget.

Is it possible to do this the other way round? ie. Can you supply us with a list of amps that are available and affordable, so we can try to advise. There's no point in giving you suggestions that are cheap here, but not with you. America does have some great makes, but I'm not familiar with what's available within your budget.

Cno

 

[Anonymous]

Its hard to make up the list of what's available around here since I am a newbie and not quiet familiar where to look, but so far I have seen some made by Rotel, Moon, Naim, Musical Fidelity, Yamaha, Marantz, Cambridge, NAD, Pioneer, Rega, Creek Audio, but I keep searching :type:

Thankfully i have encountered on Audiogon.com. Its a website where audiophiles trade/sell their babies.

So I was looking at an option of getting something used but a higher in output amp, what do you think?

As well, I have searched for, but have not found if it is better to have an integrated amp, or an amp with a pre-amp separately?

Thank you! :beer: