New HiFi/AV system -thoughts on my choices?

[Toolpusher]

'Ello all. First post from your actual ageing, unashamed Prog Rock fan (amongst other things).

I am soon to be in the very fortunate position of being able to purchase an entirely new combined audio and AV setup. Combined, in as much as the primary source for the whole setup will be a universal disc player, sitting under a decent 50" TV, with stereo amp & speakers, plus quality headphones and headphone amp for late-night listening/viewing. This will all be setup in a fairly small, although sparsely furnished living room, facing down the length of same.

Components I'm thinking of so far, mostly based on reviews, with a few brief listens in local dealers (trying to find all these products at one dealer here is impossible-perhaps with good reason?) are as follows;

Oppo BDP-105eu disc player, as I like the idea of the one-box solution, plus those nice DACs, asynchronous USB etc.

Roksan Caspian M2 Amplifier, couldn't find one to audition locally, but never read a bad word about it.

KEF LS50 speakers, as I say, pretty small room so reckon floorstanders would 'boom' a bit, again, never read a bad word about them.

All on good stands, probably HiFi racks podium XL for the electronics, plus a good hefty set of fillable speaker stands. Keeping an open mind on cables-are DNM's Reson speaker cables still good value? Not sure about player-amp interconnect, possibly Chord co.?

I'm thinking in terms of one of the better Panasonic plasma TVs, but I'll leave that out of this discussion, ditto the headphones/headphone amp, as I'll open a thread in the relevant forum.

I'm sure many of you might say; "why only stereo?" The simple answer is that full surround isn't that important to me, so long as I can get fidelity. I reckon a decent stereo amp/speaker combo will do just fine, plus I live in a flat, and am a great believer in not unduly irritating one's neighbours.

The player, I should add, wouldn't just be playing all manner of discs, I intend to start assembling as high a resolution of music collection as I can afford, and that means downloads, probably copied onto a NAS box which will sit on alongside these other components.

So, any thoughts? Bad combination or good? Suggestions for any alternatives?

 

[BigH]

Well there have been a few negative comments about the Caspian, some find it too smooth and not engaging enough. Many posts abot LS50s some are very dissappointed amd lacking in bass. My view is they are good but they need some space and power to get them going, so not good at lower volumes.

You reall need to hear them. Other options are Rega, Naim, Creek, Exposure for amps.

Other option would be the AVI 9RS at £1,250, just plug the Oppo in, not fussy about room placememnt.

 

[richardw42]

Bear in mind the Oppo 105 also has a pre amp, so could be used with active speakers.

A couple of forum members at HDD have the 105, and use it this way.

 

[Al ears]

Not a bad sounding set-up. Pretty much how I use mine (stereo only at the moment, connected via homeplug to my router/ PC and DSF files played via memory stick).

Bear in mind also that the Oppo also has a very good headphone amp section so you will not need a seperate box.

 

[Toolpusher]

Delving deeper into the local dealers' inventories (which I ought to have done already, I admit) I've found one that sells the Oppo 105. So, taking that as a basis, they also do the Caspian M2 amp, plus the Arcam FMJ A38 as the only two integrateds in their range, at the price I was thinking of paying.. Is the Oppo really good enough as a Pre. merely to hook up a Power amp? If so, this dealer carries the Audiolab 8200X7 and the Naim NAP 200 at around the same price point.

As for speakers, well, I've never been convinced by the active speakers I've heard, so I'll stick to the traditional amp-and-, so to speak, and with that in mind, my chosen dealer does these standmounts at my sort of price; Linn Majik 109, Neat Motive 3, Spendor SA1, Neat Petite SX.

I should add, if it helps anyone's analysis, that I have what they used to call catholic taste in music, ie; I'll listen to anything. 🙂

 

[KidKomet]

The Rega Elicit R might be worth an audition.