Recently returned to audio - Advice on Upgrades

[admin_exported]

Hi, I've recently rekindled my love of sound after a very long absence. A little history. My last " real " system was a much loved Rotel RC 2000, with all the bells and whistles, integrated amp, huge power amp, graphic eq, it truly was a monster, partnered with some bose something or other and some huge floorstanders ( I can't remember the make for the life of me ) and I still hate to be apart from it, but it gave up the ghost a long time ago. Since then a lot of one box solutions have pretty much filled the gap but never satisfied, still I was away a lot.

Currently it's a bit " Brick and Brack "

AV - Yamaha RX-V420RDS

Blueray - Playstation 3

CD & DVD - Pioneer DV-636D

Centre - Tannoy SFX 5.1 Speaker

Rear - Yamaha NS-P220 from a 5.1 system

I've just purchased some Monitor Audio Silver 5i to use as Front Speakers. I fell in love with these some years ago when I read a Whathifi review.

The advice I need is -

What is the best way to wire the Monitor Speakers to my Amp ? They are bi-wire able.

What is a good, budget speaker cable to use ? Which ends need terminating ( and with which, banana or spade ) ?

Replacement Rear speaker advice within £200

I like to " Feel " my music, not from bass but I like plenty of power, weight and scale to my audio. I like to be totally immersed in my chosen medium and often am. My system is primarily used for games ( PS3 & XBox ), Blu-Ray, CD and then DVD. In that order. As stated previous This is a Brick and Brack system and I am looking at replacing each unit as time goes on, so advice on which items you would replace, what order would be best, why, cost of items, what sound they may deliver.

Thats pretty much it, be kind.

Cheers.

 

[jonathanRD]

Hi Kraken, welcome to the forum - lots of questions!

As far as cables are concerned, check out this site's review section for best buy budget cables, see the link also for Furtureshop - their customer service is excellent. I have Chord Carnival Silverscreen (biwire for the Missions & single for the BX2's and BX Centre) and Chord Carnival Classic for the surround BXFX speakers all of which I am very happy with. Someone else I hope will give you advice on whether to biwire your MA Silver 5i's.

Re connections, I have bare wires into my BX Centre and BXFX's - as they are very close to the walls ( I did not see any point in paying/messing about with spades). Personally I like using banana plugs into the back of my amp and AV receiver as they are easier to fit and remove - same for the front speakers also.

I took ages to decide my purchasing strategy - eventually I worked out what products I wanted to end up with, and then worked out the most logical way to get there knowing that I could not afford everything in one go, and accepting that it will take me a year or so. Maybe you can decide what you are likely to keep the longest, or enjoy the most, and then work out an upgrade route based on what would compliment them. Good luck and start your reading and research!

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply Jonathan. I'm also looking for something to burn my CD's onto, a storage device that I could use instead of having to rifle through literally hundreds of CD's. No idea what something like this would be called. I currently use my Playstation to stream, store, etc but the rates only 128 and would like to move away from streaming and use an actual " hard wired " source. Any ideas.

 

[jonathanRD]

Sorry - that's not an area I have much knowledge of I'm afraid - I'm still trying to get my Onkyo receiver to play music stored on my computer - they are both connected to my network. I think my McAfee firewall is the problem - occasionally when I have some spare time I tinker with it - no luck so far.