Replacing a very old system

Bestieboy666

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Hi guys.

I have a very old system that has long passed its sell by date. A Meridien 208 cd player, Cambridge pre/power amp and Proac super tablet speakers.

Looking through the current market is confusing as hell especially with all the streaming tech nowadays. its been years since I've looked into buying a new sysytem so any advice would be welcome.

I will have a budget of £2500-3000. I'm looking for an Amp, CD player and surprisingly headphones, rather than speakers, due to current constraints. Is it still applicable to spend roughly the same on each component?

I've looked at the Cyrus CD players, Naim amps and Sennheiser headphones but I'm still confused with so much out there. Any suggestions most welcome. Many thanks.

Steve
 

BigH

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Bestieboy666 said:
Hi guys.

I have a very old system that has long passed its sell by date. A Meridien 208 cd player, Cambridge pre/power amp and Proac super tablet speakers.

Looking through the current market is confusing as hell especially with all the streaming tech nowadays. its been years since I've looked into buying a new sysytem so any advice would be welcome.

I will have a budget of £2500-3000. I'm looking for an Amp, CD player and surprisingly headphones, rather than speakers, due to current constraints. Is it still applicable to spend roughly the same on each component?

I've looked at the Cyrus CD players, Naim amps and Sennheiser headphones but I'm still confused with so much out there. Any suggestions most welcome. Many thanks.

Steve

If your cd player still works I would keep it, doubt the newer ones will be any better. Amp and headphones lots of choice. You maybe better asking on the headphones branch of this forum, sure there are some great headphones amps out there. You may want to consider adding a Dac, use your cd as transport.
 

Bestieboy666

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Sadly the CD player is no longer working very well. Skips a lot and jumps tracks, most displays no longer light up. I have had it for 28 years so I can't complain!
 
Bestieboy666 said:
Sadly the CD player is no longer working very well. Skips a lot and jumps tracks, most displays no longer light up. I have had it for 28 years so I can't complain!

Perhaps an all in one like the Naim Unitilite suggested or the Cyrus Lyric might be worth looking at here along with Oppo PM1, Senheisser or Hifiman headphones.

Your speakers are still worth some good money.
 

Bestieboy666

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Thanks for the advice guys. I didn't even know all in one units were available. It gives me more to look at.

I notice the Cyrus Lyric 9 is available at £1599, reduced from £3000. Is there a reason for this other than replaced by another model? The Naim also has great reviews as does the Oppo PM! and Sennheiser HD800 headphones.
 

Leeps

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If you only need source and headphones, how about the Oppo 105D bluray player?

It has an excellent disc spinner, digital inputs for other sources later, on-board streaming from a hard-drive or NAS, and access to Tidal streaming services should you want to dip your toe in. It also sports a high quality headphone output. It has most of the components of the Oppo HA1 headphone amp but with the disc added disc spinner and streaming facilities.

Just add headphones. A truly one-box solution. You can always add amp and speakers later if you needed.
 

paulkebab

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PM1's are tremendous..but they damn well should be for that money. I don't know what leads you to very-shortlist them but try to demo others in the same price bracket. For me they were just a nudge in front of the beautiful and very well made Fostex, for me the comfort and a little less top end bite swung it - I like a V profile BTW. I did a 450 mile round trip for an audition of my short list and got some major surprises, not least a saving of £500 on what I thought I was going to buy on test reports alone. Good luck in your search :)
 
K

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Bestieboy666 said:
Hi guys.

I have a very old system that has long passed its sell by date. A Meridien 208 cd player, Cambridge pre/power amp and Proac super tablet speakers.

Looking through the current market is confusing as hell especially with all the streaming tech nowadays. its been years since I've looked into buying a new sysytem so any advice would be welcome.

I will have a budget of £2500-3000. I'm looking for an Amp, CD player and surprisingly headphones, rather than speakers, due to current constraints. Is it still applicable to spend roughly the same on each component?

I've looked at the Cyrus CD players, Naim amps and Sennheiser headphones but I'm still confused with so much out there. Any suggestions most welcome. Many thanks.

Steve
Think choice of yours very good, my mate uses a Cyrus with a naim amp and they sound fab! I haven't heard better..Ps my friends Cyrus cdp has the Cyrus dac and power supplies too...change amp and cdp then see what speakers sound like? They may improve? If not? AE1mk3s? Try the silver auchtung audio interconnects? He uses those with good effect! Cheap too.
 

paulkebab

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goes I would do as most on here do, get 1) a reasonably good transport hooked up to a very good DAC. That would probably take care of £750-850, 2) Oppo PM1 for £1099 which is the same price as over a year ago. That leaves enough left for.. ooo..3) a Vincent SV237 amp :D ohhh damn not enough.. only my thoughts but points 1 and 2 for sure! But if your budget can allow go for all three :)
 

jmjones

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+1 on the Oppo 105. First class piece of kit that allows streaming, plays anything and if you need to add amplification just stick in a power amp if you like. Very flexible.
 

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