Rotel RA -04 + Paradigm Mini Monitors V.6

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Hi Guys,

Its my first time on the forum and i'm pretty new to the Hi-FI world in anycase. I did a bit of auditioninig over the last week or so for a budget level cd + amp + speakers in Singapore. The combo of a Rotel RA-05 + Paradigm Mini Mons v.6s sounded beautiful, composed, clear and having a decent punch.
The orther auditions included the usual combos of NAD + CA budget systems with wither Dali Lektors2 or Diamonds 9.1, 10.1 s but all of them fell short in terms of overal quality.

However, i have one concern other than not knowing about the Paradigm brand prior to hearing them. Would the combo of RA-04 plus Mini Mons be too harsh when i listen to slighlty lower grade recording such as tracks bought online and converted to CD quality?

I CD with such a track did sound a bit bright..would an accurate speaker such as a mini fail to hide quality imperfections?

Thinking of pairing it with a Marantz CD5003...as my budget has been overshot on account of the Mini Mons.

Any thoughts would be very welcome...

Cheers Guys

Akshay

 

[Anonymous]

I would like to clarify - I auditioned a RA -05 as the RA-04 was not in stock but will end up purchasing the RA -04s when available....

 

[Anonymous]

Any thought or ideas ...please...

 

[Anonymous]

I would highly recommend purchasing an external dac like the Beresford Dac 7520 or the VDac or the CA Dac Magic, since as you said, you will be using music from a computer source and assuming your current sound card isn't that great, then this will improve things greatly and in fact will sound better than a budget cd player.

 

[Anonymous]

I've got to say, I'm in the same boat as you in terms of being new to this.

I can't vouch for those speakers, but on the side I have to say that I found the RA-04 a very capable little amp, brilliant for the price, and it could drive a lot of things, I've recently got one with MA BR2s which are a tad bright, but I like the punchiness and dynamics of it, but that's mainly due to the speakers. I suppose you either have to take a gamble and buy it, (hopefully you'll be able to return if it's not all good) or ask if they have a DAC that you can demo with your chosen system in store.

All I can say is that I really like the Rotel amp, I didn't fancy the £100 extra for a remote either, but I don't know anything of those speakers, but you'll probably want a DAC, one with a USB would be a better investment than a cheaper CD player if most of your music is on the computer, so the DacMagic or the Beresford 7520/Caiman would be a good shout.

 

[link]

google paradigm and you'll find some good reviews about their speakers.

but of course if they are accurate speakers, they won't hide recording imperfections.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone for their comments and suggestions!!

I did purchase the Rotel RA-04 after another round of auditioning and gotta say they have upgraded the sound coming out my rather flat Bose 201s, making them sound bearable..

I intend to hear the Paradigm Mini Monitors and Titans this weekend to decide on the speaker. I also bought a budget Marantz 5003 and it sounds pretty good with the Rotel. I did a comparision between NadC515, CA340 and the 5003 before deciding the sound/price combo was best with the Marantz. 50% of my music is on the comp so i could look at the DAC in the near future but for now speakers are my priority.....

the dealer said the amp will sound much better after a few more hours of running in.....looking forward to that..