Should i chuck it out and start again

[admin_exported]

hi

my current setup

speakers: Mission 780se

Amp: Kenwood KA 3020 Special Edition

CD: marantz cd4000

All the above was bought probably 10 years ago. At the time What Hi-Fi rated all the kit (good entry level budget stuff). Time has passed, i'm a little fatter and have a bit more cash floating around. Is there anything worth salvaging? Has kit improved technically over the years? I guess i have about a £1000-1500 to spend

thanks in advance for any pointers

 

[aliEnRIK]

Wow

Thats almost all my old kit (I had the Marantz 63 though). The mission speakers in particular were fantastic for the money

That money will certainly get you better kit, but id audition first if I were you

By the way, I found biwring speakers A and B to the speakers made quite an improvement to sound on the missions (If you havnt already)

 

[Anonymous]

if you buy older good gear, £1000-£1500 will give you a pretty decent setup that will outperform/outclass any new system for the same price (IMHO) ....

 

[True Blue]

Replace the speakers and amp. Keep the CDP for now. Not sure of the model but if it has an optical out get an external DAC. There are plenty of options witihn your budget, depends upon your personal preference.

Note just checked use the coaxialdigital out and feed into a DAC.

 

[the record spot]

Ha! Almost the opposite here; keep the speakers for sure for now, they were fine little boxes in their day and won't suddenly be rubbish now. They'd do better with a higher quality source and then a better amp, in that order.

Options, get a new / used CDP, or, if the CD4000 is in good nick, use it as a transport and get a decent DAC, especially if you want to make a really decent step up. Later, upgrade to a better transport. Thereafter upgrade the amp and then your speakers. Set a long term goal and work out what steps you need to take to get there. Plus, those steps can be achieved with older used kit as well as your money goes further.

The alternative is to get a better CDP and forget the DAC. I'd seriously consider the Harmon Kardon HD990 CDP, £500, but available for less than £300 if you shop round. Just picked up an award in another hi fi title's review, has a fine spec, balanced XLR outputs and apparently sounds the business too. Definitely one to shortlist IMO, along with a few others.

 

[a91gti]

I`m with `spot on this one, keep the speakers and get some new electronics starting with the amp as thats probably your major weakness.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks to all of you for your advice. It's great to get as many opinions as possible.

Can i just ask what is a DAC? Assuming that it's an some kind of amp?

Any recommendations for an amp? £500? Do i want to be buying a multi-channel amplifier? such as a Yamaha DSP-AX863SE? or should i just keep things seperate/simple with music being on a single system only?

thanks

 

[Andrew Everard]

Digital to Analogue Converter. Replaces that built into the CD player by taking a digital output from the player's transport section, processing it, and then feeding it out to an amplifier in place of the player's analogue outputs.

Can improve the sound of a player, but it's by no means a given that it will always do so. Indeed some well-engineered players, such as the one you have, will probably sound better than the same machine used with an offboard converter.