Speakers & Amplifier required £1000 budget

[dx052]

Were shall I start? okay Up until very recently I thought I had a decent stereo, I suppose I was so wrong, I realised this when I had to buy a pair of speakers recently when I blew my long serving ones. I suppose you get what you pay for. I went to my local HIFi store and picked up a pair of Maud & Short Avanti 901, well thats what I think they are, anyway they sound rubbish and I suppose it dosent help if I am using a Cambridge Audi amplifier which at a combined cost was at about £250 in total. Anyway moving forward I need to address the balance and get a decent entry level amplifier & speakers especially after hearing a pair of Wilson Benesch briefly whilst I dropped into a store for a browse. The music i generally play which is kind of Deep House & Disco music sounded great & so I felt like throwing my current stuff in the bin. So the question is what Amp & speaker combination can I get for around £1000?

Thanks

 

[Ant8519]

Hi

AVI ADM9.1 at £1064 online. Google and read up on them, and also the AVI Neutron 2.1 system at £1300. Otherwise for your budget I would suggest looking at a used amp and new speakers.

Ant

 

[plastic penguin]

dx052:

Were shall I start? okay Up until very recently I thought I had a decent stereo, I suppose I was so wrong, I realised this when I had to buy a pair of speakers recently when I blew my long serving ones. I suppose you get what you pay for. I went to my local HIFi store and picked up a pair of Maud & Short Avanti 901, well thats what I think they are, anyway they sound rubbish and I suppose it dosent help if I am using a Cambridge Audi amplifier which at a combined cost was at about £250 in total. Anyway moving forward I need to address the balance and get a decent entry level amplifier & speakers especially after hearing a pair of Wilson Benesch briefly whilst I dropped into a store for a browse. The music i generally play which is kind of Deep House & Disco music sounded great & so I felt like throwing my current stuff in the bin. So the question is what Amp & speaker combination can I get for around £1000?

Thanks

For £150 the MS 901 are wonderful. You're right, partnered with Cambridge electronics isn't great synergy-wise. My only concern is because you've brought Wilson Benesch into the equation, I sincerely hope you're not setting the bar too high for a entry-level combo of £1,000. I think the cheapest WB speaker is the Square Two, which retail around 2,000 mark.

feature-wise, what are you looking for? Do you have a TT, CDP, tuner or do you download your music?

 

[dx052]

Thanks for great responses definitely something to think about. Yes I use Turntables, I download some music but transfer most via a decent turntable. I play 98% lossless wav files, 24 bit / 48 KHz with Traktor Scratch. I believe my source is okay but the Amp & speakers are very poor. The reason I used WB speakers as a reference was only because I heard what I was missing however when i was told the price I knew I was far apart with my budget Musically I am trying to achieve a really clean, sound which emphasizes the base, treble, kid etc. I have noticed that most book shelf speakers especially have a feq response of around 45/50hz - 20Khz. I am no expert but when I was doing electronics at college many years ago I was told that I should be looking at 20hz-20khz. Am I right in saying that sub woofers are generally required for this? I do like the look of the AVI Neutron even though they are over budget, does it include subs. Thanks

 

[John Duncan]

The 1300 quid price of the AVI Neutron 2.1 does include a powered sub (with a DAC built in - details here), yes (also available for 400 without sub, though sadly not now as powered monitors for 600ish). But much as I love my Neutrons, I think a more traditional setup might be more your style - Q Acoustic 1050is and a Roksan Kandy or Naim Nait 5i might be a good start, given your taste in music...

 

[dx052]

Interesting - I see you have spent the the majority of the budget on the amplifier, in your opinion is the Naim & Roksan very similar & could I decide then just on looks ? Thanks again

 

[Overdose]

I would say that the NAIM and Roksan amps would be perfect in your budget and would not need to be upgraded for some time.

Leave the speakers for now, you may find that you much prefer the sound when they are driven by a quality amp. Also, I'm guessing that you use 1200's/1210's so the speakers will then be the weak link in your system, but the cheapest to upgrade.

 

[plastic penguin]

JohnDuncan:The 1300 quid price of the AVI Neutron 2.1 does include a powered sub (with a DAC built in - details here), yes (also available for 400 without sub, though sadly not now as powered monitors for 600ish). But much as I love my Neutrons, I think a more traditional setup might be more your style - Q Acoustic 1050is and a Roksan Kandy or Naim Nait 5i might be a good start, given your taste in music...

I was thinking, given he has a TT (which counts the Naim out), along the lines of Rotel RA-05 (£350 approx) partnered with B&W 685 (£380 or so quid) + a decent stands (£100 approx). That should leave you with about £150 for cables. If you go the s/hand route you'll be able to pick up that lot far cheaper.

Adding to what Mr. Duncan said, you can pick-up Roksan Kandy LIII for around £450 mark.

 

[Anonymous]

£1000 on the used market will get you a very good system and you will get many suggestions ....

PIONEER A-91D ULTIMATE REFERENCE ... ebay item 230396858565 ... buy it now of £599.99

(have never heard one of these, but have read loads of excellent comments and is very sought after) ... not sure if it's a bargain, as have never seen one for sale, and no-one has bought this one yet, so perhaps the price is a bit high?

not sure what speakers would match the amp, but if you do go this route, best is to seek advice on the vintage pioneer forum ...

amp delivers 120 watts at 8 ohms so could do well with most speakers?

£400 on ebay can get you something like these Dali suite 2.8 premium silver (new and boxed with guarantee from sevenoaks ... RRP £1000) ... ebay item 170402524214 but you would need to research and see if the speakers match the amp ... if you go for older speakers, you will get better than the dali's

obviously, if you are patient and use the auction format instead of the buy it now, you will get better bargains ... good luck (and dont rush!)

 

[dx052]

Overdose:
I would say that the NAIM and Roksan amps would be perfect in your budget and would not need to be upgraded for some time.

Leave the speakers for now, you may find that you much prefer the sound when they are driven by a quality amp. Also, I'm guessing that you use 1200's/1210's so the speakers will then be the weak link in your system, but the cheapest to upgrade.

Hi. Yes I am turntable guy. Thanks for the info, Am I looking around £800 for a Naim Amp then? so you think that I could upgrade my speakers at a later date once I run them with a decent amp?

 

[drummerman]

I guess something along the lines of B&W's and any of the current, reasonably powerful midrange amps from rotel/marantz etc. would be suffice for that sort of music?

Personally and if you need real power, control and volume I'd look into the pro-sector and choose powerful, active speaker of the mid/far field variety. Far superior in many ways to 'conventional' hifi though often not that nice to look at unless you're a fan of the industrial look. A grand will buy you fantastic sound and you may just never feel the need to 'upgrade' your hifi again, simply because an alternative hifi of the domestic variety could cost an indecent amount of money. - Somewhere in between are the afromentioned Actives from AVI, the 9.1. Great for everything other than probably disco/house.

 

[Anonymous]

you can connect a decent phono preamp to the naim for about the £60 mark so naim or kandy would be fine

 

[plastic penguin]

one off:you can connect a decent phono preamp to the naim for about the £60 mark so naim or kandy would be fine

The Roksan and Rotel have their own built-in phono stage, which means he add to 60-70 quid on better leads or adding to the speaker stands.

 

[John Duncan]

dx052:Interesting - I see you have spent the the majority of the budget on the amplifier, in your opinion is the Naim & Roksan very similar & could I decide then just on looks ? Thanks again

Yes, ideally I'd have one of those seven/eight hundred quid amps and 1500 quid speakers to go with, but those Qs are well thought of, they give you the bass it sounds like you need, and we cut our cloth etc etc...once you've got a good quality amp at the heart of your system then you can think about even better speakers later.

Re: the phono stage - do you mind it being external (in which case plenty of options including the ones above, or if you don't mind s/h, a Primare A30.1, no question), otherwise I'll have to reconsider amp - Creek Evo with the optional phono board or Marantz PM7xxx series would be first to spring to mind.

 

[Anonymous]

true but the naim is by no means ruled out which was my point

edit that was addressed to pp but what jd said is spot on it is another box

 

[dx052]

JohnDuncan:dx052:Interesting - I see you have spent the the majority of the budget on the amplifier, in your opinion is the Naim & Roksan very similar & could I decide then just on looks ? Thanks againYes, ideally I'd have one of those seven/eight hundred quid amps and 1500 quid speakers to go with, but those Qs are well thought of, they give you the bass it sounds like you need, and we cut our cloth etc etc...once you've got a good quality amp at the heart of your system then you can think about even better speakers later. Re: the phono stage - do you mind it being external (in which case plenty of options including the ones above, or if you don't mind s/h, a Primare A30.1, no question), otherwise I'll have to reconsider amp - Creek Evo with the optional phono board or Marantz PM7xxx series would be first to spring to mind.

An internal phono stage would be nice but I could quiet easily get an external one. Re an audition in a shop would I struggle to find a shop that has both those items to hear what they sound like or are you a shop vendor ?

 

[plastic penguin]

plastic penguin:

one off:you can connect a decent phono preamp to the naim for about the £60 mark so naim or kandy would be fine

The Roksan and Rotel have their own built-in phono stage, which means he add to 60-70 quid on better leads or adding to the speaker stands.

This could be beneficial.....

 

[bay24]

plastic penguin:dx052:

Were shall I start? okay Up until very recently I thought I had a decent stereo, I suppose I was so wrong, I realised this when I had to buy a pair of speakers recently when I blew my long serving ones. I suppose you get what you pay for. I went to my local HIFi store and picked up a pair of Maud & Short Avanti 901, well thats what I think they are, anyway they sound rubbish and I suppose it dosent help if I am using a Cambridge Audi amplifier which at a combined cost was at about £250 in total. Anyway moving forward I need to address the balance and get a decent entry level amplifier & speakers especially after hearing a pair of Wilson Benesch briefly whilst I dropped into a store for a browse. The music i generally play which is kind of Deep House & Disco music sounded great & so I felt like throwing my current stuff in the bin. So the question is what Amp & speaker combination can I get for around £1000?

Thanks

For £150 the MS 901 are wonderful. You're right, partnered with Cambridge electronics isn't great synergy-wise. My only concern is because you've brought Wilson Benesch into the equation, I sincerely hope you're not setting the bar too high for a entry-level combo of £1,000. I think the cheapest WB speaker is the Square Two, which retail around 2,000 mark.

feature-wise, what are you looking for? Do you have a TT, CDP, tuner or do you download your music?

Some WB square 1s went on e-bay for just over £600 a week or two ago so I would keep a look out if you wanted a taste of the high end!