Suggestions for £3000 Sonos based HiFiSystem.

gregvet

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I am building my bedroom HiFi system currently, at the moment it consists of Sonos ZP120 and Leema Xero Speakers.

I would like to spend no more than £3000, and end up with as good a system as possible. I will be using a ZP90, then a DAC, Amp and speakers. It needs to sound good both for Lossless files from my NAS and Napster/Internet Radio streaming.

How would you spend the money?

My current best system for this money would be a Cyrus 8XPD Qx and some ex demo Spendor SA1s. I demoed this setup and it was lovely, also ideal for a bedroom as one small box for DAC and amp (not essential but definitely a plus point with the other half!). The ZP120 and Leema Xeros will then move to the kitchen so giving me another zone.

Alternatively I have been wondering about Naim Uniti (seems a shame to waste the CD player and streaming though, as I would still want to use the Sonos as the source), or Supernait based systems. Anyone know how Leema Zeros sound with the Supernait?

As a slight curveball however, there are several Chord DAC64s on ebay for just over £1000, how much better a DAC is that than the Naim/Cyrus ones mentioned, and what amp would go well between that and the Leema's? (there is the Leema Pulse as an obvious choice, but what else would work?).

Anywho, please let me know how you would spend the money, and what you think the best system you could get would consist of.

Thanks guys.
 

TheHomeCinemaCentre

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There are plenty of ways to do this but I would think the Harman HK990 into a £2k pair of speakers would be a good option. You already have FB1's and they would be one of my choices if they are not too big.

If you need something smaller then the Leema Xones are ideal and work wonders with the Harman - I am demonstrating this exact system to someone on Wednesday now I come to think of it.
 
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Anonymous

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I would use a speaker with an in-built amplifier to save space.
 

gregvet

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HomeCinemaCentre, I had not considered the HK amp simply because I have never heard any HK stuff. I assume you would rate both the DAC and amp side of this compared to the Cyrus/Naim stuff then? How would you describe the sound qualities?

The PMC FB1is I love, but they are staying in the living room. I would like standmounts for the bedroom because of room size and also just to have a different sounding system compared to my main one. As I already have the Zeros they seem the obvious choice unless you think I can do much better (I do love them!). When I demoed the Zones back to back with the Zeros I actually preferred the Zeros, although they were much better run in so this may have been a factor.

Taylor74, I see where you are coming from, but I still need and external DAC then, which isnt going to save much space over a Cyrus 8XPD (for example). The logical conclusion then is to go for ADM 9.1s with inbuilt DAC too. I have considered these and would love to hear them, but I suspect I would miss the option of further tweaking/upgrading in the future! Not discounted though at all.

Another option I had considered is to wait for a second hand/ex demo Bryston B60 amp with inbuilt DAC to surface (if it ever does), or save and buy a new one, to go with my Leema's. I have always wanted a Bryston amp, and I am sure that this would be fine for a bedroom system.

Really keen to know of peoples thoughts on the Chord DAC 64 compared to current Cyrus/Naim DACs though.
 

Frank Harvey

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gregvet: I would like to spend no more than £3000, and end up with as good a system as possible. I will be using a ZP90, then a DAC, Amp and speakers. It needs to sound good both for Lossless files from my NAS and Napster/Internet Radio streaming.

My current best system for this money would be a Cyrus 8XPD Qx and some ex demo Spendor SA1s. I demoed this setup and it was lovely, also ideal for a bedroom as one small box for DAC and amp (not essential but definitely a plus point with the other half!).

If you've heard that set up (among other set ups) and you really like it, go with it. If you do decide to go with anything else, make sure you hear it in comparison with the system you like.

Alternatively I have been wondering about Naim Uniti (seems a shame to waste the CD player and streaming though, as I would still want to use the Sonos as the source), or Supernait based systems. Anyone know how Leema Zeros sound with the Supernait?

The Leema Zeros sound fine with the Naim, which I don't find all that different to Leemas electronics in presentation. I did a demo for a guy who brought along his Leemas and tried them against other small standmount speakers. Compared to the other speakers tried, they were far from the best, but sounded good enough with the 122x/150x pre/power we tried them on.
 
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Anonymous

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I also concur that if you like the Cyrus/Spendor, you should set that as you baseline for comparison. My brother has a Cyrus 8XPD + Spendor A5 set up with a Sonos while I have a Naimuniti + Quad 22L2 set + Sonos setup. He likes his sound and I like mine as I prefer a fuller sound that I get from my speakers. For your money and your use though, I would not recommend the Uniti as like you say, many of the functions are not needed. Out of your choices, I would probably go for the Cyrus set up.
 
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Anonymous

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What about taking a look at the UnitiQute all-in-one audio player (http://www.naim-audio.com/unitiqute/index.html).
 

gregvet

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zekezebra:What about taking a look at the UnitiQute all-in-one audio player (http://www.naim-audio.com/unitiqute/index.html).

Yes my local Naim dealer are calling me when they have one in stock so I can demo it and compare with the NaimUniti SuperNait and Cyrus 8XPD. I like the fact that it is smaller than th Uniti and loses the CD player, although I would still be paying for the streaming side of things which I dont need. Shame the power rating is so much lower though (the Leemas are rated with a sensitivity of 85 so could do with more oomph really-I know that Naim underestimate but even so!)
 
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Anonymous

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Hi gregvet,

I would strongly recommend the following setup as I was thinking along similar lines to you and after trying a bunch of equipment have settled on:

Dynaudio Focus 110 A

Benchmark DAC (I went for the HDR because I wanted a pre-amp and a more importantly a remote. The Lavry is also an option, my upcoming review should help you decide which one might suit you more)

Sonus ZP90 (You can even skip the benchmark if you don't mind digital volume control, however that has it's own issues)

The total cost of the system will be within your 3K budget.
 

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