Suggestions for a good stereo system

[admin_exported]

Hello everyone!

This is my first post here, so, greetings from me! It's quite a long post, I'll be really really thankful for those of you with enough patience to read it! For quite a long time now I have been doing research on setting up a new stereo system im my bedroom, as I'm moving to a new house next year. The space available is not one of the largest, so I have decided to have a stereo one. I wouldn't like to spend a huge amount of money, but still I'd quite like to have a really good sounding one. Just for some rough sense of perspective, the Shure SE530 in-earphones are sort of a benchmark for me: perfectly balanced (although I'd like some more bass sometimes), exceptional throughout the whole range. I'd like some advice on it, and as you guys are the experts, here I am!

I have a MacBook Pro (mostly), an iPod Classic and an iPhone as the main sources from my audio, as well as some casual CDs. What would you suggest for that system? I thought about buying an amp and a pair of speakers (obviously), good cables and an iPod dock. Another thing that I'm considering is a dedicated DAC, is it necessary? I want it to be reasonably loud and also for me to be able to use headphones quite often.

I have also been thinking about the specific equipment, and this is what I thought of:

For the amp, I read very good things about the Arcam Solo, the Cyrus products in general, the Fatman iTube 452 Valve amp and the Pathos Logos. The Fatman and the Pathos are valve amps, which is something I'd quite like, but they're also more expensive, specially the Pathos, and have no way of connecting a headphone to them, so I'd need a headphone amp, like the Lehmann Black Cube USB Headphone amp. Are those valve amps worth the money? The Arcam Solo and the Cyrus (I don't know which one of their products would be ideal, cause they have like CD/DAC/Amp, or everything sepparately, etc) on the other hand, are not valve amps but as far as I could work out sound damn good. Also, they have the advantage of being a CD player as well, although I could use the computer for this. For the dock, I am considering the Arcam rDock.

For speakers I need bookshelf speakers. I though about the Bang & Olufsen Beolab 3 and Beolab 4000, something from Bowers & Wilkins or something else. I personally heard both the Bang & Olufsen speakers, and loved them, but they're as expensive as they're stylish. So I though about having something from another speaker manufacturer that would cost something like £2000 at the most. Bowers & Wilkins as far as I know is wonderful, specially the 686, the CM1 and the 805. Any other? Or from another manufacturer, all suggestions are appreciated.

I don't want it to be hugely expensive, but I also don't want to compromise sound quality very much, as I'm quite demanding in that sense. This is why my suggestions have such a big cost range; I'd like it to be as cheap as possible but with the best sound quality possible in a system under something like £5000 or £4000 if possible. So this is it, I'm opened to any suggestions!

Thanks in advance!

Leo

 

[Thaiman]

Question and a half!

Cairn Fog 3 (CD player/Preamp/DAC) + Primare A30.2 + Dali MENTOR 2

I reckon the system would be hard to beat at this price range.

 

[drummerman]

AVI ADM9.1 plus sub

regards

 

[Anonymous]

Second DM's AVI idea. No point building a proper hifi around an ipod and a computer. It's like building a greenhouse to grow mold.

 

[Thaiman]

I thought he want to spend the best part of £5K...C'mon DM!

 

[drummerman]

Hi raypalmer

The AVI's are proper hifi alright. I did'nt notice the headphone stage request though.

regards

 

[drummerman]

Thaiman:I thought he want to spend the best part of £5K...C'mon DM!

Fantastic, I just saved him 3.5k

 

[Craig M.]

raypalmer:Second DM's AVI idea. No point building a proper hifi around an ipod and a computer. It's like building a greenhouse to grow mold.

i thought a hdd's superiority over a cdp as a transport was pretty much established? just use something like a benchmark dac (which rejects input jitter and re-clocks the signal)

i'd say, wadia idock, benchmark dac1 pre (includes headphone amp), primare a30.2, and whichever speakers suit your room and ears.

 

[Anonymous]

drummerman:
Hi raypalmer

The AVI's are proper hifi alright.

regards

Ah, I misspoke.

What I meant was that a full-on separates system would be overkill. And that self-amplified speakers are apt.

I recommend the Grado RA-1 (battery version) as a headphone box and Grado RS2, or if you're feeling saucy... GS1000 for cans.

 

[Thaiman]

DM, well debateable mate

I reckon my set would sound so much better than AVI that the extra £3.5K (that on the original budget) seem like a bargain! I know that the AVI is a fantastic product but never gonna rival something cost 3 times as much. (sorry if I speak my mind, just like your goodself

)

 

[drummerman]

... but you are of course right thaiman, I'm sure its possible to get better for £5000. If you'd say £3k I wouldn't be so certain. Its just that I thought the AVI's ticked most boxes (apart from the headphone output, but that could be built in elsewhere) and are a very neat solution.

Just another, more unusual option, which never seems to get anywhere on this forum

hope this helps

 

[Anonymous]

Craig M.:
raypalmer:Second DM's AVI idea. No point building a proper hifi around an ipod and a computer. It's like building a greenhouse to grow mold.

i thought a hdd's superiority over a cdp as a transport was pretty much established? just use something like a benchmark dac (which rejects input jitter and re-clocks the signal)

i'd say, wadia idock, benchmark dac1 pre (includes headphone amp), primare a30.2, and whichever speakers suit your room and ears.

HDD's may well be superior to CD. However to me it's a moot point. They're both completely sub-par compared to vinyl. Sound quality wise, not convenience.

 

[drummerman]

Thaiman:
DM, well debateable mate

I reckon my set would sound so much better than AVI that the extra £3.5K (that on the original budget) seem like a bargain! I know that the AVI is a fantastic product but never gonna rival something cost 3 times as much. (sorry if I speak my mind, just like your goodself

)

Sure TM, its all highly subjective.

The only thing I've heard which I thought was a substantial improvement on the said AVI's was a Plinius Pre/power with large MA gold's. I've listened to a lot of hifi recently. That's how good I think they are but I appreciate there are myriad's of good products out there, the AVI's are not the only one and not everyone's going to agree with me.

Regards

 

[Anonymous]

Well I think your AVIs are keen DM.

 

[Anonymous]

Hello!

Thanks for the suggestions!! I really liked them, no exception! Thaiman, I'll definitely think about this.. I had read about the Dali Mentor 2, all good things! And about the Carin Fog 3, it's better than the Arcam Solo then?

drummerman, I'll take yours into consideration as well, specially because I'm not sure this will be my real budget yet, so maybe I'm being too ambitious in thinking about £5K! And the headphone stage should be alright, I've heard of many headphone amps that are quite cheap, so if I save money when buying the whole system, spending an extra £200 or so should be alright!

Craig M., I quite liked that as well, specially cause I've heard that this iDock works as a DAC for the iPod, doesn't it? Do you think the sound quality would be good, I mean, close to a good CD player's?

And raypalmer, judging by what I've been reading recently, Grados are the best out there, aren't they? I have a pair of SE530s, which I think are astonishing as far as earphones go. We're also building a system in the living room, and I'm planning to use the headphone we'll have there. The GS1000 are horribly expensive, and as we'll already spend a big amount of money, maybe we should stick with the RS2, what do you think? My previous choice was the Denon AH-D7000, but Grados have been second on the list!

 

[Anonymous]

If you have the Mac already then DMs suggestion fits in well.

The iPhone will be your touch screen remote.

 

[Thaiman]

leonardodrummond:

Hello!

Thaiman, I'll definitely think about this.. I had read about the Dali Mentor 2, all good things! And about the Carin Fog 3, it's better than the Arcam Solo then?

I shall hope so. It's all depend on what do you want your Hifi to sound like? I can come up with 10 different system that gel well together but it doesn't mean you will like the sound. The Cairn/Primare/Dali should sound very musical. If you want something that get blood flowing, head banging or bass that will annoy your nextdoor then look elsewhere as they won't give you that.

I just read DM's post again and the least you could do is to demo the AVI, like other said, if you already have a MAC it make sense!

 

[Craig M.]

leonardodrummond:
Craig M., I quite liked that as well, specially cause I've heard that this iDock works as a DAC for the iPod, doesn't it? Do you think the sound quality would be good, I mean, close to a good CD player's?

the wadia idock is the only way of bypassing the dac inside the ipod and getting a bit perfect stream from it. in theory, it should be superior to a cdp, depending on the dac used. the wadia idock doesn't have an onboard dac.

i mentioned the benchmark as it doesn't really matter if streaming from a hdd/ipod introduces jitter, because the benchmark (and maybe others) ignores the input jitter and then re-clocks the data. there are some awesome reviews of it on benchmarks site. it also includes a top quality headphone amp, and a pre amp - which opens up a lot of options, ie. power amp or active speakers. it's also available on 30 day money back trial. as soon as i can find a 2nd hand/ex dem primare a30.2, i will be ordering one. it's important that you demo stuff for yourself though as hearing varies and the type of sound you like is a very personal thing. they're all good options suggested so far though, and its just a question of finding what suits your ears.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes Thaiman, that's quite right... The thing I mostly want is just a system that is as neutral as possible (something I find in the SE530) and well balanced. As I said, the SE530s are my current reference for this new system because the only thing that I head that was better sounding was a pair of JBL 4350s in a recording studio, but they are obviously well beyond my budget, so I don't expect anything I buy to sound anywhere near to it. What I like about the Shures is the sense of space and stage that they provide, everything is so detailed and in their own place! The balance is almost perfect as well, it could do with a little more bass in some pieces (I hate overwhelming bass though... It should be just right), but I have no complaints whatsoever about the midrange and treble in particular. It also has a very "soft" and rounded sound, which I really like.

Another thing that I find very important is that the sound should envolve the space, I mean, not that it has to be loud, but it should be full... And that's something I've found in those B&O loudspeakers, and fear not having in those small bookshelf speakers. Currently I have a (rubbish) 5.1 system in my room, so it offers this grandness of sound.

I'll try to listen to all this before making any decision, including Craig M.'s suggestion, which I also find very tentative (the Benchmark appears to be quite impressive). The AVIs obviously are worth trying as well, and I'll try to do so as soon as I find out where to! I've been to good Hi-Fi stores websites around here, and I'll try to go there and see if they have them so I can listen to them personally!

Thank you all again!

Leo

 

[Anonymous]

I was in the same boat as you and went for Cambridge Audio 740A, 740C, and Mourdant Short floorstanders. The 740C has a optical DAC input, which I use for my Mac. The sound of Apple Lossless audio is very good (can't hear the difference between CD and Mac). This way you can still chose between playing CD's the old way as well as play directly from your Mac. You could also replace the 740c with a DacMagic, in which case you can clearly only play the files from you Mac. I might consider the last option to save space so might be selling my 740c soon.

 

[Anonymous]

Another vote for AVI ADM9.1s here, with an added sub of course

Superb value and the internal DAC is better than that of the DAC Magic to my ears.