Swapping Naim 5i-2 Combo for Home Cinema....

[admin_exported]

Hi there, I've got the following set up:

Naim 5i-2 Amp, Naim 5i-2 CD Player, Chord Odyssey Speaker Cable, Chord Power Cables, Chord Anthem 2 interconnect, B&W CM7's

I love the sound this system makes. However, I am becoming more and more drawn to surround sound and AV quality. I have a limited upgrade budget, so would be looking to sell some of the above components to fund a very good blu ray player, amp & additional speakers (I'll keep the CM7's).

Budget: 2k additional - What should I do? I'm thinking about selling the CD player, what would the difference in sound be for playing CD's using a v good blu ray player? What AMP would you recommend to go with the Naim 5i-2? Or would you suggest a completely new set up?? Music quality is important to me!

Thanks

 

[Dan Turner]

You've got a great set-up. If you want my advice do not sell any part of it to fund a purchase of home cinema kit. Better thing would be to save up until you can afford to buy kit that will integrate well with what you've currently got.

For instance you could buy a home cinema amp and with pre-out sockets run the front left and right channels through your Naim amp. Buy matching B&Ws for your other channels (which would be run off the HC amp directly as per normal) and you have got the least compromised HC set-up* that allows you to preserve your 2 channel hi-fi, which hasn't been compromised at all.

* Because the front L&R will be using the naim power amplification which differs from the other channels, you may notice a slight difference in tonality, especially betwwen the front L&R and centre speakers. If you go for this route ask for advice on what home cinema amp would match the Naim sound best.

You could get a Blu-ray player now and use that in stereo mode for the time being whilst you continue to save for everything else.

Or your 2K would be enough to get a completely separate HC system without even attempting to integrate it into your existing stereo set-up. If you try to integrate it as I've suggested above I think you'll need to aim higher especially with the speakers and the HC amp to do justice to the gear you've already got.

One thing is for sure, you will not get anywhere near as good sound out of a blu-ray player as you get from your Naim CD player, and likewise if you chose to replace your Naim amp with a HC amp (unless you're going to spend £3k on it).

 

[matthewpiano]

Dan's response is absolutely spot on. You would very quickly regret changing any of your current kit.