System upgrade

[QuestForThe13thNote]

I am already using a £500 amp driving a pair of £1000 speakers, not too sure selling the speakers and replaing with some costing £1500 -£2000 and still using the Cambridge CXA 60 amp would be a good idea?

The Cambridge is a good amp but not that good! Would I really get the full benefits of a £2000 speaker using a £500 amp?

youd get better sq improvements with a speaker change with your amp, which Is what you are trying to achieve, than you would with an amp between £500 and £1k. maybe not the full benefits of a £2000 speaker, but you could always change the amp later too. If you are spending £1000 versus £500 amp you already have, you won’t get a massive improvement in a new amp. I wouldn’t just accept people’s recomendations too just because they own the stuff.

 

[lindsayt]

I am already using a £500 amp driving a pair of £1000 speakers, not too sure selling the speakers and replaing with some costing £1500 -£2000 and still using the Cambridge CXA 60 amp would be a good idea?

The Cambridge is a good amp but not that good! Would I really get the full benefits of a £2000 speaker using a £500 amp?

Get speakers that give your amplifier an easy time and your Cambridge will be easily good enough.

Get speakers that give your amp a hard time and it may be worth trying different amps.

I have no time for system building philosophies that recommend mating £2000 amplifiers with £2000 speakers. I prefer to spend the minimum on each component to get World Class, or near World Class performance. This means that the amounts I've spent on sources, amplification and speakers have varied enormously and bear no co-relation to each other.

And, when you think about it, the component and manufacturing costs to get a great sounding speaker should be totally different to the costs in making a great sounding amplifier. They are 2 different and totally independent things.

It's a marketing creation to match £2000 sources to £2000 amplifiers to £2000 speakers.

 

[CnoEvil]

I'm going to go a bit against the grain and suggest that you should maximize your current speakers with a better amp, before going the other way round.....though there are no hard and fast rules.

IMO. Tannoy make good speakers that sound clean, but for my taste, work best with an amp that has a hint of sweetness/warmth...or they can sound a bit "hard" when the volume is turned up.

This is something you will need to try for yourself...but if I wasn't looking for an amp with a built in DAC, I'd be looking at Electrompaniet, Arcam, Pathos and Sugden.....(used if necessary).

I have already listed some better amps with DACs, one of which is bound to give you what you want - Bel Canto and Peachtree are decent sounding Class D, Hegel is clean and powerful sounding and MF is a little warmer sounding.

 

[Andrewjvt]

I am already using a £500 amp driving a pair of £1000 speakers, not too sure selling the speakers and replaing with some costing £1500 -£2000 and still using the Cambridge CXA 60 amp would be a good idea?

The Cambridge is a good amp but not that good! Would I really get the full benefits of a £2000 speaker using a £500 amp?

Get speakers that give your amplifier an easy time and your Cambridge will be easily good enough.

Get speakers that give your amp a hard time and it may be worth trying different amps.

 

I have no time for system building philosophies that recommend mating £2000 amplifiers with £2000 speakers. I prefer to spend the minimum on each component to get World Class, or near World Class performance. This means that the amounts I've spent on sources, amplification and speakers have varied enormously and bear no co-relation to each other.

 

And, when you think about it, the component and manufacturing costs to get a great sounding speaker should be totally different to the costs in making a great sounding amplifier. They are 2 different and totally independent things.

 

It's a marketing creation to match £2000 sources to £2000 amplifiers to £2000 speakers.

This is in part what I've been trying to say for weeks now regards the cost theory.

I personally think the op should settle on speakers he wants then style on a sufficient amp

 

[lindsayt]

Cnoevil, "decent sounding class D" is an oxymoron.

 

[CnoEvil]

Cnoevil, "decent sounding class D" is an oxymoron.

I try not to let my own prejudices affect what other people should try for themselves. We all have to find our own path...which involves experimentation.

 

[S83 Trike]

Have a chance of getting a pre owned Cyrus 8XPD amp for under £700, it would be buying it wihout llistening though.

Would it be a worthwhile upgrade, then upgrading the speakers in the new year?

 

[insider9]

Not with your speakers. I wouldn't buy any Cyrus gear without listening as not once heard anything I liked from them. Doesn't mean you wouldn't.

Your speakers should be able to sing when matched to a good amp (both technically and tonally matched)

 

[drummerman]

Have a chance of getting a pre owned Cyrus 8XPD amp for under £700, it would be buying it wihout llistening though.

Would it be a worthwhile upgrade, then upgrading the speakers in the new year?

That's a very good amplifier. You could upgrade with a Psx-r too in the future.

No idea about your speakers though.

 

[newlash09]

I would fully agree with Cnoevil's suggestion to upgrade the amp. From my recent experience, changing my amp to a more powerful one, has changed the sound of my speakers completely. The difference is so pronounced that they sound like completely different speakers. And the new amp has also mitigated the only gripe I had from the QA concept 40's. They were sounding a little laid back on energetic EDM tracks. Which now has completely vanished.

A pre-loved amp around the 1000 pound mark will extract the maximum from your present speakers. All the best

 

[S83 Trike]

Now confused! LOL

 

[CnoEvil]

Now confused! LOL

We all have different views and experiences...which have been valid in our own situation.

The only way you can find your way through the hifi maze, is to demo some of the ideas you have received....and see what works for you.

 

[johnnyboy1950]

Keep the amp and try to get a pair of Monitor Audio Silver 6 or 8 while they are still available. They have plunged in price since the new range has come out.