THe NEXT STEP

[robg1976]

Hi I want to upgrade my System but not sure which option i go first my system is as follows AMP NAD C352 (£350) Cd player NAD c521bee £200 and my speakers are Mission M33i....this is my first system and i have owned it for 2 years im ready to upgrade but not sure which to replace first i was looking at a new cd player my budget is about £350-£450 i was intereseted in the ARCAM cd73 for £450 ant advise guys or should i replace speakers firs.. THANKS

 

[Thaiman]

I would replace the mission! The NAD combo sound great and Arcam would be just a side step or a very small upgrade.

 

[robg1976]

thans thaiman nice to see you back i was thinking the mission might be my weakest link what do you think i should replace them with i was looking at maybe monitor audio BR5 or what about Kef q5 any other suggestions

 

[Anonymous]

I agree in dumping the Missions, look at the new B&W 600 series, they sound remarkable for the money, but are ugly, also the new Revolver music series, these will give you massive improvements over the missions you currently have.

 

[nads]

Another one for keeping the CD/AMP combor and changing out the speakers. one last thing to think about when looking at the speakers is the way NAD do things it is very easy to add a power amp to most, if not all of, their amps which gives you lots of options... it just comes down to money and what order to do it..

 

[Thaiman]

Revolver are great, nice bass for the size. BR5 however seem to go well with Nad....Kef is an all rounder too!

 

[Anonymous]

Definitely replace the speakers first. I dont agree though that upgrading to the arcam cd73 would be a sidewards step or small upgrade. I demo'd the Arcam cd73 against the nad c542.The arcam was easily the superior player so it will be a good bit better than your current nad cd player. Monitor audio Silver 5's would be good if you want to stick with floorstanders.They are considerably better than the BR5's although the BR5s are excellent. I have heard the b&w 686's and 685's. Both are superb and for me are far from ugly. They are very stylish and contemporary looking, to my eyes anyway.

 

[robg1976]

thanks guys i was i bit confused some people say to upgrade the source first the cd player others said amp...but i did think the mission speakers were the weakest link.anyway i have arranged to audition a pair of br5s and some b&ws at my local audio excellence they stock the nad so i can try them with the nad cheers guys...will let you know which i prefer....

 

[Anonymous]

The MAs aren't much of an upgrade unless you venture into the Silver range, surely? Small incremental changes are a bit of a waste of money methinks.

 

[Anonymous]

the mon audio silver 5 floorstanders are far better speakers than the bronze 5's.The bronze 5's are very good but dont have the clarity, soundstaging or detail of the silver 5's. The S5's are only £50 more so if you are going to consider the bronze 5's than you would be mad not to demo the silver 5's.

 

[robg1976]

hi thanks guys...........i am going to audition the silver als i have decided to increase my budget from £400--£600 any suggestions

 

[huddo]

Monitor Audio RS6's ?

 

[Anonymous]

The MA RS6's sounded a bit muddy to me. The bass just wasn't right. Try the Dynaudio Audience 52's. These are what I should have bought instead of RS1s and a sub, but am now lined up for the Dynaudio Focus 110's

 

[JoelSim]

Try some ex demo Dali Ikon 6 speakers from http://www.audiologica.co.uk/index_files/daliikon6.htm

I got mine from here and the service and product were A1. Much better than the MA BR5.

I woudl then be tempted to get a matching NAD power amp in the future as the next upgrade. And biamp.

And then a new CD player. As regular readers will know I'm a big Arcam fan so I would point you in that direction, or maybe even a Rega Apollo in due course. If you go Arcam go for a CD92/93 or an FMJ. Good examples can be picked up relatively cheaply on eBay 2nd hand.

Alternatively on the speaker front, you could go for some good bookshelf speakers on good stands like the PMC DB1+ or AVI Neutron IV (can't biamp).