thinking of a major upgrade

[scubasteve]

All, I currently haver the following

Marantz CD17 mkII KI cd player, Arcam 8R amp, Arcam 9p power amp, biwired B&W P5 floor standers.

I am moving house and thinking of dumping the lot and getting a linn classik or arcam solo. Would love to hear opinions. Is this a good idea or should I through some money at a new set of speakers or new amp. The P5s are about 12 years old now and the 8R amp is 10 years

 

[Simon Lucas]

Hi Scubasteve. The most pressing question I must ask is: why? Is it the convenience? You must know your existing system will see off a Classik or Solo without breaking sweat. If it's space or domestic pressure, fair enough. But if it's just because you're bored of your system, I urge you to think again. Keep it separate if you've the choice. How much money do you think you could throw at an upgrade?

 

[scubasteve]

Simon,

good question. I guess it is boredom and the need for some retail therapy. I like the conveniance of the ipod age and simply being able to choose my music without rifling through my CD collection. I am not really an audiophile by any stretch. To add insult to injury I actually have my ipod and bose sound dock sitting on top of the system and use that more than my acutal separates system

If I could find a way to load all my cds onto a server without losing quality i would be willing to throw a decent amount of money at the problem. I would also then think about upgrading the amp or speakers. I reckon a couple of thousand is my limit.

Other thing to consider is that I live in singapore. English products are expensive here but the japanese brands are a bargain. eg. the marantz cd player was half the price I would play in england.

Denon, Marantz, yamaha, oknyo, pioneer, area all much cheaper if that helps with advice.

I Have roughly 300 CD's in total

 

[Simon Lucas]

Steve - how about the cost of American goods where you are? I ask because I reckon the Sonos Digital Music System might be just the ticket - and you would only need to spend out on new speakers. Check out this five-star Award-winner at www.sonos.com and stand by for our First Test of the BU130 upgrade in our September issue.