To buy with £1800

[Joshuamessenger]

Hello I'm a student with a addiction to hifi equipment and is looking to get the best for money

i would like to by from local dealers as I can haggle them down or get free cable and stuff !

now I'm looking to upgrade my amp or speakers, or even both of them.

My current amp is a H/K 3390

speakers MA BX2

i use mp3 and my turntable for inputs

im looking in amp's Cyrus 6a or kandy k2

speakers KEF q900 or ls50 or r100

MA BR6 or RS6 or 8

Spendor a3 EX dem

My local hifi shops is

http://www.fanthorpes.co.uk/index.php

And

richersounds

 

[Al ears]

I very much doubt that anyone on this forum can make up your mind for you.

You have to get down to Fanthorpes, discuss requirements with staff, audition as much as you can in your budget, then decide what to buy from them.

Simples.

 

[CnoEvil]

For amps, I would also add Creek Evolution 2 and Musical Fidelity M3i.

My pick of speakers would be LS50 / R100 / 300.

It is vital that you take any suggestions you get and check them out for yourself.

Good luck with your search

Cno

 

[Anonymous]

Hello I'm a student with a addiction to hifi equipment and is looking to get the best for money

i would like to by from local dealers as I can haggle them down or get free cable and stuff !

now I'm looking to upgrade my amp or speakers, or even both of them.

My current amp is a H/K 3390

speakers MA BX2

i use mp3 and my turntable for inputs

im looking in amp's Cyrus 6a or kandy k2

speakers KEF q900 or ls50 or r100

MA BR6 or RS6 or 8

Spendor a3 EX dem

My local hifi shops is

http://www.fanthorpes.co.uk/index.php

And

richersounds

fully agree that you need to demo; more so with that budget!

Both Dale & Marc at Fanthorpes are very good to deal with. I'm not local but have used them recently and they're great to talk to and run ideas past!

I got my Cyrus amp from them at a superb price. Keep any eon their ex-demo stuff. Cyrus and KEF go very well together so consider both the LS50s and the R100s

 

[SpursGator]

I would keep the speakers you have and upgrade the amp to something really nice. If you replace your speakers, you'll be unhappy with the amp, then you'll need to upgrade it and you'll have to choose one that's good with the speakers you already bought. Not ideal. You already have the right level of speakers for your amp (maybe even better) and going for better speakers with the HK won't necessarily sound better.

If you upgrade both, you'll split your budget. You could get a nice amp/speaker combo for that price, better than what you've got, but not THAT much better, and now you've blown £1800. And next time you upgrade, to do better, you'll need to spend £5000 to improve things.

If you go buy a really sweet amp with all or most of your budget, it will make your system, with the existing speakers, sound phenominal. If you are a student then I'm guessing your listening room is fairly modestly-sized. Those MA speakers will reveal the difference between a Harmon Kardon and, say, a Leema Pulse or Naim XS without any problem! Try it - take your speakers to a shop and ask to hear them with a high-end amp. You will be amazed.

Then you've got a real amp that you won't need to replace for a long time. You can take your time searching for speakers that match it. Maybe find something used, or just hang on and save up until you've got a bigger (or just different) listening space and can buy something that matches well. This strategy gives you a huge upgrade now, and then later - since you already have the amp - you could have a truly high-end system just by buying nice speakers (far less than £5000) that fit your room.

One other suggestion: At that budget, it's crazy to buy a new amp. It's great that you have a good relationship with a hifi shop and can bargain a little, but I bought my Pathos Logos, used, in perfect condition, for less than your budget. That's a nearly £5000 amp! For the first three weeks I had the amp, I listened to it on a pair of KEF Q300s - in the same price neighborhood as your speakers. It sounded stupid good. Now my amp wouldn't work for you as you need a phono stage, but still: if you are going to spend £1800 on a chunk of solid state electronics, the difference between buying new and buying used is absurdly compelling. I just saw a McIntosh MA6500 on a French site for 2700 euros, negotiable! I mean - you can't buy an amp that is one tenth that good, new, for £1800. Just saying.

 

[Anonymous]

What SpursGator says above makes a lot of sense.

Best,

Henrik

 

[CnoEvil]

If you upgrade both, you'll split your budget. You could get a nice amp/speaker combo for that price, better than what you've got, but not THAT much better, and now you've blown £1800. And next time you upgrade, to do better, you'll need to spend £5000 to improve things.

If you go buy a really sweet amp with all or most of your budget, it will make your system, with the existing speakers, sound phenominal. If you are a student then I'm guessing your listening room is fairly modestly-sized. Those MA speakers will reveal the difference between a Harmon Kardon and, say, a Leema Pulse or Naim XS without any problem! Try it - take your speakers to a shop and ask to hear them with a high-end amp. You will be amazed.

I answered the question as asked, but thinking about it further, this is better advice.

It would bring into play amps like Electrocompaniet, Pathos, Sugden and Musical Fidelity

 

[altruistic.lemon]

Even better advice. Can the speakers. Differences between amps are minimal compared to differences between speakers.

 

[Joshuamessenger]

In the end I when down to the shop tested out some equipment and ordered a roksan k2 and q700 with and chord odyssey cable. The sound what this put out was up my street and ill not be looking to upgrade in years

thanks for all the help and comments

 

[CnoEvil]

ill not be looking to upgrade in years

It's good to keep telling yourself that!

Glad you got sorted

Cno

 

[SpursGator]

ill not be looking to upgrade in years

It's good to keep telling yourself that!

Glad you got sorted

Cno

You should write yourself a note: this system sounds amazing. You can refer to it later.

Seriously, it may not be what I would have done, but I'll bet it sounds great. I really like both pieces of kit at their price. Happy listening!