upgrade dilema

[plarge]

I have a relatively old system consisting of Pioneer Pd s-06 cd player, Naim Nait 5 and Ruark Talisman 2 speakers. I am looking to spend up to 2k on an upgrade. The sound is great but turns harsh on busier passages. I listen to varied music, Pat Metheny, Cinematic Orchestra, Cassandra Wilson, Bugge Wesseltoft etc

I naturally assumed that the cd player would be the weak link, so have auditioned a number of players up to 2k both in my system and at dealers, and have been amazed that it has held it's own with all (Leema stream, Quad, cyrus, Arcam) Only the electrocompaniet Ecd -1 and the Copland CD823 were what I would class as better...the pioneer is built like a tank, and has a very forthright sound, similar to the old Naim CD 3.5..

So, I have always felt that the Nait wasn't doing the Ruarks justice; I have just auditioned the new Naim 152/155 in my system, and was staggered by the results - loads more grip, coherence, drive - the Ruarks finally seemed to be singing. I still got the impression, however, that I was missing some tonal colour to the music, which I had heard in other systems. I tried the Primare I30, which lacked the grip of the Naims, but added a level of colour to the sound. Still not entirely staisfactory, but MUCH more improvement than spending the same amount on a CD player.

I then tried the Sugden A21 Mk 2 - and was blown away. Everything sounded beautiful - timing was superb, but the music started to make sense - I wasn't listening critically to the hifi anymore - I just wanted to listen!!

Fantastic, you might think - my concern is that buying the Sugden limits my speaker upgrade options - the Ruarks are 10 years old, and at some stage are going to need replacing. How well will the Sugden drive speakers around the 2k mark - I love Thiel CS 1.6.

Also, is there another integrated / pre-power out there which will sing like the sugden without the compromises in terms of power / headroom, and which will still time like a Naim?

Thirdly, I was under the impression that CD Replay had come a long way - how can the Pioneer (a 600 pound purchase 9 years ago) Compete so effectively (Not just my opinion - the dealers could find no argument to sell me the player having heard the comparisons!!) against players up to 2k today??

Paul

 

[Anonymous]

because it hasnt come a long way at all

thats also true for amps and speakers

 

[matthewpiano]

I wouldn't worry about needing to upgrade or change the Ruarks. If they sound so good on the end of the Sugden I'd go down that route. The Sugden amps are stunning. If I had the money I'd have one like a shot.

Hi-Fi hasn't moved on that spectacularly to be honest. There still hasn't really been an affordable CD player to surpass the Marantz CD63MkII KI Signature or the Rotel RCD965BX, and the Sugden amp you are so impressed with is heavily based on a 40 year old design.

 

[Anonymous]

If the speakers sound really good on your system, keep them .... once they start giving probs, send them somewhere to get refurbished for cheap, or only then replace them

I have an old Pioneer PD-S703 cd player and sounds really good, and reads all cd's even if the cd's have scratches/damage

out of interest, I read somewhere that someone who had recently spent $6000 on an Ayre C5xe cd player was blown away by a much cheaper Sony SACD SCD-XA5400ES and some his mates have all sold their expensive cd players to buy these?