Upgrade for Eltax Silverstone 160

[sodracir]

Hi to all.

First of all, I'm quite newbie for Hi-Fi, just to let you know. I've had a Sony midi system for 20 years and recently I decided it was time to upgrade the system.

So, I went to e-Bay and I ended up with a NAD 514 CD player, a Kenwood A-54 amplifier and a pair of Eltax Silverstone 160 speakers. I also purchased a Yamaha CDX 396 because the NAD cannot play CDRW discs so I have now both players attached to the Kenwood.

After some time of enjoying the sound improvement, I've decided to get a small second upgrade so I'm going to get a brand new NAD C316BEE amplifier to replace the Kenwood and I would like to get also a new pair of speakers.

I haven't found almost any information about the Kenwood A-54 but I'm pretty sure that the NAD should sound better, and it has also a convenient front jack (and a remote!).

Regarding the speakers, I haven't found neither any information about them (not even from Eltax!) so I'm not sure what to look for exactly to have something better at a reasonable price. My first options are the Wharfedale Diamond 10.1 and the Tannoy Mercury V1, which, for what I've read, are among the best speakers in its price range, but I don't really know if they are a real upgrade compared to my Eltax. I would like to be sure that they are, before spending my money so I would really appreciate some advice. Of course I could go for a pair of good 500€ speakers and they will really be an upgrade, but this is something I could do in my third upgrade, not now.

Thanks in advance for your help. Sorry if the post it's a bit long.

 

[sodracir]

Bad luck, nobody gave me any advice...

Anyway, after some research, I've decided to order a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 10.2. They were only 30 euros over the 10.1 and according to the salesman, the difference is well worth it. I'll have them next week and I'll tell you about the upgrade.

By the way, these speakers are bi-wireable. The manual says bi-wiring improves the sound, but I've seen a lot of people telling bi-wiring has absolutely no effect (other than doubling the cable cost). I've read that bi-wiring can really improve the sound when the interconnects used when bi-wireable speakers are single wired are bad. In this case, bi-wiring could really be a good idea, although I guess that, also in this case, replacing the interconnects with wire should have the same effect, using just a couple of centimetres of cable. Any ideas on that?

 

[sodracir]

Well, my monologue continues...

I've received the Diamonds 10.2 and the NAD C316BEE yesterday.

First thing, I attached the Diamonds to my Kenwood A-54 and played some known CD's in my NAD 514, switching several times between the Eltax and the Wharfedales so that I could compare the sound...

Guess what? The Eltax sounded better. I was really disappointed because the 10.1s had so good reviews so I thought the 10.2 should be really good and the Eltax where so unknown I assumed they were mediocre, but the results where there: the sound from the Eltax was a lot more "wide" than that from the Wharfedales. I mean, the difference between the different tones (bass <--> mid <--> treble) was bigger. The sound from the Wharfedale seemed "compressed". The feeling when the Wharfedales were playing was a bit like having something in the ears preventing to hear the complete sound. This something in the ears disappeared when switchin to the Eltax.

Having said that, some specific bits of music sounded a bit too much bright in the Eltax, and here the Wharfedales, being flatter, sounded slightly better, but this was like 5% of the time. The other 95% the sounds from the Eltax were more clear and distinguishable, and the result more "complete", if you know what I mean.

I've read that the Diamonds need some break in time to deliver their real sound so I'm going to wait a couple of weeks before repeating the test. I hope after that I don't think I've wasted my money...

 

[sodracir]

Well, still talking alone... no problem.

After a few days of using the Diamond 10.2s I did find a slight sound improvement, but it was still not as good as the Eltax's, so I asked the dealer whether I could return them and get a better pair of speakers. The answer was yes, with some minor charges, of course.

I asked them for advice, proposing getting a pair of B&W 685s, Quad 12L2s or KEF Q300s. To my surprise, they didn't recommend the KEFs nor the Quads at all, and even saying that the B&Ws were good, their recommendation was the Mordaunt Short Mezzo 1's. The Mezzos were also on sale on that dealer (359 euros compared with around 500 for the Quads and B&Ws and more than 600 for the KEFs) so I've decided to follow their advice and ordered them. They have also a high WAF (wife acceptance factor for those not knowing) because their are really beautiful. I hope their sound is as good as their appearence. I'll write my impressions after I've received them.

BTW, I know that it's better to hear the speakers before buying them but for me that's not a possibility, at least, not a convenient one.

 

[Anonymous]

Lol, I've just read your eltax personal diary and I feel for you man! I'm trying to sort a budget system for a friend and just got him a pair of diamond 9.1's. I used to have Altaic floor standees many moons ago and despite being a a bit of a no namer I thought they were great for the money.

Malays hard to buy stereo equip without hearing, but there's such a huge second hand market for it all, specialy on eBay, you can now pick up all the Cyrus 2005 award winners for a 1/5th of there original price. So there's always trial and error (;

I never knew WAF. meant "WIFE acceptance factor" (o: haha, class

 

[Anonymous]

Ps. I upgraded my speakers to the B&W DM602's. There amazing!!!

 

[Blackdawn]

I think Dali speakers would go well with the NAD amplifier.