What I have settled on..i think

[admin_exported]

Hi everyone,

Im going to be getting my first hifi system over the next few days..so excited! I have spent a lot of time on sites such as this one, reading as much as I can, trying to decide what system would give me the best sound and match my budget. The room in question is 5mx5m, so on the smaller side i guess. Budget is about £1100.

Amplifer Marantz pm6003 £270

CD player Marantz CD6003 £270

Speakers Wharfedale 10.1 £170

Cable QED Silver Anniversary XT £6/m

Stands Soundstyle Z2 £70

Rack Alphason Sona Hifi 4 £50

Ipod dock Arcam IRDock £150

Should i invest in some interconnects too?

That adds up to about £1000 and can get all but the dock from my local hifi store. In stock they also have the BW 685s and NAD 326BEE/C545 combo, though for about a total of £200 more. Would mixing these components with the above system produce a better sound, will the BWs give more bass over the 10s?I want it to sound as much as possible like the artists are in the room with me, so as realistic a sound as possible. I listen to all sorts, Pop, Hip/hop, classical sound tracks, indie, Rock, so i need a system that can cope with all these genres.

I had demo'd the system listed briefly with lossless music from my ipod through a USB into the CDP, it sounded good from what i remember, much more realistic than anything id heard before, though maybe not as precise as i may have liked, though this was only a 5min audition about 2 weeks ago so its hard to remember. Would this unprecise sound be down to the marantz or 10.1s?

Any advice on the above questions would be really great,

Thanks.

 

[tosh]

Nad combo in Richer Sounds £250 each.

 

[Anonymous]

Yep i had seen that offer but you have to go to the store to get it i think. The nearest one is about 1hour drive, and dont want to go that far.

 

[Anonymous]

jammers999:Should i invest in some interconnects too?

Yes, otherwise the music will not get to the amplifier

. Yes, you should, but don't spend too much on them with your budget.

 

[Anonymous]

oh ye good point graham. Do the components come boxed with basic interconnects, or do you have to buy them separately? Any good budget ones you can recommend?

 

[Anonymous]

The USB port on the Marantz uses a different DAC.

If you play CD's on it however, it will use the *main* DAC (therefore better sounding then listening from the USB, whether its an ipod or USB drive).

In my experiance, anything less than the B&W 685 is not worth considering.

Even though the Wharfedale 10.1 is rated 5 stars from 'What Hifi', you need to remember that they're only good for the price.

The Wharfedales sound muddy/veiled in comparison to the 685's, with much less bass, but were surprisingly quite punchy sounding for a speaker of its size.

The NAD's you mentioned sound very similar to the Marantz, they share the same sound signature, both being very engaging, dynamic, and musical sounding. It was hard to distinguish any differences between the 2 but then again, I couldn't do an A-B comparison and I was using mainly rock/metal/hip-hop tracks to benchmark these.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks very much for that info WhoIzHe. I shall bare the DAC issue in mind when i go to have another listen of the system, and take a CD along to compare.

Thankyou for your views on the 10.1s and 685s. I shall give the 685s a listen when i next go. In the whathifi review of the 685s it says,

"make sure that you partner the speakers with an amp that has a decent amount of grunt"

Is 45w/ch (marantz) and 50w/ch (NAD) enough to drive them properly? the room is fairly small 5mx5m, so im sure filling this wont be the problem, but i just want the sound to be of the highest quality for the money. If by going for the more expensive speakers, i end up having to upgrade the amp aswell i dont think i could afford it.

Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

When they said:

"make sure that you partner the speakers with an amp that has a decent amount of grunt"

what they meant to say is you should pair it with an amplifier that is
aggressive/dynamic sounding and not soo much about the wattage it can
output to have the B&W speakers sound their best.

40 Watts is more than enough to get good listening levels for these speakers for a room of your size.

Be sure to have the amp turned upto about 11 o clock to really have these speakers shine though.

 

[Anonymous]

I see, and do the NAD and marantz amps have such characteristics?

 

[Anonymous]

Of course. Marantz or NADs are a perfect match for the B&W 685s in my opinion (for the models you've mentioned at least).

 

[Anonymous]

Excellent, Its only those two models that are within budget and that they have. I shall just have a listen and see what I prefer.

Thanks for the help.