what is the basic rule of thumb when mixing and matching?

[gooner26]

hi all, i'm basically in the early stages of building my first hi-fi system and i want to make sure that i eventually have the right system in place that suit's my tastes. i've been reading these forums for weeks now and asking questions but i'm basically not an expert in mixing and matching and if so i'd like someone to explain why certain speakers work well with cd player and amp and vice versa. im after a warm , rich sound with good dynamics and good tuneful bass. the system i have in mind is the roksan kandy k2 amp paired with either the roksan kandy k2 cd player or the cyrus cd 6 se. but speaker choice i have not got an absoloute clue! the set-up will be in a smallish room so am i right in thinking along the lines of something like the PMC DB1i's?. or even B&W's 685's?. cheers.

 

[Craig M.]

i'm not sure that the cd6se will give you a warm, rich sound. i had one on demo recently, and although it is a very good cd player, compared to the roksan caspian i had on demo at the same time, it sounded a bit cold.

speakers are the tricky bit, i think. how they sound does have a bit to do with the room they are in. db1i's are very nice speakers - detailed, sweet treble and quite a bit of bass output for such a small speaker. i would also recommend dynaudio focus 110's, however, they do like a bit of space behind them - at least 50cm to the wall behind them, and they might be overpowering in a small room.

as to why certain speakers sound good with certain cdp/amps, it's probably to do with emphasising a combo's good points, while minimising it's bad points. but just as important is how the speaker interacts with your room, making - i think, home demo essential.

 

[Anonymous]

It's really hard to predict how a certain piece of equipment will interact with another piece, without hearing them first.

The best thing to do is to buy a pair of speakers. Then try them at home with an amp. Then do the same with a CDP. Then the cables. And you absolutely need to try all the equipment at home.

I've owned the DB1+ (not the "i" version). They are really natural sounding speakers, with a sweet treble and a tuneful bass. They are quite transparent also. The only thing I missed with them was more passion; they were too polite for my taste. They didn't "kick" as I expected. Also, the mids were too lean; I'm used to a fuller mid-range. That's probably because of the TL system.

The Focus 110 are also very good, although as Craig said, they do need lots of space behind them, like all Dynaudios (they usually have a more than generous bass). Also, they are usually happier with lots of watts to drive them, and they like to play loud, not soft. I don't know what Craig thinks about this, but in my experience with Dynaudios, they sound very boring at low volume levels; it's as they only "woke up" when pushed hard.

Regards,

Rodrigo