what would you guys partner an arcam fmj cd17 and B&W 685 with?

[gooner26]

what side of neutral does meridian fall on? i was once the proud owner of a meridian f80 which ii traded in for the system i have now.

 

[Anonymous]

gooner26:
what side of neutral does meridian fall on? i was once the proud owner of a meridian f80 which ii traded in for the system i have now.

Well the F80 was probably a bit on the lean and bright side...

 

[gooner26]

i need to understand the fundermentals of system matching first before i short list components. just out of intrigue, what happens if you mix and match say a cyrus cd6se with a Yamaha A-S1000? will you get the best of both worlds with all the excitment, dynamics and timing of the cyrus with the warmth and richness of the yamaha?

 

[Anonymous]

gooner26:i need to understand the fundermentals of system matching first before i short list components. just out of intrigue, what happens if you mix and match say a cyrus cd6se with a Yamaha A-S1000? will you get the best of both worlds with all the excitment, dynamics and timing of the cyrus with the warmth and richness of the yamaha?

Yes, in a nutshell...but if the Cyrus was futher to the brightness of neutral than the Yamaha was warm to neutral, then the overall sound would still be bright. However, that's a good choice for an amplifier for what you want, as would be the Arcam A32 or the Marantz 8002.

 

[gooner26]

ok, so lets say i fancy auditioning the set-up ive just mentioned (the cyrus and yamaha), what about speakers? ideally they would be standmounts, so would i go for a speaker that has all the traits of the cyrus? or yamaha?

 

[the record spot]

This is the point; you need to listen. On paper, maybe, they could do. But it's all just "if's" and "but's" till you hear them. It could work well, but then again, the Yammy might suck some of the vitality out of the Cyrus. Then again, it might be quite neutral (like the AS700 apparently) which means the tonal character of the Cyrus would be largely uncoloured by the amp.

But then you have the speaker question...! Sorry that's unfair!

Ultimately, system matching is no great science - you decide what you want to listen to music on (CD, radio, records, hard drive, etc) and start making up a shortlist, demo some kit and when it all sounds good and you sit back and enjoy the music, you're probably there.

Read up, check out what the mags say, what the forums have to say, and be ready to change your opinions. The trick is probably knowing when to stop mucking around with your kit (shuffles feet a bit)!

 

[gooner26]

what side of neutral would you say the arcam FMJ cd17 veers too?

 

[Anonymous]

gooner26:What side of neutral would you say the arcam FMJ cd17 veers too?

The warmer side, but it's not the point, your looking at this from the wrong perspective as Mr.R_S said.

 

[the record spot]

Never heard it - don't know, sorry. However, these guys have:-

http://whathifi.com/Review/Arcam-FMJ-CD17/

 

[matthewpiano]

gooner26, you are heading for making more very expensive mistakes. You cannot do system matching by numbers. You need to slow right down and be very reluctant to make sudden changes. When you do make a change, it should only be one component. You have the basis of a very good system, you just need to pace yourself and really take proper time to audition some alternative components within the context of your system. Given the sound you are looking for I definitely think you need to audition alternative amplifiers and I think the Rok K2 and Yamaha A-S1000 (or even the A-S700) would be excellent places to start.

When you get to the point where you are simply enjoying the music, STOP. As RS said, this is one of the most difficult things of all but once you've got a system right it is so so easy to spoil it again by making an upgrade error.

 

[gooner26]

i honestly think i'm on the verge of getting the system i finally want. dont worry i wont be making any hasty decisions. i'm happy with my cdp and speakers, i think i need to demo the roksan and maybe even the yamaha, but my heart is set on the roksan, i think it's just what my b&w's need.

 

[the record spot]

gooner26:i honestly think i'm on the verge of getting the system i finally want. dont worry i wont be making any hasty decisions. i'm happy with my cdp and speakers, i think i need to demo the roksan and maybe even the yamaha, but my heart is set on the roksan, i think it's just what my b&w's need.

Yep, demo it all and see how you get on. We'll be keen to hear how it goes!

 

[gooner26]

will do. thanks for all the great advice guys, much appreciated.