Give it a try and see what you think, but I just run one set and connect some standard cable between the two sets of binding posts on the 752s.
Ok thanks. Once I get the speakers I'll give it a try and see what the difference is. I may upgrade my amp and cd player at a later date, I might go down the second hand route again because I have seen some great bargins. Would the earlier Arcam alpha series be any good with the missions? I've seen some good offers on them and was thinking of maybe running them with a pre/power combo.
Could be; the Alpha 9 amp is well liked, but overpriced IMO - I've seen it go for almost £300, but it's flavour of the month. A couple of years back, you'd have got one for £150. Says it all really. Just keep a good eye out for what you're buying, check it's in good condition, no noisy switches or crackling on the volume knob, get a well powered amp that's got a good current delivery and take it from there. Ideally, depending on the age of the amp, you might look to get it serviced so allow around £100 for that.
For a CDP, you could do worse than check out the Home Cinema Centre's Harman Kardon HD990 - £300 down from £400. It has a DAC you can use for other items too. Good deep sound to it and should be a good partner. For an amp, well, I love what Sansui did, but mine's 34 years old so you do need to be careful. Just shop around, don't dive in and see what comes up. Plenty out there that's for sure.
For a CDP, you could do worse than check out the Home Cinema Centre's Harman Kardon HD990 - £300 down from £400. It has a DAC you can use for other items too. Good deep sound to it and should be a good partner. For an amp, well, I love what Sansui did, but mine's 34 years old so you do need to be careful. Just shop around, don't dive in and see what comes up. Plenty out there that's for sure.
Yeah i did notice the arcam price had risen slightly. seen a couple of good deals on gumtree for the pre/power combo but still are abit expensive. Guess i'll have to see how the missions perform to my amp first, i just feel that once i get them i don't won't to deprive them of good amplification which is why i was thinking of changing my amp. The Harmon Kardon cd player sounds good, i could definately find a use for the Dac that it has.
TBH if you're thinking about changing amps I wouldnt bother getting a power amp and adding it to your current system, personally I'd look at a decent integrated
The likes of an Arcal Alpha 10, NAD C352 (PD version) or the NAD C355BEE integrated amps would work very well indeed. As would a Roksan Kandy LIII, Musical Fidelity XA100/200 etc...
These all have plenty of power to run decent speakers well; the Arcam Alpha 10 and the NAD amps would be my choice; owned them all and they're still belters now
The likes of an Arcal Alpha 10, NAD C352 (PD version) or the NAD C355BEE integrated amps would work very well indeed. As would a Roksan Kandy LIII, Musical Fidelity XA100/200 etc...
These all have plenty of power to run decent speakers well; the Arcam Alpha 10 and the NAD amps would be my choice; owned them all and they're still belters now
Gareth82 said:
I would get those then TBH.
At 90dB/watt power is not the issue for these speakers, 32W for example gives you 90 + 3x5 = 105dB.
I would enjoy them for a bit and then get a decent amp - it's a bit of a singular recommendation of mine but the Yaqin MC10L gives you wonderful bass, flowing treble and the force of 40wpc of pure tube power - at £269 (delivered) it's a steal that few amps can match and embarrasses many much more expensive trendy amps.
You will notice the quality of the system with the new amp - it will jump quite markedly, you also have an upgrade path in 'tube rolling' (buying better tubes) and I doubt you'll ever be able to clip it.
Hook up the speakers with some 12AWG Maplin OFC stuff or similar chunky copper multistrand.
ETA: People don't realise how solid the bass is out of a tube amp, with the 753s it should really rock, with a transistor amp I think they would tend to sound merely 'loud', as if you are out of the music instead of 'in' it. If that makes any sense..
Gareth82 said:
The Marantz and Yammy are good amps for their catagory (i.e. budget) but for the same money (and sometimes less) much better midrange amps can be had on the 2nd hand market (i.e. eBay)
The Afore mentioned Arcam Alpha 10 was a £1k amp in its day and still damned good! Wish I never sold mine...!!!
Thank you everyone for the recconmendations on which amp to use, i will be looking further into all of these in more detail, i've never thought of using a tube amp before and the ability of being able to upgrade it does appeal to me. would any of the more recent amps like the Marantz PM6003 or Yamaha A-S500 be any good?
I think i would be best sticking to second hand then. The set up i have got at the moment is a budget one really and will be set up in the bedroom once i upgrade my whole system. Could you recconmend a good source to use, i was recconmended the Harmon Kardon HD990 which seems good and i could make use of the on board dac for a i-pod dock.
After being recconmended the Yaqin MC-10L Valve amp ive been doing abit of hunting around and found that they also make the SD 30-A Valve CD Player, SD-CD3 Tube Signal Upgrade Buffer (No idea what one of these is) and PH-5L Valve Headphone Amp. Has any one heard or own any of these and are they worth considering to partner with the mission 753.
I was thinking of buying the Acoustic Energy ae109's I saw for sale in rosewood as well. I was thinking that they would be a good speaker to base a second system around (plus they would be a good back up incase the guy with the mission 753's lets me down), they are a good price at £80.00 and don't seem to have any damage to them, the only thing they are missing are the bases and spikes. Would this affect the sound of the speaker much and can i get replacement bases and spikes?
There's a pair of AE109s on a BIN on Ebay for £100 which have their plinths in place. They're in Kent I think. Downside is you have to collect, no postage...still, if you're within a reasonable trip, you could make a day of it. If you live on Shetland, or even, the Orkney Islands, maybe a bit of a stretch!
In terms of amps, there's nothing at £300 new that'll tick the boxes, used there's quite a bit, but you'd do well to check up on what's out there. The likes of the aforesaid Alpha 10 would do you alright, older gear (pre-1980s) needs more care and attention I think, assume a service at least to check it over and maybe replace parts as needed.
On the other hand, the likes of my amp or other top of the range Sansuis, high end Pioneer (SA9500, 9800), Rotel and the like, will blow the rest away. Caveats apply across the board though, so do check the web for potential areas of concern (in Sansui's case for example, it's the glue they used in places during build which corrodes circuit boards and parts in later years).
In terms of amps, there's nothing at £300 new that'll tick the boxes, used there's quite a bit, but you'd do well to check up on what's out there. The likes of the aforesaid Alpha 10 would do you alright, older gear (pre-1980s) needs more care and attention I think, assume a service at least to check it over and maybe replace parts as needed.
On the other hand, the likes of my amp or other top of the range Sansuis, high end Pioneer (SA9500, 9800), Rotel and the like, will blow the rest away. Caveats apply across the board though, so do check the web for potential areas of concern (in Sansui's case for example, it's the glue they used in places during build which corrodes circuit boards and parts in later years).
Thanks for that, I live in Kent as it goes so i'll have a look on ebay and see where abouts they are. I think with picking an amp there is such a big choice second hand so I need to do quiet abit of research on all of the models people have mentioned. The Harmon Kardon CDP you suggested earlier looks very good so that is on my shortlist. Have you heard or know about any of the Yaqin Valve models that i mentioned above, the amp seems to have some good reviews but can't find any about the other stuff.
How about saving up for a bit for a really muscly solid state amp like the XTZ Class A-100 D3 or the Harmon-Kardon HK990?
I've heard of the brand (Yaqin) but not heard the amps. They seem to garner mixed reviews, which isn't to say they're bad, but it's worth scouting round the web beforehand. Audio Sanctum (in Nottinghamshire) carry the brand and might do a home demo for you. You pick up the shipping tab, but it could be a way to get a risk-free trial for relatively minimal cost and help you decide if you like what it does.
AE109's: Sorry, they've been sold - just checked. Apologies!
AE109's: Sorry, they've been sold - just checked. Apologies!
Thanks for the reply noogle. I did look at the Harmon Kardon HK990, it seems like a very impressive amp, i'll have to check out the XTZ Class A-100 D3. I guess it's a case of saving up as much as i can and seeing whats around at the time.
Thanks for your reply and help so far record spot. I think i'll try and get a home demo of the Yaqin amp from Audio Sanctum once i get the missions, plus i could try it with the ae109's at the same time. It doesn't matter about the one's on ebay you mentioned being sold, there seems to be quiet a few for sale around and they all go for £100 which is quiet a good price. I think with the amp question it's best to do some research and save as much as i can and see whats around at the time. ebay and gumtree seem to be pritty good, it's just a case of luck sometimes.
Gareth82 said:
No idea about the CD player sorry, the SD-CD3 is irrelevant if you buy a tube amp - it's just a tube buffer that probably adds a little 2nd harmonic, not such a bad thing in the cold world of compression and class B transistor amps.
The PH-5L I'm not sure of either, but also look at the Little Dot tube designs.
The MC-10L however I have extensively researched and heard on a number of speakers, and it's a rare Chinese amp in that it sounds good out of the box, is well supported in the DIY community and reliable. It also uses a good design. Many Chinese tube amps have variable designs, dodgy components (especially coupling capacitors) but the MC-10L a well designed classic that's well built and respected.
It also looks pretty cool 😉
Thanks for the reply Globs. I am seriously thinking about getting the Yaqin tube amp, possible the CD player as well as this is only £260 with free delivery.
I've decided to get a pair of Acoustic Energy ae109's as well as the Mission 753's as i'm going to be building two systems now and was thinking of getting the Yaqin amp and CD player and then getting a good intergrated amp and Cd player and then I can change speakers between the two set ups and choose which is best for both speakers. If I don't like the Yaqin stuff I could always sell it on if not.
I've decided to get a pair of Acoustic Energy ae109's as well as the Mission 753's as i'm going to be building two systems now and was thinking of getting the Yaqin amp and CD player and then getting a good intergrated amp and Cd player and then I can change speakers between the two set ups and choose which is best for both speakers. If I don't like the Yaqin stuff I could always sell it on if not.
I always seem to end up with two systems, or actually a system in each room 😉. Very useful for swapping in equipment so you can get a real feel for how individual components sound.
The garage will also end up with a decent system - not sure what yet but probably a little 1970's and 80's oriented 🙂
The garage will also end up with a decent system - not sure what yet but probably a little 1970's and 80's oriented 🙂
I have to have access to music in every room possible. I have music on quiet alot every day, weather it be on my hi fi, i-pod dock or through my i-pod with headphones. I was only ment to upgrade my speakers but then couldn't choose between the Missions or Acoustic Energy's so i thought why not buy both and then build two new systems, it may take a little bit of time to do (my wife is expecting our second child so as quick as i get money she spends it lol) but I should adventually go from having one budget system to having three systems, one budget, one valve and one with high end components (although propably second hand).
Gareth82 could you describe the sound of your CR-30.4? cheap as they are what are the flaws? thx.
The Wharfedale CR30.4 are hard to fault at the money they cost really. I bought these when I had a pair of Tannoy F1 customs which cost the same price at the time. The Tannoys are award winners as you know and I did quiet abit of comparing of the two sets of speakers. The Wharfedales blew the Tannoys out of the water, they were alot more clearer, Bass was obviously tighter and lower being floorstanders (although not bassy enough for me). They can go quiet loud without any distortion and work good with a wide range of music. They sound very like the Tannoy profile 636's I used to own many years ago, you can hear every piece of detail in the music. I think they would be very good with classical music as their detail is very good, the treble can be abit bright sometimes and they are a pain to get the positioning right though. I found with mine they needed to have space around them and be placed away from rear walls. I would recconmend them for a budget set up and for the price they can fight it out with standmounts that are in the same price range and when you take into account the cost of stands ontop of standmounts speaker they are quiet a good bargin. i've actually got mine for sale on gumtree at the moment but so far have had no replys lol, their main enemy is that they are not well known and you can't really find any reviews any where for them.
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