1k Seperates System
Discussion
I just picked up a pair of these - Boston Acoustic M25
Matched with a basic Denon Amp c.£190 and either this or this they sound awesome. I'm aware you can get better but to my ears they sound just as good as any uber-expensive speakers I've listened to, maybe this is my audiophile limit?
Highly recommended, anyway
Matched with a basic Denon Amp c.£190 and either this or this they sound awesome. I'm aware you can get better but to my ears they sound just as good as any uber-expensive speakers I've listened to, maybe this is my audiophile limit?
Highly recommended, anyway
kenny.R400 said:
sparkyhx said:
don't discount quality 2nd hand kit. If you have a laptop use that as your source - then you have a grand to spend on amp and speakers.
I've effectively done the same (but with Sonos) and got £1200 amp and £1500 speakers for a grand.
That is great advice and very true.I've effectively done the same (but with Sonos) and got £1200 amp and £1500 speakers for a grand.
.Couldn't agree more about 2nd hand, particularly buying speakers. Back in 2002 I bought a pair of Ex-Demo Duntech Marquis for less than £1K; they were £5200 new.
These might be an elegant solution, just feed them with the Sonos' output.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Meridian-DSP5000-Digital...
http://www.meridian-audio.info/public/5000%5b192%5...
Funny, when opinions turned to actives I was going to mention Meridian (and the bargain that the DSP range represent on the used market) but the budget mentioned earlier wasn't really enough.
Now?
You'd be a fool NOT to at least go listen to a pair.
Some would say that having the speaker, amp, d/a conversion and DSP in one box limits potential to change those particular parts.
After years of mucking about and swapping for swappings' sake I regard it as a bonus!
With sound capability this good you really owe it to yourself to try and use FLAC rather than compressed MP3.
Now?
You'd be a fool NOT to at least go listen to a pair.
Some would say that having the speaker, amp, d/a conversion and DSP in one box limits potential to change those particular parts.
After years of mucking about and swapping for swappings' sake I regard it as a bonus!
With sound capability this good you really owe it to yourself to try and use FLAC rather than compressed MP3.
Before you buy the Yamaha, have a listen to one. I have a decent Yamaha AV amp which I like a lot - but didn't listen to before hand. I then needed a cheapish amp to replace an old one that went pop. Had a listen to a Yam and the equivalent Marrantz and there was night and day difference between the two in favour of the Marrantz. Marrantz really are at the top of their game at the moment.
rhinochopig said:
Before you buy the Yamaha, have a listen to one. I have a decent Yamaha AV amp which I like a lot - but didn't listen to before hand. I then needed a cheapish amp to replace an old one that went pop. Had a listen to a Yam and the equivalent Marrantz and there was night and day difference between the two in favour of the Marrantz. Marrantz really are at the top of their game at the moment.
were they both AV amps? AV amps have to do an awful lot in comparison to a normal hifi amp - a stereo amp at the same price as an av amp will always sound better.With the budget now up to 2k it opens a vast array of possibilities on the 2nd hand market.
After a 30 second google I came up with this lot that sold for a great bargain price
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171334625094?_trksid=p20...
You could then pull 500 quid back for the CD player if you didn't want it and have 1200 quid left to pick up a Audiolab or Music Fidelity Mdac/M1 and a set of Naim Sbl speakers.
OK, it's the modern black Naim gear but it's as sweet as hell and that set up would hold it's own with anything. You'd be blown away after listening to Yams,Denon, Marantz and the rest, no comparison IMHO.
After a 30 second google I came up with this lot that sold for a great bargain price
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171334625094?_trksid=p20...
You could then pull 500 quid back for the CD player if you didn't want it and have 1200 quid left to pick up a Audiolab or Music Fidelity Mdac/M1 and a set of Naim Sbl speakers.
OK, it's the modern black Naim gear but it's as sweet as hell and that set up would hold it's own with anything. You'd be blown away after listening to Yams,Denon, Marantz and the rest, no comparison IMHO.
Edited by kenny.R400 on Friday 30th May 10:20
Just a brief update, spent this weekend auditioning some gear.
First tried the Naim Nait 5si with some b&w 683, distinctly unimpressed and considered not bothering with the whole affair. Them onto some monitor audios with the same amp, better but still had the muddy bass and no control of the b&w. Then tried the bigger b&w 684 and they were much much better but massive in size and with a bad black ash finish.
Then moved on the the HiFi Lounge in Bedfordshire. The owner Paul is great and whilst my budget was clearly lower in total than most of his headphones he spent ages with me and we tried some Sonus Faber Toy Tower speakers with a sonos connect hooked up to an Arcam irdac and Arcam A19 amp. Sounded great but with the Naim amp I felt they were spot on. Excellent vocals, clear and tight bass, heard things in the music I hadn't heard before. For final comparison I tried the Naim unilite streamer which was ok but didn't have the depth of the pure amp.
Not quite made the decision but going up there again next weekend to try it again with a view to purchase.
First tried the Naim Nait 5si with some b&w 683, distinctly unimpressed and considered not bothering with the whole affair. Them onto some monitor audios with the same amp, better but still had the muddy bass and no control of the b&w. Then tried the bigger b&w 684 and they were much much better but massive in size and with a bad black ash finish.
Then moved on the the HiFi Lounge in Bedfordshire. The owner Paul is great and whilst my budget was clearly lower in total than most of his headphones he spent ages with me and we tried some Sonus Faber Toy Tower speakers with a sonos connect hooked up to an Arcam irdac and Arcam A19 amp. Sounded great but with the Naim amp I felt they were spot on. Excellent vocals, clear and tight bass, heard things in the music I hadn't heard before. For final comparison I tried the Naim unilite streamer which was ok but didn't have the depth of the pure amp.
Not quite made the decision but going up there again next weekend to try it again with a view to purchase.
ywouldi said:
Just a brief update, spent this weekend auditioning some gear.
First tried the Naim Nait 5si with some b&w 683, distinctly unimpressed and considered not bothering with the whole affair. Them onto some monitor audios with the same amp, better but still had the muddy bass and no control of the b&w. Then tried the bigger b&w 684 and they were much much better but massive in size and with a bad black ash finish.
Then moved on the the HiFi Lounge in Bedfordshire. The owner Paul is great and whilst my budget was clearly lower in total than most of his headphones he spent ages with me and we tried some Sonus Faber Toy Tower speakers with a sonos connect hooked up to an Arcam irdac and Arcam A19 amp. Sounded great but with the Naim amp I felt they were spot on. Excellent vocals, clear and tight bass, heard things in the music I hadn't heard before. For final comparison I tried the Naim unilite streamer which was ok but didn't have the depth of the pure amp.
Not quite made the decision but going up there again next weekend to try it again with a view to purchase.
You'll probably walk out of there with a pair of PMC IB2's and bryston 7bsst's First tried the Naim Nait 5si with some b&w 683, distinctly unimpressed and considered not bothering with the whole affair. Them onto some monitor audios with the same amp, better but still had the muddy bass and no control of the b&w. Then tried the bigger b&w 684 and they were much much better but massive in size and with a bad black ash finish.
Then moved on the the HiFi Lounge in Bedfordshire. The owner Paul is great and whilst my budget was clearly lower in total than most of his headphones he spent ages with me and we tried some Sonus Faber Toy Tower speakers with a sonos connect hooked up to an Arcam irdac and Arcam A19 amp. Sounded great but with the Naim amp I felt they were spot on. Excellent vocals, clear and tight bass, heard things in the music I hadn't heard before. For final comparison I tried the Naim unilite streamer which was ok but didn't have the depth of the pure amp.
Not quite made the decision but going up there again next weekend to try it again with a view to purchase.
- HiFi lounge - great place 
sparkyhx said:
rhinochopig said:
Before you buy the Yamaha, have a listen to one. I have a decent Yamaha AV amp which I like a lot - but didn't listen to before hand. I then needed a cheapish amp to replace an old one that went pop. Had a listen to a Yam and the equivalent Marrantz and there was night and day difference between the two in favour of the Marrantz. Marrantz really are at the top of their game at the moment.
were they both AV amps? AV amps have to do an awful lot in comparison to a normal hifi amp - a stereo amp at the same price as an av amp will always sound better.My AV is a Yamaha which confused things I think.
Just a follow up, listening now to my 1k system which in the end totalled 3.5k but sounds rather nice.
Naim 5SI amp
Sonus Faber Toy Tower speakers
Sonos Connect
Arcarm iRDAC
Cheap Sony bluray playing CDs through the coax digital for now
Only problem is now that Spotify sounds really mediocre through it. CDs ripped to FLAC sound great as do normal CDs. I think I'll need to get a legal FLAC streaming source sorted out!
Naim 5SI amp
Sonus Faber Toy Tower speakers
Sonos Connect
Arcarm iRDAC
Cheap Sony bluray playing CDs through the coax digital for now
Only problem is now that Spotify sounds really mediocre through it. CDs ripped to FLAC sound great as do normal CDs. I think I'll need to get a legal FLAC streaming source sorted out!
Thanks for the update. Interesting choice of kit in the end, I see Sonos featured heavily too. That's something I've not experimented with yet so have no idea how it performs.
As an aside, why does Sonos often get picked for a new set up these days, is it for its ability to stream to various rooms or something else?
I was hoping you'd gone the second hand route in all honesty to see what interesting bits you'd picked up............that £750 (is that what they cost?) would have bought some serious speakers on the used market though. However I bet your new system sounds great anyway, well done.
Spotify, have you upgraded to premium? It makes one hell of a difference if you do to the sound quality.
Interested to see your comment on a "legal" FLAC streamer.
I'm very new to digital audio myself so maybe you or some other guys could put me straight here.
I was under the impression when streaming (say from Spotify) you're playing at 320kbps or similar for hi res music. I thought that FLAC files were tracks you'd ripped from your CD collection via the likes of Jriver and had stored on the HD, or is that classed as streaming too when you play them back? As I say I'm new to this as well so still coming to terms with the terminology.
For my digital source I use a dedicated laptop hooked up to a Micomega MYDAC.
This allows me to use the asynchronous feature of it via class A USB connection and achieves a playback rate of 24bit 192000 when set up right. I don't go in for all the jargon as I don't fully understand it, but it sounds flippin' awesome.
It is this new digital revolution in music that has got me back into Hifi in all honesty.
Again enjoy your new setup, seems like you've got exactly what you want.
Cheers.
As an aside, why does Sonos often get picked for a new set up these days, is it for its ability to stream to various rooms or something else?
I was hoping you'd gone the second hand route in all honesty to see what interesting bits you'd picked up............that £750 (is that what they cost?) would have bought some serious speakers on the used market though. However I bet your new system sounds great anyway, well done.
Spotify, have you upgraded to premium? It makes one hell of a difference if you do to the sound quality.
Interested to see your comment on a "legal" FLAC streamer.
I'm very new to digital audio myself so maybe you or some other guys could put me straight here.
I was under the impression when streaming (say from Spotify) you're playing at 320kbps or similar for hi res music. I thought that FLAC files were tracks you'd ripped from your CD collection via the likes of Jriver and had stored on the HD, or is that classed as streaming too when you play them back? As I say I'm new to this as well so still coming to terms with the terminology.
For my digital source I use a dedicated laptop hooked up to a Micomega MYDAC.
This allows me to use the asynchronous feature of it via class A USB connection and achieves a playback rate of 24bit 192000 when set up right. I don't go in for all the jargon as I don't fully understand it, but it sounds flippin' awesome.
It is this new digital revolution in music that has got me back into Hifi in all honesty.
Again enjoy your new setup, seems like you've got exactly what you want.
Cheers.
kenny.R400 said:
Interested to see your comment on a "legal" FLAC streamer.
I'm very new to digital audio myself so maybe you or some other guys could put me straight here.
I was under the impression when streaming (say from Spotify) you're playing at 320kbps or similar for hi res music. I thought that FLAC files were tracks you'd ripped from your CD collection via the likes of Jriver and had stored on the HD, or is that classed as streaming too when you play them back? As I say I'm new to this as well so still coming to terms with the terminology.
I believe....I'm very new to digital audio myself so maybe you or some other guys could put me straight here.
I was under the impression when streaming (say from Spotify) you're playing at 320kbps or similar for hi res music. I thought that FLAC files were tracks you'd ripped from your CD collection via the likes of Jriver and had stored on the HD, or is that classed as streaming too when you play them back? As I say I'm new to this as well so still coming to terms with the terminology.
The OP is referring to 'streaming' as in a service where you can pick songs and have them delivered over the internet...like spotify or whatever, that's what most people mean.
However, your confusion is correct, technically you are 'streaming' whenever the music is being delivered over a network (DLNA) instead of a physical medium.
ywouldi said:
Only problem is now that Spotify sounds really mediocre through it. CDs ripped to FLAC sound great as do normal CDs. I think I'll need to get a legal FLAC streaming source sorted out!
Qobuz have a flac streaming subscription, with a 1 month trial. I've not tried them, so I'm not sure how good it is.kenny.R400 said:
Thanks for the update. Interesting choice of kit in the end, I see Sonos featured heavily too. That's something I've not experimented with yet so have no idea how it performs.
As an aside, why does Sonos often get picked for a new set up these days, is it for its ability to stream to various rooms or something else?
I was hoping you'd gone the second hand route in all honesty to see what interesting bits you'd picked up............that £750 (is that what they cost?) would have bought some serious speakers on the used market though. However I bet your new system sounds great anyway, well done.
Spotify, have you upgraded to premium? It makes one hell of a difference if you do to the sound quality.
Interested to see your comment on a "legal" FLAC streamer.
I'm very new to digital audio myself so maybe you or some other guys could put me straight here.
I was under the impression when streaming (say from Spotify) you're playing at 320kbps or similar for hi res music. I thought that FLAC files were tracks you'd ripped from your CD collection via the likes of Jriver and had stored on the HD, or is that classed as streaming too when you play them back? As I say I'm new to this as well so still coming to terms with the terminology.
For my digital source I use a dedicated laptop hooked up to a Micomega MYDAC.
This allows me to use the asynchronous feature of it via class A USB connection and achieves a playback rate of 24bit 192000 when set up right. I don't go in for all the jargon as I don't fully understand it, but it sounds flippin' awesome.
It is this new digital revolution in music that has got me back into Hifi in all honesty.
Again enjoy your new setup, seems like you've got exactly what you want.
Cheers.
I think sonos is popular because the stand alone speakers sound very good but the multiroom is great and the app to control it all is great. I had the sonos side of things set up in about 10 minutes (I actually bought a Play 1 at the same time as well) so it picks up my premium spotify subscription plus my music collection which had been ripped to FLAC in preparation for this new system.As an aside, why does Sonos often get picked for a new set up these days, is it for its ability to stream to various rooms or something else?
I was hoping you'd gone the second hand route in all honesty to see what interesting bits you'd picked up............that £750 (is that what they cost?) would have bought some serious speakers on the used market though. However I bet your new system sounds great anyway, well done.
Spotify, have you upgraded to premium? It makes one hell of a difference if you do to the sound quality.
Interested to see your comment on a "legal" FLAC streamer.
I'm very new to digital audio myself so maybe you or some other guys could put me straight here.
I was under the impression when streaming (say from Spotify) you're playing at 320kbps or similar for hi res music. I thought that FLAC files were tracks you'd ripped from your CD collection via the likes of Jriver and had stored on the HD, or is that classed as streaming too when you play them back? As I say I'm new to this as well so still coming to terms with the terminology.
For my digital source I use a dedicated laptop hooked up to a Micomega MYDAC.
This allows me to use the asynchronous feature of it via class A USB connection and achieves a playback rate of 24bit 192000 when set up right. I don't go in for all the jargon as I don't fully understand it, but it sounds flippin' awesome.
It is this new digital revolution in music that has got me back into Hifi in all honesty.
Again enjoy your new setup, seems like you've got exactly what you want.
Cheers.
When I say streaming I mean a internet service like spotify.
On further listening, Spotify sounds pretty good actually but I've signed up to Qoubuz to try it out, not sure I can justify the doubling in price really as it is £20 a month and I think I had been listening to a generally badly produced album when judging it all.
I quite fancied the second hand stuff but I wanted to listen to a whole system and to be honest couldn't be bothered dealing with scuffed kit and shipping etc. I'm going to keep an eye out for a second hand naim CD player to match the amp though.
Anyway, bought a few CDs listed as the best produced albums and enjoying listening to them now actually. I'm sure 80s music sounds tighter and better produced than nowadays!
ywouldi said:
Anyway, bought a few CDs listed as the best produced albums and enjoying listening to them now actually. I'm sure 80s music sounds tighter and better produced than nowadays!
Comes to something when deciding which music to buy is based on production and recording quality rather than the quality of the performance Seriously though, look up loudness wars on google - it's depressing.
You're not imagining things with 80's CD's either (actually, barring the odd couple of recent releases, everything up to mid 2000's too) - some of the best produced music on CD comes from that era.
Naturally, that's generalising - there is some utter s
t out there from the mid 80's but you were pretty safe buying based on the music rather than the production.Progress eh?
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