CDP, Amp & Speakers for £1K?

to help those under the age of 16

Sarah Beeny



Kirsty Allsop

 

sarah beeney for me.

 

I'd keep your amp and spend it on some larger more sensitive speakers. For the type of music you're into, (I'm basically into the same) dynamics are everything. No matter how powerful the amplifiers, inefficient speakers never have the speed and the instant dynamic contrasts of sensitive speakers.

IMO.

 

sarah beeny! every time

if you don't fancy actives, try some JR 149's (can be had for about £150-£200 used, and partner with a nice powerful amp like Rotel/Nad's bigger integrateds.

These are essentially the same as LS3/5a's, which will blow your budget on their own!


Again, these are great in very small spaces. I'd say the sound is 'typically BBC' - relaxed, full, detailed, tight.

You really have to be careful in that very small room..

 

Both
(Sarah and Kirsty that is)

 

Hello again everyone, I've found the debate between Tenson and lordsummit really useful.
JCL (?T-Bone?) - I've been thinking along the same lines; keep the Intek for now and choose a pair of sensitive speakers. I'm unfamiliar with the meaning of specifications - what sensitivity rating will do the job?.
Bottleneck - what are JR 149s and LS3/5as ?
Thanks.

 

Kirsty for me, please.

 

...definately not sensitive speakers... unfortunately!

LS3/5a's are .. epoch making classic speakers with a worldwide reputation - no less

They are small monitors (passive) used by the BBC (and others) in situations like radio stations, recording & mastering etc - for decades.

The JR149's are similar speakers (better in many ways in my view), and are very unfashionable because they are in funky cylinder shaped boxes. This means you can pick them up for 1/4 of the price of used LS3/5a's though.

They really need a bit of a meaty power amp though.

If you're looking for sensitive small speakers, beware of the fact that the published figures are (often) made up marketing blurb, and bear little resemblance to how difficult a speaker is really to drive. I say this bluntly, because it's often true - and you just can't trust the published figures (sadly) in many cases.

Try instead 'known easy to drive speakers' - if you want to go this route.

Often, you will find that in the drive for very high efficiency (which has it's own benefits ..like dynamics).. you will find you have to make other compromises - like in the absolute neutrality of a speaker.

JR149's (dont be put off by the look, they are superb) http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/JR-149-ROGERS...ryZ14991QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

some rogers ls3/5a http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/rogers-ls3-5a...ryZ14991QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

for sensitive speakers, try web searches using words like -

'audionote' 'snell' 'lowther'

I'd ignore anything too big, in your room.

 

thats just greedy ...

 

I'm a big fan of the sensitive speaker, high quality/low power amp route, but I've heard my speakers (Klipsch Heresy's) sound really wrong on the end of Naim amplification. They would sound worse on the end of an Intek. How big a box would you want June, what have you got room for?

 

as above, really diddy speakers only IMHO.

 

Really diddy and high efficiency don't really go together..
I'd agree Chris big speakers aren't the answer. The BBC monitors always sound good to me, little Harbeths and the like.