Hi-fi £4k recommendations

Hello

I have a budget of £4k for a CD based (not SACD/Universal players) kit and enjoy a warm, musial sound. My taste is music varies widely ie. jazz, opera, classical, pop. I particularly enjoy female vocals and string instruments. Unfortunately I cannot offer details on the size or type of room yet (looking for a place! ). I'm living in London currently and therefore have access to quite a few dealers.

I look forward to your recommendations.

Thank you.

 

Sugden CD21, A21a, Living Voice Auditorium, all hooked up with Maogami. Just about in budget and just about perfect, I'd say.

 

I'd wait until you get your home. You will then know what size of room you are trying to fill..

 

Most definately! Do some research and narrow down the possibilities, but nothing more concrete than that.

 

Sound advice. Nonetheless, I've heard my recommendation in a room 12' x 8' up to 24' x 21'; worked excellently in both.

 

I agree with Alex,but you will be lucky to et the LV and Mogami for 4K with the CD and A21 combo.There are others to look for though.

 

PMC AML1, Welborne Labs Zephyr preamp, Sonifex RedBox RB-ADDA DAC, Behringer DEQ2496 (digital room correction) and a Pioneer PD S802 Transport.

Believe me, this will make a system that will trash most at the same price and it can all be had for about £4k if you get a second hand Pioneer. It is very close to what I am using (or will be when I get a new preamp and DAC).

Why don't you come and listen in a few weeks when I have stuff sorted out KASH?

 

ipl s5tl speakers (they are diy but very easy to build, sound fantastic and can be fiddled with to tweak the sound to your tastes just by adding or removing some wadding)

cec belt drive transport (tl 51) clocked if you can find it.

audio synthesis dax decade or cec dx71 dac

vincent / shengya amplifier (i prefer the sp t100's valve / ss hybrids but i don't think they are made any more there is also a big solid state 200 wpc with the first 50 in class a available if you want a bit more oomph but i find the 100 wpc just fine from the t100's and it was a bit sweeter than the big ss only amp) - alternatively a digital class d/t giant killer from tact, bel canto or wherever might suit.

that lot should come to about 3500 or less with some careful dickering so you can use whatever you like to string it together - i'd learn to solder and make your own (which is what i did).

this system presumes digital sources only however you could get a cheaper dac without volume control (the dax 2 or dx 51) and a preamp if you had analogue sources.

cheers


julian

 

Obviously, these threads serve no great purpose: my punt is no more valid than Tenson's or Julian's. One day though, I think it would be fascinating to have to set up a set of such recommendations and have them independently adjudicated. . .

(If my system was demonstrably worse I could then claim it has dealer support, resale value, etc, etc).

 

I think they serve a purpose if the person has a listen to such a setup. Alex, why don't you open an invitation to KASH to hear yours? I am guessing that maybe you didn't because you are not close enough but I'm only guessing!

 

Hi Tenson, KASH, mine's a bit of a moveable feast - but if anyone wants to hear a Densen 400XS/Sugden A21a/LV OBX system (this week only) they are extremely welcome.

 

i think these threads are useful in that it opens people eyes to the fact that there are more options than just the usual arcam, musical fidelity, naim, big names out there.
also with a digital only system it's possible to miss out the pre entirely and he may not have thought of that possibility.
i'd be happy to extend an invite to kash to come and have a listen to my kit if he's ever in the bedford area (pm me to arrange something sundays are best for me).
cheers


julian.

 

agree completely. The diversity of the equipment owned in ''what hifi have you got?'' thread shows that there are about 1,000 different ways to spend on a hifi..

no suprise to hear mine would consist of a decent CDP, a valve amp and a heffing great pair of speakers...

 

I didn't mean to be negative - but it may be confusing to be given 100 different options you've never heard of. That's what I meant.

 

an opening post with a budget of £4K for Red Book CD replay makes for an interesting thread if it is for real.

First, even without the SACD/DVD-A formats, there is the Internet/Satellite/Cable to consider as alternative sources of music to the CD, so I would recommend putting a transport/dac combo into the thinking, rather than integrated CDP - or at least ensuring that the integrated CDP could act as a dac for the alternative digital inputs.

Second, having a dac that includes volume control (in the digital domain) reduces the box count and imho has enhanced the sound by doing without a pre-amp.

That deals with the front end signal, if its digital only - If analogue sources (tuner/radio, cassette etc) are important then that adds complication - so declare that now or never.

From what you list as taste in music I would stay away from the 'in-yer-face' dacs, and I would not argue about qualities of Dax Decade, especially if you can get one at good price s/h - balanced or unbalanced; w or w.o Black Gates.

Next, it is about synergy for the poweramp/speaker combination, and the effect of the speaker is limited by the room. So maybe that waits to you have a room.

 

Hmm... a volume control in the digital domain will often reduce the dynamic range when set to moderate levels. Thats why I opted for a passive pre.

Also, with the Redbox RB-ADDA DAC I suggested, you can use analogue inputs too as it is actually an ADC as well, and supposedly a very good one indeed. This means you can even apply the room correction to any analogue sources you might get at a later date.

 

Bryston 3b sst
PMC IB1
benchmark dac

All heavily discounted from a pro dealer of course. Might be a little over 4k though. A second hand bryston 3bst would be a great bet though with the 20 year warranty.

 

What passive pre are you using tenson?

 

At the moment I am using the DEQ2496 to control the level in the digital domain but when I get the next upgrades I will probably go for the Zephyr. The Django looks good and probably sounds better but I would like a remote and at half the price, I think I would rather get the Zephyr and buy another £400 of CDs!

Also I have heard the Zephyr in a £60K system and it was not out of place.

 

I worried about that for a while, and gain reassurance from DavidH that it had to be quite low to make any difference (-45 on the 96db range).