Not upgraded yet and you know what?

After listening to a few amps in the £5-800 range (Arcam thru Cyrus thru exposure thru rotel etc) I'm not at all sure that its worth the money at the mo.

I honestly couldnt hear that much difference between the various amps, and certainly none that made me go "Wow gotta buy that"!

Now I'm putting this down to various factors including :-

Speakers. Mission 780's tbh. Ever since I got the bass driver replaced I've been surprised by how good these are sounding at the mo. Yes I realise that speakers costing £££££ will eat them for breakfast but as thats not realistic anytime soon (MAYBE in the next life and thats only a maybe )They are staying put. Heard some avis (nu nuetrons and biggatrons) when auditioning and preferred the missions, saved £200 as well

Room. Surely the limiting factor in any system no matter how well matched and how well set up. The room I am currently inhabiting is 3 meters square. Yep not enough to even contemplate putting some well respected floor standers such as the kef q35 or mission 733es (believe me I've tried, the result was quite a lot of bass and not much else ).

Music. Most of the bands that I listen to have a fairly limited budget when it comes to recording. Some have own studios to do it in but most don't. The results therefore are quite basic whilst still being listenable to. OK there are some duff results (the new Bob Catley cd for example. While the songs are quite good the production leaves a LOT to be desired in my humble opinion), but on the whole not bad. Although I'd rather listen to these than some corporate Sh**e that has the best production values ever, that way your listening to the system instead of the music and that is just wrong.

Conclusion:-

Looks like my humble (£1100+ Humble he says ) marantz/mission combo is here to stay for a good while yet, even after 4 or so years of heavy use. Unless anyone has any "useful" suggestions for tweaking the system. Already using powerkords, stands etc etc. Just means that I'll have more money to bung at cds instead

Cheers...

 

Im not totally suprised mate...

About 5 years ago I had a similar experience, and GrahamN had the same experience about 18 months ago* (approx!)...

That is to say that the difference between £200-£400 components and, say, £600-£800 components in the majority of cases is .... not very great!

I remember Graham saying at the time that he found the price point of improvement to be around £1500 - although he now has a £3k+ amp that he bought second hand for £600ish.

Id agree pretty much with what he put at the time (sorry for quoting you Graham if you're reading).. and would reccomend a few heavily discounted ex-dem or second hand products on trial from a dealer to really see if you can get some improvements for your ££cash££

Whereabouts do you live mate? - there might be some real bargains near you we could look out for.

But then again, if you really like your existing sound, why not take the MRs to a sunny beach for a couple of weeks instead ?


Chris

 

Cause I havent got one

 

Someone else's then?


Bottleneck summarised my experiences pretty well. I did find some that were interesting down to about £1000 - but they still didn't really float by boat, although I would probably have been fairly happy if I couldn't have afforded any more. In the end I got lucky and got stuff at around the £4-5k mark for mostly <=1k.

Ask yourself seriously why you want to upgrade. If there's something definitely different required, save up and go for what you need to fix it rather than compromise on a component that gets half way there. If it's just to keep up with the Jones', forget it.

Given what you say about the room/production standards, keeping the money for a rainy day sounds a good idea.

 

you could always invest in an extension...

 

well, all the more wine/beer for u then

NB
I had a look at Dorset dealers, there really doesnt seem to be many, and those there are really have budget stock lines and not much ex-dem sec/hand. Where do you normally go?

Based on what little Ive found on the net, Id put my speakers, amp and CDP in the car ... book a couple of appts to hear some ex-dem stock further up the country...

Or get some mail order ex-dem /sec hand on a sale or return basis....

The nearest shop I could find with decent ex-dem and sec hand was... http://www.soundsperfection.co.uk/used.php have you been there before? - Ive spoken to him on the phone a few times (seems like a sound bloke) but havent bought from him previously..

NB There's a Rogers amp for £495 at the above link that might be worth a try.

Sorry cant help more
Cheers
Chris

 

"well, all the more wine/beer for u then "

Don't drink

 

What's your front end? If you're itching to spend money, chucking a bit at the source might be a good idea, especially as you seem happy with the amp and speakers. Source first has (usually) worked for me. Having said that, you sound basically content, so doing absolutely nothing is probably the best policy...

-- Ian

 

in fairness David you selection of amps heard so far is the pipe and slipper brigade

 

Source is 63 Marantz KI Signature, I've enquired at two dealers and they said that it wouldnt really be worth swopping at that price point.

 

I'd tend to agree with them.

-- Ian

 

So would I. Treat yourself to a doo-dah instead.

 

Marantz

Quote..."Source is 63 Marantz KI Signature, I've enquired at two dealers and they said that it wouldnt really be worth swopping at that price point.

I replaced my Marantz with a second hand Naim 3.5 and it was a substantial improvement.

When I added the Hicap, it was better still. I can still compare because I gifted the Marantz to my son and we still swap it sometimes

Upgrading does work but only you can say if it is worth the time and the money. I suppose it depends on how much listening time and how much money you have.

Regards

Mick

 

And whats wrong with that?

 

Absolutely nothing if you like dance, which I don't. As I've said many a time before you like dance thats fine by me. That quote was written around the time that there were issues at work with the radio. Some people (two) decided that their choice of music was the only one and proceeded to piss many people off by whacking up a new relatively hardcore dance station up to levels that wernt really acceptable in the work place, and then refused to turn it down when asked.

That situation has now thankfully been sorted and as the station itself has been shutdown (it was a temporary one only ) the quote itself has largely become redundant anyway. Looks like its time to change it when I can think of one

 

Ironically, we could do with more dance stations up here

 

Man,

You don't have a Mrs, you don't drink, you don't dance, you listen to badly recorded music...

My sujestion, take a break in Ibiza, or similar... :JPS:

 

Drinking, dancing and listening to badly recorded music sounds just like Ibiza to me...

Better add on being sick in the sea, catching Herpes and having a bottle smashed over your head...

sort of like a night out in the big market with sunshine !



I must be getting waay tooo old...cos that just doesnt appeal anymore

 

I must have been old before my time, because that has never appealed to me.

Unfortunatly the media today suggests that this kind of behaviour and crap music is acceptable.

 

I agree that it is not music, but it is great to dance and to burst some adrenaline...

I am probably older than you guys, but still enjoy that kind of action once in a while... :MILD: