Planning to buy an entirely new system.

The Sevenoaks suggestion sounds good and u could always try some Monitor audio rx's or some kefs cos they will have them ready for demo aswell as some others and as for Richer Sounds could be a good idea to just get a dacmagic from there for ur pc and whack that in with the rest of the gear from sevenoaks, u could even forget about the lema cd and use something else for a transport into the ac to save money but it does look nice having matching gear if its on display

 

Just spoke to Richer, they pretty much suggested their 'Hi Fi System 8:

Amplifier
Cambridge Audio 840A V2 (Black) TSP £899.95
CD Player
Cambridge Audio 840C (Black) TSP £899.95
Speakers (Pair)
Mordaunt Short Mezzo 6 TSP £699.95

£2000 for the package.

Apparently the Cambridge Audio 840C has digital inputs that would allow me to use it as a DAC too. They don't have a listening room at my local branch, so I think I'll go to seven oaks first, and try some stuff out there, then head to Richer, and think about taking some stuff home for a trial.

I also contacted someone who deals in more high-end stuff and was advised that Richer could well be the best place to go for my budget.

Any words of wisdom or caution from people here? Thanks for all the help so far.

 

I Like the volume control on your advar mike, nice,
nando.

 

I would suggest the sevenoaks demo as first point of call but also look towards 2nd hand sales of matching gear....find an ad then ask others for advice on the gear but bear in mind everyones tastes are different as to what they class as sounds good!

If I had my way I could build u a system for a good price that would sound amazing but to u, u may be looking for something else, but I tell u something for nothing is u are looking for an amazing integrated amp for silly money check out the hifi wigwam on bobs listing for his Anatek inter=grated A50R usually £2500 but wants £750 it is what I have but Ive got the pre and monoblock form of it if u dont like it I will buy it back from u! The sound is awesome! Thats a promise!
http://www.hifiwigwam.com/view_topic.php?id=56593&forum_id=5

 

@ Dan - you think the sevenoaks suggestions will sound much better?

I have been looking into getting second hand stuff, but it just seems tricky to do as I'm planning to piece a whole system together ,so have nothing to try out individual pieces on, and I'm not terribly mobile.

I was looking at the second hand speakers here: http://www.hifiguy.co.uk/

It would be quite a bit of trouble to get there and back, and I'm not sure what I'd have trouble knowing what to match them too. It would be little better than buying blind.

The Richer setup did suit a lot of my practical needs (lots on inputs on the amp, the CD can double as a DAC for other digital inputs), but I'm not sure if the speakers will have the sense of depth I'm after.

I'm also starting to get Fear about spending so much on hi-fi (I've been broke for years, and this is some one-off cash). Reading about more expensive hi-fi 'revealing' how bad a lot of music sounds makes me think I could be spending a load of cash in order to have less fun listening to the albums I like!

I've been playing about with speaker positions and sub-settings today (much delayed after a house move, in the expectation that I'd be buying a replacement soon anyway), and my current set-up isn't too bad - I'm quite happy with it.... but with the amp sometimes sounding like it's breaking I am probably going to have to replace it, and then my CD player is one I bought when I was 14 for £90 (it felt like such an investment), the sub is the worst thing about my system and it makes no sense to replace that without think about new speakers... So I've talked myself into buying a whole new system because of an occasional tizzing.

The trouble with hi-fi is that if you spend £300 on an amp, and later wish you'd spent £500, you've virtually thrown the £300 away. If you regret spending too much, you've at least got an expensive hi-fi to console yourself with. If you regret spending too little you've got to start saving up from nothing again.

This emotional roller-coaster is surely one well known by a lot of the people here.

 

I know only too well where ur coming from I changed my entire sytem 3 times at the start of the year to get to where I wanted and it was a struggle, why dont u try a new amp and a dacmagic for starters and keep the cd player as a transport, the Cambridge 840 amp is really good (but for the new price u could get a beast 2nd hand) and the dac will be handy in ur situation also.
If ur looking for a badboy subwoofer I have one that I dontt use anymore it has 2 250w 10" drivers and is made by monitor audio its got a class a/b amp in it too, its a bit of a beast tho it originally cost £1100 but I will take £200 it here http://www.hifiwigwam.com/view_topic.php?id=54434&forum_id=5&highlight=fb210
You could maybe have it in the rear of the alcove and 2 smaller speakers either side, it kinda depends what sound u want and if u want real low rumbling bass or not.

I can tell ur getting to the point where ur head is getting pickled now!
I suggested sevenoaks as there is a bigger range and all their sale gear from any store can be viewed on the net and they can get those bits to ur local store for u.

Another option is to take ur speakers and cd to richer sounds and try them with the dacmagic and amp to get an idea of the sound cos it may sound different when in ur own room but u will get an idea!........

If u didnt like the sub I would refund u but u would need to cover post if u wanted a stab at it.

Im in also in the same boat as u with transport as my eyes are not as good as my ears unfortunatly so I know what a bloody pain it can all be!

 

lol - the strain has gotten too much!

I think I'm going to take a few days off, listen to some more music and think about what I want, then start listening to some equipment, and take it all slowly from there.

Thanks for all the advice, more always welcome though. Ta.

 

I think taking a break fro it all is probs the best bet LOL!

Sit back relax and u may work out what u want from ur system if that fails buy urself an ipod and some headphones and sit in silence!

 

zouch audio have a used pair of Dali Helicon 300's on Ebay now, with a starting bid of £400.

Helicon's are much higher up the Dali tree than those mentioned, and these are superb standmount speakers, I truly love them.

For a digital source, I'm sold on squeezeboxes. Couldnt go back to using an old fashioned CD player now, I want my entire music library and cover art, band history etc all at my finger tips, on another screen while I type into Zerogain on the internet!..

Only £200 ish, and leaves bags of cash for a DAC if you're so inclined, and ... what I'd personally do instead... spend more on the amp.

Amp wise, Dali's like lots of power - so it would be Class A solid state for me
...
Audio Synthesis
Conrad Johnson solid state
Audio Research's solid state
Moon

Something like that.

 

Hi Chris,

None of those amps you have mentioned are pure class A. High powered solid state class A amps are massive and not cheap to run.

SCIDB

 

Like I said in a previous post the Anateks are awesome and even at 50wpc I was in doubt if it would drive some sensitive bad boys but they do not struggle, IMO the only class A amp that does not run hot!

 

Hi dean

for sure. I have one here (the audio synthesis), which is switchable class a , class a/b.

I presume that in class a it is only for the first few watts.


I borrowed a Nelson Pass pure class A amp once (the square one covered in heat sinks). Didn't like it much as it happened..

 

Hi,

I have heard this amp. I have heard the very one that Bob is selling on Wigwam. It is very good, worth a look. I'm baffled by it's class A claim, it doesn'tr run very hot.

SCIDB

 

Hi Chris,

All class AB amps will be class A at very low levels mayube up to a few watts. After that they switch to class B. The Audio Synthesis will be like this. It's an amp that is rated at 175 watts in 8 ohms.

Most class A solid state amps are biased heavily in the class A region. They may not be class a up to full output.

The Audio Synthesis is a good amp and Audio synthesis is a good hifi company, I own some of their products.

At the end of the day you should go for an amp that sounds good no matter what the technology is

SCIDB

 

Same with my monoblocks which were originally bobs too, I have spoken to Martyn from Anatek a few times and I have brought this up with him and he assures me its class A, they just dont run hot......I think he must be a wizard

 

Hi Dan

It's almost assuredly as Dean describes.

True class A solid state amps (such as those by Nelson Pass, and later 'first watt' )are more heatsink than amp.

Its my opinion that manufacturers know that 'class a' has become ubiqutous with ''class a for the first few watts then class b' - as Dean quite rightly picked up on.

Also as Dean states, this is pretty irrelevant when the most important aspect is what it sounds like.

Coming back to speakers - Those Helicon 300s are superb, especially if you can get them for the kind of £400-£500 ish that it looks like they may go for on Ebay..

They produced one of the 'best sounds on show' to my ears at two recent hifi shows I attended, sounding better than far more pricey rivals. At £2,000 (ish) I think them steep, but at a used price they are an excellent buy. I was 1/2 tempted myself.

 

My blocks have huge heatsinks at the rear and also use the case too

Quote from Anatek site
After much painstaking research into the effects of component sound quality, and the interaction between them, we have finally arrived at our goal of a very natural sounding amplifier circuit. The sound from the MB50 can outperform amplifiers several times more expensive. The remarkably natural sound of our newly-refined and fully patented circuit is something unique to the world of audio. It enables us to run Class A (non-switching) without the usual 'heat' penalties incurred by this mode of operation.

http://www.anatek-research.co.uk/FiFi_Website/MB50.html

 

Interesting.

I see this review on TNT

http://www.tnt-audio.com/ampli/anatek_pre_power_e.html

Anatek Acoustics (previously Anatek Audio, by the way) is a young English audio company, based in Worthing, South England. The A50 was their first product, and was very positively reviewed, not only by me. The amp is based on a patented circuit that combines Class A, non switching behaviour with high efficiency, making it run as cool as a 'normal' amp, but sounding like a real Class A one. It impressed me and I still own my A50 and use it with pleasure. I did modify it, however, as I am an incurable tweaker and the amp had some minor weaknesses. The main problem was a bad volume control, which I replaced with a very nice Dact CT2 stepped attenuator. That made a positive difference. Even better was my next tweak: replacing the input capacitors with ClarityCap SA's.

Although tweaking is fun, it is also risky and quite a bit of work. That's why I was especially interested in the MB50 power amps. They are based on the same clever circuit, but built with much higher quality components.


The highlighted sentence does suggest a mix of class A , class a/b. I stand to be corrected however.

 

I was gunna point u towards the tnt review next cos I thought that the statement may refer to the A50R integrated not the monos

'It enables us to run Class A (non-switching) without the usual 'heat' penalties incurred by this mode of operation.
'
Ummm but then possibly........

 

I wouldnt lose any sleep over it Dan.

If you enjoy the way they sound, this is all that matters.