Hi all,
A friend has £3000 +/- £200 to spend on a kick ass 2 channel set-up, and since she doesn't known anything about hifi, she has put me incharge of building the system for her. I lept at this oppurtunity to put together a few scenarios that I think represent the best possible sound for the money, so I'm asking ya'll for oppinions etc.
Let me start by saying that I am a big fan of Arcam. I used to own an Alpha 8 SE CD player and frankly it was the best I ever owned, I still regret selling it. I currently own a DV88+ DVD player, the picture is awesome and plays CD better than any DVD player and most CD players I've owned (except for perhaps the alpha 8se). I'm also a Rotel owner, I think Rotel can be great sometimes and mediocre others, it just depeneds on the product. I own the RSP 1066 which is huge on this forum. I love the two channel sound, and the DACs give excellent CD decoding. Since I don't use a sub I don't have problems with the bass management you might have read about around here, but the fact that I may have a problem in the future does sort of piss me off, I'm hoping rotel will sort it and I have yet to determine if it even affects my unit (apparently someone claims to have a non-affected european model :LOL: ) but otherwise the RSP-1066 is awesome. Lastly I have gone to great lengths testing speaks including B&W (603 series), Monitor Audio (silver series), Cyrus (CSL 70), and others in the £600 to £1000 price range. To be honest I have not been terribly impressed (OK the Cyrus CSL 70 were actually pretty impressive, but the funky stands were like an extra £300). None of the speakers I tested could hold a candle to the speakers I currently use the Mackie HR824s, these are crystal clear, absolutely linear frequency response with no coloration at all, louder than an earth quake with absolutely no distortion, and individually bi-ampded with 100w to HF driver and 150w to LF driver. For ~£1100!!!! Now I'm not saying there are no passive speaker that can compete, but the price you'd have to pay for a combo amp + passive speaker setup to achieve the same quality is more than double I'm sure. So for my dollar the Mackies ARE IT.
Setup 1:
CD Player> Arcam FMJ CD23T
PreAmp> Rotel RC1090 (balanced out a plus here, as speakers in this setup will accept)
Speakers> Mackie HR824 (Active bi-amped, 250W/channel, Ultra flat frequecy response)
Setup 2:
CD player> Arcam FMJ CD23T
Integrated Amp> Arcam FMJ A32 (integrated amp 100w/channel 8ohm)
Speakers> B&W CDM 1NT or Cyrus CSL 70s (anyone have an oppinion on the B&Ws?)
Setup 3:
CD player> Cyrus CD7Q
Preamp> Cyrus aCA7.5
Speakers> Mackie HR824
Setup 4:
CD player> Cyrus CD7Q
Integrated Amp> Cyrus 8
Speakers> Cyrus CLS 70s
I personally tend to favor either Setup 1, which I think will be the tops at this price range, or setup 4 which will also be incredible I'm sure. I have less experience wil Cyrus equipment, although I have demoed a few units before, but all indications are that they kick but.
Please offer comments and suggestions. I'm not really interested in 1000 alternatives because we all know there are sooo many possible setups, what I'd rather hear are suggestions on what you think of the setups I suggested.
Cheers all,
John
A friend has £3000 +/- £200 to spend on a kick ass 2 channel set-up, and since she doesn't known anything about hifi, she has put me incharge of building the system for her. I lept at this oppurtunity to put together a few scenarios that I think represent the best possible sound for the money, so I'm asking ya'll for oppinions etc.
Let me start by saying that I am a big fan of Arcam. I used to own an Alpha 8 SE CD player and frankly it was the best I ever owned, I still regret selling it. I currently own a DV88+ DVD player, the picture is awesome and plays CD better than any DVD player and most CD players I've owned (except for perhaps the alpha 8se). I'm also a Rotel owner, I think Rotel can be great sometimes and mediocre others, it just depeneds on the product. I own the RSP 1066 which is huge on this forum. I love the two channel sound, and the DACs give excellent CD decoding. Since I don't use a sub I don't have problems with the bass management you might have read about around here, but the fact that I may have a problem in the future does sort of piss me off, I'm hoping rotel will sort it and I have yet to determine if it even affects my unit (apparently someone claims to have a non-affected european model :LOL: ) but otherwise the RSP-1066 is awesome. Lastly I have gone to great lengths testing speaks including B&W (603 series), Monitor Audio (silver series), Cyrus (CSL 70), and others in the £600 to £1000 price range. To be honest I have not been terribly impressed (OK the Cyrus CSL 70 were actually pretty impressive, but the funky stands were like an extra £300). None of the speakers I tested could hold a candle to the speakers I currently use the Mackie HR824s, these are crystal clear, absolutely linear frequency response with no coloration at all, louder than an earth quake with absolutely no distortion, and individually bi-ampded with 100w to HF driver and 150w to LF driver. For ~£1100!!!! Now I'm not saying there are no passive speaker that can compete, but the price you'd have to pay for a combo amp + passive speaker setup to achieve the same quality is more than double I'm sure. So for my dollar the Mackies ARE IT.
Setup 1:
CD Player> Arcam FMJ CD23T
PreAmp> Rotel RC1090 (balanced out a plus here, as speakers in this setup will accept)
Speakers> Mackie HR824 (Active bi-amped, 250W/channel, Ultra flat frequecy response)
Setup 2:
CD player> Arcam FMJ CD23T
Integrated Amp> Arcam FMJ A32 (integrated amp 100w/channel 8ohm)
Speakers> B&W CDM 1NT or Cyrus CSL 70s (anyone have an oppinion on the B&Ws?)
Setup 3:
CD player> Cyrus CD7Q
Preamp> Cyrus aCA7.5
Speakers> Mackie HR824
Setup 4:
CD player> Cyrus CD7Q
Integrated Amp> Cyrus 8
Speakers> Cyrus CLS 70s
I personally tend to favor either Setup 1, which I think will be the tops at this price range, or setup 4 which will also be incredible I'm sure. I have less experience wil Cyrus equipment, although I have demoed a few units before, but all indications are that they kick but.
Please offer comments and suggestions. I'm not really interested in 1000 alternatives because we all know there are sooo many possible setups, what I'd rather hear are suggestions on what you think of the setups I suggested.
Cheers all,
John
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