603s with simaudio integrated?

[wgriel]

Hello,

I'm new to the forum, and I own a pair of DM600 S3's (for my kitchen) and a pair of 603 S3's in my living room.

I've been thinking of upgrading the 603s and have been considering the 704s. However, after lurking and reading some of the posts on this forum, I have recently started considering upgrading my electronics as a first step.

I currently drive both sets of speakers with a Denon DRA-395 stereo receiver, and to this point I've been happy with that setup. It occurred to me though, that if I upgrade to 704s I'd probably want a better source of amplification. I also began to wonder if the 603s would benefit from something better as well?

Anyway, I dropped into my local hi-fi store (the place where I bought the B&W's) and they were extremely enthusiastic about a couple of integrated amps from Simaudio: primarily the Moon i 5.3 (which was more money than I wanted to spend!) and the Moon i 3, which was more in line with the amount of money I'd consider spending.

Given the amount of money that I can spend at this stage, I'm not going to be buying both speakers and a new amp. I'll buy one or the other in the short term, and probably get the other in a year or so.

Would better amplification be worth it for the 603s? I strongly suspect it would be for the 704s but I'm not sure how much benefit I'd get in the short term.

Do simaudio amps pair well with B&W? My local dealer certainly believes so, and they've always been very honest and up front with me. Are there any other integrated (or separates) that hover in this price range that I should consider? The list price I was quoted for the Moon i 3 was $2600.00 Cdn, though they would discount it to $2300 for me.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Bill

[Clepto]

Simaudio makes nice gear, ideally I think you should listen to a pair of 603's and 703's at your dealer, on the simaudio component you're interested in.

I'm guessing your Denon outputs @ 80wpc, so the i3 should be a nice boost... HOWEVER, I think it might be a little underpowered should you decide to go 703 or higher, where 200wpc might be more ideal, though with 4 ohm speakers it might do nicely.

[wgriel]

Thanks, Clepto.

Yeah, the Denon does output 80 wpc - and good advice re: listening to the different speakers with the i3 to see if I would be satisfied with it with more demanding speakers.

I'm beginning to see where separates make sense because it's much easier to add more power as needed...

Cheers,

Bill

[BTB]

I've been thinking of upgrading the 603s and have been considering the 704s. However, after lurking and reading some of the posts on this forum, I have recently started considering upgrading my electronics as a first step.

It occurred to me though, that if I upgrade to 704s I'd probably want a better source of amplification. I also began to wonder if the 603s would benefit from something better as well?

Would better amplification be worth it for the 603s? I strongly suspect it would be for the 704s but I'm not sure how much benefit I'd get in the short term.

Bill

Hi Bill,

I recently upgraded from the 603's to 704's. Here are some of my opinions, in response to the quotes from your post:

Good thinking, upgrading your electronics first will be a good move... I was way too hasty to get those 704's, seduced by the real wood veneers and tweeter on top etc, etc... Now I'm feeling "stuck" with amplification which I don't feel is really doing these speakers justice. I too had the option of getting a better amp with the 603's or go the 704's route and "compromise" on my choice of amps.

Thing is, those 603's are real good value for money, rocking speakers and I'd say, worth an amp upgrade (plus the longer term better match for the 704's when you do get them). Maybe I've posted this elsewhere on this forum before, so forgive me if you've already seen it... I once heard a pair of 601's powered by a big (like 200wpc plus) Classe amp with a Meridian CD player as source, so hardly the typical set up for an entry level pair of speakers, but my goodness did they sound special!! To me they really didn't sound hopelessly outclassed, perhaps had a pair of say, 805's been handy the outcome would've been different, but I'd say for my 02 cents... your 603's are capable of revealing the benefits of a change upstream. If you had the money to upgrade both (which you've already said you don't have) that would've been first prize, but I'd rather go this way, than to "under" amplify a pair of 704's.

That said, I'm not familiar with the SimAudio amp you refer to; but I'd say, get as much good clean power (preferably with good current reserves) as you can...B&W's of all shapes & sizes really benefit from this, but you've probably read that more than a few times on this forum! Enjoy your shopping!

[wgriel]

Hi BTB,

thanks for your thoughts - I have pretty much decided that my next upgrade will be amplification. I know what you mean by being seduced by the 704's though!

But really, I do love the 603's and I find that I can easily get completely lost in the music. I'm going to take my time and do this one step at a time - who knows, I might just keep the 603's for quite a bit longer before I upgrade them (I've only owned them for 6 months).

Very interesting anectdote regarding the 601's - I guess many speakers can benefit from lots of good, clean power.

Cheers,

Bill