Budget £1300-1500 amplifier and a pair of bookshelves, suggestions please??
Hi guys
As the tittle suggest I have a budget of around £1500 and looking to buy a good amp and pair of speakers to go with it.
Here's a little story how I actually got into the whole fine-sound affair:
I am a musician myself, I play the Indian percussion instrument called tabla. During my teenage time, oneday I went into Birmingham richer sound store inquest of finding a hifi system that would sound better than what all my friends and cousins had at time in the likes of aiwa, kenwood, technics, etc. Quite naturally I saw brands that I never heard of before, I had not much to spend either but luckily for me they had a sale on. I am talking about early 90s so no Internet to do any research before buying, so what do I do? I looked at this beautiful looking amp it was called musical fidelity e10 integrated amp it looked nice and simple and also the name caught my imagination and I decided to buy it, don't remember how much it was, I also bought a cheap Marantz cd player. In terms of speakers I knew what I was looking for. I was looking to buy Bose but richer sound didn't sell them so the salesman suggested BW dm601 and again I was impressed by looks and their yellow kebler.
So this was my first pure hifi set up and I have been really pleased with the sound.
Recently on my trip to India i bought a what hifi magazine to read on the plane, here I came across the much talked Marantz pair pm6004 and cd6004 and also learned about DAC. Since I had my old system for almost 20 years I thought this may be the good time to upgrade my system, after doing bit of research I bought the Marantz pair, I felt rather sad as I unconnected my old MF anyways after setting up the system I played few tracks. And felt a bit disappointed I thought may be it needs burning in time so played it for few hours, nothing changed only a sleepless night. I kept thinking maybe it's the speakers because they are old they are not performing well with the new system so next day I decided to hook up my MF back on to see the difference and guess what??? With the new Marantz cd player my old MF sounded like it had never sound before ,I thlnk the built-in DAC made the difference. I straight away put the pm6004 back in its box.
In my current financial situation I could never have imagined to setup such a budget as I have, but having spoken to a couple dealers they said, to upgrade from my existing setup I would have to spend such money to feel any difference.
As you can tell I am a big fan of MF products and contemplating m3i but the other names such as naim, rotel, creek, roksan, audiolab do also come to mind. Speaker wise I think I will have to wait till I decide on the amp.
I listen to Indian, jazz, pop, indowest fusion, bit of rock, strings and vocal based music, nothing rhymed is one of my favourite English song of all time.
Preferences : tight and controlled bass, high note should be as clear as low note, detailed sound, every instrument should get its respective space and most importantly it should sound sweet and musical.
Thank you for reading my story.
Awaiting recommendations
Seasons greetings
As you say, the M3i is your first stop, to which you can add something like Monitor Audio RX1's or RX2's, Acoustic Energy Radiance 1's, KEF R100's, or ATC SCM7's.
The Naim Nait 5i will go particularly well with the Rega RS1's and KEF R100's.
The Rotel RA12 will go well with the B&W CM5's, KEF R100 or LS50's, Acoustic Energy Radiance 1's, and Dynaudio Excite X12's (or even X16's). This amplifier will also add a USB connection as well as other digital inputs to use for other digital sources.
The Audiolab 8200A will pretty much work well with the same speakers as the Rotel RA12.
Based on your stated requirements, I wouldn't ignore the new Pioneer A50 or A70 amplifiers. They may have been out of competitive hi-fi for almost a decade, but they've come back with a stonking range which is probably the best built kit under £1k. Their Class D amplification exerts a tight grip over the speakers, and the A50 in particular can drive speakers that other similarly priced amplifiers just can't do. Very clean, tight, and controlled. Both of these amplifiers work extremely well with the KEF LS50's, which also exhibit the same characteristics, and produce a soundstage free from any box colourations.
Most of these systems will fill the average size room, and in the quest to preserve quality, I'd stick to standmount speakers rather than floorstanders, as you'll generally get more quality for your money.
Preferences : tight and controlled bass, high note should be as clear as low note, detailed sound, every instrument should get its respective space and most importantly it should sound sweet and musical.
Thank you for reading my story.
Awaiting recommendations
Seasons greetings
You might be able to acheive your goal at a lower budget, but for me, the best value for money at your budget would be the ADM9 active speakers, in their latest incarnation, which I beleive are the ADM9 RSS.
Have a read of the link, but in brief they are DAC, preamp, active crossover and power amps within the speaker enclosure.
I have active speakers myself and find them to be excellent, but the ADM9s would certainly be on my short list should I decide to go for a change.
My suggestion is to listen to as much as you can, but for me the MF M3i + Kef R100 will be very hard to beat (provided the room isn't too big).
The combination is below budget, but Rega's Brio-R with Neat Iotas will work really well in small spaces.
Hi aniskg
What is the size of your room?
Are your current speakers stand, shelf or wall mounted?
Listening distance?
Your general listening level?
Interconnects and speaker cables are?
Btw, i've never heard of the tabla 
All the best
Rick @ Musicraft
Hi there, thanks for your reply
My room size is 14 by 12, speakers are standmounted, listening distance about 8 feet, interconnenters are all Cambridge audio. Will buy new speaker cable with new system. Listening level : on my 40watts amp I hardly go above 50% on the volume knob.
Hi aniskg
What is the size of your room?
Are your current speakers stand, shelf or wall mounted?
Listening distance?
Your general listening level?
Interconnects and speaker cables are?
Btw, i've never heard of the tabla
All the best
Rick @ Musicraft
Hi there, thanks for your reply
My room size is 14 by 12, speakers are standmounted, listening distance about 8 feet, interconnenters are all Cambridge audio. Will buy new speaker cable with new system. Listening level : on my 40watts amp I hardly go above 50% on the volume knob.
As for tabla you can you tube it there are loads of video on tabla
Thanks Frank
I quite like the looks of AE but will listen to MA and kef before pulling the trigger. As for amp I gnna stick with my favourite MF
Thanks
The combination is below budget, but Rega's Brio-R with Neat Iotas will work really well in small spaces.
hi ketan this is all I can afford for now so may if I spend about 1k to 11 hundred on the amp and buy speakers with the rest.and few years down the line I can upgrade the speakers
Seeing as you mentioned Creek I would suggest an Evo 2 amp matched up with the Epos Elan 10 speakers. Around £1250 for the pair and should make a great combination. I'm currently home demoing the Epos Elan 30 floorstanders with my Creek Evolution 5350 amp and it sounds wonderful.
.
Preferences : tight and controlled bass, high note should be as clear as low note, detailed sound, every instrument should get its respective space and most importantly it should sound sweet and musical.
Thank you for reading my story.
Awaiting recommendations
Seasons greetings
You might be able to acheive your goal at a lower budget, but for me, the best value for money at your budget would be the ADM9 active speakers, in their latest incarnation, which I beleive are the ADM9 RSS.
Have a read of the link, but in brief they are DAC, preamp, active crossover and power amps within the speaker enclosure.
I have active speakers myself and find them to be excellent, but the ADM9s would certainly be on my short list should I decide to go for a change.
+1. For the budget, this is really the only answer.
Any other answer is just wishful thinking and won't come close.
Really Richard? Why's that then? By who's yardstick?
Really Richard? Why's that then? By who's yardstick?
In their cult meeting last Thursday morning. It's Chistmas. Good will to all men and AVI cult members.
By mine
Latest speakers make my previous more expensive passive set up look silly.
But I wouldn't expect you to agree RS even though I think you know it's true.
Hi Rich, you suspect wrong.
I've never thought thought that when I spend £1200 on a pair of speakers, the internal wadding should be gawping out at me. More of a Genelec man y'see. Plus I like the flexibility to dictate change on my terms. If I want to change the DAC, amp or whatever, I go ahead and do so. Plus I dislike AVI, or some of its employees', attitudes to the audiophile world. Simple as that really.
Hi aniskg
What is the size of your room?
Are your current speakers stand, shelf or wall mounted?
Listening distance?
Your general listening level?
Interconnects and speaker cables are?
Btw, i've never heard of the tabla
All the best
Rick @ Musicraft
Musicraft (Derby), Specialist Hi-Fi/AV & Multimedia Dealer
good accurate audio monitoring and good sound reproduction to all