Beginner need suggestion on home stereo setup

It'd be handy to know what your budget is & what music you generally listen to?

Also how is your room going to be laid out and will it be hard floors or carpeted with soft furnishings etc...

I have the M/A RX2's partnered with a Marantz CR603 (a superb all in one system) and they sound fantastic! I also ran them for a while with a Cyrus 8VS2 (a decent integrated amp around the £900 mark when new) partnered with a Rega Apollo CD player and again; it was a fantastic combo!

There are a lot of variations that will decide what set up you go for so the more answers you provide the better the suggestions...

Also; are you planning on doing demos (I REALLY hope so) as blind buying could catch you out!

Hi Recruiter,

Thank you for your feedback and i'm really appreciate.

I was hoping to keep my budget for the separates around £1.2k  if possible

Musics that i generally listen are:

Jazz / Bossa Nova / Classical Musics / Opera ...etc

e.g. Kenny G / Diana Krall / Bebel Gilberto / Eric Clapton / Norah Jones / Andrea Bocelli / Katherine Jenkins / Mozart / Beethoven / Johannes Linstead / Tchaikovsky / Dan Fogelberg / Louis Armstrong / Bee Gees / Adele

I'm sorry that i was unable to provide the room size yet as i'm going to moving very soon but it will be apartment with carpet finish. I understand that room size was a major factor for the concern as well.

Would you mind if i ask do you need a subwoofer for the setup to deliver a better result?

I apologize for didn't provide this information earlier. I will also use the system for movies sometimes

Personally I think using a sub with the M/A RX2's would be overkill

They're some of the biggest standmount speakers on the market and with an 8" mid/bass driver; with the righ amplification they kick out bags of deep, punchy bass!

My spare room is 15ft by 11ft and they're more than enough for that room; with a sub I think you'd only really get the lowest of the bass filled out and TBH I dont think its needed with these kinds of speakers unless youre a bass junkie!

With your taste in music (some of which I share) I'd say the RX2's will be more than enough but you can always run them for a good month or 2 and then see if you feel youre missing out on bass etc...

I'd also highly recommend the Marantz CR603. I was fairly dubious at first as I'm not the biggest Marantz lover (always found their sound too soft & mellow) but the CR603 is totally the opposite! Had Arcam, Cyrus, NAD and Rotel beforehand and the Marantz is as good to me as the NAD/Cyrus stuff I've had separates wise...

One other thing I'd suggest is decent stands for the RX2's. They're big speakers and require a good stand underneath them to get them to sound their best. I initially used some Partington SuperDreadnoughts but came across some Atacama HMS2's 2nd hand local to me. Swapped them over and added 3 tubs of Atabites between them (dense lead type filler for speaker stands) and this made a marked improvement over the bass depth/punch and smoothed out the sound overall

The Rega Brio R works well with Monitor Audio speakers I have been using one with RX1s which I am presently selling and have now purchased RX6s.
If you use a sub I wouldnt bother with RX2s I would use RX1s as you dont need the extra extension of the RX2s the sub will do the rest.
Sub wise unless you want to build your own I would look into BK sealed subs they are very good value for money.

I personally don't like listen to speakers plus sub for music as I don't think it quite sounds right. I prefer bass coming from just the 2 speakers. Many other forum members however like the combination of stand mounts and a sub. One person posted pictures on here of a set up using rx2 speakers with 2 subs! That must be crazy bass.

Buying good stands is very good advice so make sure you have enough money for that.

For me arcam and MA are the best combination they just work so well together to produce a fairly neutral sound with a smooth flow.

If your using it for cinema do you mean as 2.1 or are you planning on a receiver and 5.1?

I did use a sub with the RX1s and found it integrated without problems, it sounded like the bass was coming from the RX1s.
But now I have the RX6s I dont really need the sub although there is not quite so much bass as before.

I used to use br2 speakers and tried them with my RX sub but for me it didn't sound right. Now my rx8 produce good bass and I'm happy although they still don't do sub sonics but as I say for me I just prefer the speakers on their own. Have you tried your sub with your rx6? You might like it!

No, sold it now for sake of domestic harmony, not allowed to have floor standers (which is what I always wanted) and sub.

That's a shame. Well as long as your happy with your rx6's that's the main thing.

By the way what amp and source do you use?

Rega Brio R amplifier and Audiolab 8200cd player.

@recruiter

Thanks for your reply again recruiter

I'll go with the RX2 without the subs. Thanks for your advices. I will check the Marantz CR603 as well and have an audition if there is a chance, with the RX2 of cause. Just need to get a shortlist of what i will be getting first

As for the stands i've seen some other posts mentioned before. I'll check see if i could get either one of those in Australia.

Thanks for the tips, really appreciate !

@coll

Hi Coll,

I've seen the Rega amps somewhere before. But i'm not sure how was it when comparing with others such as Arcam, Musical Fidelity M3i, Roksan Kandy K2...etc. Mind if i ask what kind of musics that you use with the Rega and if you had any experiences with other amps?

Might not get a sub at this stage as suggested

Thank You.

Hi Ben,

Thats what i thought as recruiter suggested. Cause i want to listen the details of musics, and i don't want too much bass on it. Please don't get me wrong coll. It just my personal preferences of listening i do really appreciate with your feedback very much.

For cinema i by using 2.1 at this stage i guess. Not sure if i will be upgrade or looking for something else for 5.1 in the future But the RX2 seems like a stereo speakers from my understanding, not sure if it's suitable keep and upgrade for 5.1 in the future.

Sorry i'm still a noob. Please let me know if i said something wrong

Hello everyone,

Here is an update of shortlist that i've made for what i would like my system to be build:

Speakers: Monitor Audio RX2

Amplifier: Musical Fidelity M3i (Integrated)

Speakers Stand: Atacama Audio HMS 2.1

DAC: Musical Fidelity M1DAC -or- Rega DAC ( i couldn't decide, any suggestion? lol)

Feedbacks welcome

Thank you

That'll be a fantastic set-up

I have the HMS2 stands and they work really well with the RX2's but in saying that; so did my old Nexus 6's but they had to be fairly well filled with atabites!

As for DAC's definitly consider the Matrix Mini-i and the Emotive XDA1 as well as the MF M1DAC (which I'm running currently) and the Rega DAC. The Arcam rDAC is still a belter as is the Cambridge Audio DacMagic.

For me however the MF M1DAC just has a better, more rounded and detailed soundstage with the Emotive and Arcam DAC's coming very close. The Rega was a little too smooth for my tastes and the CA DAC ever so slightly bright/tinny at times