PC to Stereo separates upgrade

NutritioN

NutritioN

NutritioN

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Joined
28 Nov 2003
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Hi guys,

I'm stuck right in the middle of audio upgrade overload after a couple of months of researching my overdue upgrade. I can't make up my mind!

Current situation:
Smallish room in L-shape
Listening from desk 1-2 feet back from front of speakers
80/20 split between speakers and AKG-271 headphones.
Range of music pretty broad from folk to bassy stuff: http://www.last.fm/user/Nutriti0N/charts
Source is 90/10 between decentish MP3s and CDs, for the purpose of this upgrade consider it all from the computer.
Output is via a 12yr old Kenwood HIFI set. 25W amp into 50W bassy but ultimately flabby and dull speakers.
Not going excessively loud as I share the house.

To purchase (max. £500):
Bookshelf speakers
Integrated Amp
(DAC maybe)
Cables

At the moment I'm leaning towards a NAD + B&W setup as I have experience of a NAD C350 + 601/2 setup. I found it nice and crispy with the right feel/type of bass for me. Although this was in a square room twice the size of mine (and a lot more messy.)

The only auditioning I'm getting around to doing is at SevenOaks in Holborn, London; that's a Rotel RA05 + BW686. Mainly as I want to see if the 686's are deep enough for my tastes. I don't need big power, but I'm worried even at that price range the bookshelf 686's will be a bit thin on sound.

Other speakers I've remembered I've considered are the Mordaunt Mezzo and the Kef IQ bookshelfs. Any other recommendations?

Ideally I'm looking to get a second hand amp and a new set of speakers. Another (shallow) problem I have is I'm fussy about the looks of the amp/speakers. I like the brick-like ninja NADs; I could get by with Rotel, but Arcam/Cyrus etc are not pleasant. :)

The idea of a DAC appeals but is a bit of a mystery as I have no experience of them although I know what they do. Has anyone tried one and decided it didn't do enough for the sound and sold it? I'd be getting a USB one that would sit between the computer and the Amp, right?

Soooooo, basically it's quite simple. If I went out and got the 685s for £380, could I get an amp to do them justice for £120? Would I be better off getting the B&W 686's and a better amp? How important is a DAC in a computer setup?

Cheers, Thanks in advance, sorry to the tldr crew inside.
 
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I am sure you will get a lot of different opinions of what amp + speaker setup on this forum. there is another post recently about DACs ( post is called tell me about DACS)

I can highly recomend using a DAC as it will add a lot of depth to mp3 tracks played from the pc. I myself have my pc connected to a cambridge audio dacmagic 2 but that is around 11 years old but it just brings life to my mp3 and flac files. Pretty soon Cambridge Audio are releasing the new dacmagic and here is a link to the website.

http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/summary.php?PID=320&Title=Summary

As for Amps and speakers its a bit of a minefield as its all about what type of sound you want and how much you want to spend. Pesonnally I ,again, like the Cambridge audio Azur range which go from £150 for the amp I own, the azur 340A, up to around £750 for the Azur 840A v2. But other people will disagree

Good luck.

P.S. You also have to consider how to connect the computer to the amp, this is where dacs are very useful as you can connect the soundcard on the pc to the DAC using co-axial or toslink (fibre optic cable)
 
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Leaning towards a Rotel RA-04 amp and a pair of Quad 12L2 (refurbished for £299) now. Just need to find a London store that can demo the speakers. Can't find any just yet.

Tempted to gamble on an old amp if I can do enough research to get one from 10-15 years ago. :)
 
NutritioN said:
Leaning towards a Rotel RA-04 amp and a pair of Quad 12L2 (refurbished for £299) now. Just need to find a London store that can demo the speakers. Can't find any just yet.

Tempted to gamble on an old amp if I can do enough research to get one from 10-15 years ago. :)
Click to expand...

Mmmmmmmm...........Quads..........good choice.

They're not very bassy but the 12L2 is supposed to have bigger woofers than the 11 to improve this.
 
Yes, that concerns me. Although I value a truthful speaker, I don't mind if it lies about the lower frequencies now and again.

Kind of leads me on to another question... If I get a stereo amp with two sets of outputs (A/B), can I bridge set B to run a sub at the same time as using set A?
 
It's just as a play around (JL car sub) so mono input. Is there a safe way to connect stereo output into a mono speaker? What bridges where?
 
Nope. Not investing anything towards a sub just yet as it's far too big for my current room. But if I was... I assume I could hook the integrated amp into a monoblock, bung a crossover in (how? What's an example of a stand alone crossover?) and output to the sub?

Never quite grasped the sequence of power amps etc.. Is it: source > integrated amp (source selector) > power amp > speakers ? Or is the point of pre-amp inputs that the they pass through the signal from power amps?

Cheers.

edit: ignore my first crossover question. I can use Google. Not going to go down that route just yet. Don't want too many gadgets piling up here!
 
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Stereo amp into a sub with no crossover will sound pants. It'll ruin the lovelyness coming out of those Quads. :(

If you can stretch, get a BK gemini. Great little sub for £200.
 
I know hence 'play around' :) The sub has been sitting around unused for 3-4 years, I should have sold it on to someone who is still in the phase of sticking stupid speakers in little cars. But it's here, thought I might check it soon before getting rid.

Not about to compromise the new stuff!
 
If you're in a small room the quads will be have plenty of bass, especially with a decent amp. Definitely try to invest either in a good soundcard or a DAC.
 
Right, amp (secondhand Rotel RA-04) and speakers (BW686) purchased; just sorting picking it all up. Wanted to spend more time auditioning the options as just going Rotel + BW seemed like an easy option but my lack of patience got the better of me.

I only auditioned the B&Ws against the MonitorAudio BR2s on the Rotel amp and it was an easy choice. My worries that the BWs were going to be too small and weak were soon dissolved. I was going to listen to some BW685 and MA RS-1s but didn't want to go overboard and over budget for a not very large bedroom.

Listening was Underworld's Oblivion with Bells, Alela Diane's Pirate Gospel and bonus appearances by Tipper (meaty bass) and Seba's new album Return to Forever (DnB). The Monitor Audios never felt as weighty or exciting to listen to.

I definately could have got a better deal on an Amp if I had more patience (£211) but got the speakers and 8m Chord Carnival (hopefully terminated, can't remember if I haggled for that) for £300.

Will have fun this weekend.
 
What about the DAC or is the budget blown now? How is the p.c. going to connect to the amp? How much did you pay for the amp + speakers? what are next saturdays lottery numbers?

If you can answer all of the above for me i will be very happy :D
 
Haven't decided on which DAC yet so that's in the coming months :) but also as I blew the budget as I expected on just the amp + speakers. If the new DACMagic comes in black I may be sold, but I'll get used to the new kit first.

As mentioned in previous post:
Rotel RA-04: £211
B&W 686: £279
Chord Carnival Classic terminated with Banana plugs 2*4m: £21
Total : £511

I have a bit of a weird feeling in my stomach due to cash outflow, this should subside once I get the equipment rigged up tomorrow night.

Oh, and 26 6 11 3 17 4 - 29
 
First impressions are good. A/Bing to my old speakers, reveals that the old speakers are much brighter, which makes them seem more open and wider. The B&Ws seem more boxed in so far but sound great. Always difficult to express these things but already happy with the purchase. Just need to reorganise the furniture to the speakers now...

And oh my gosh, the headphone output is fantastic from the Rotel compared to the jack on my old stereo! Once I called it a day/night from listening to the speakers I ended up spending another 30mins whizzing through tracks on the headphones. :) It's the kind of difference I was hoping for from a headphone amp. The old stereo just sounded like it hit a flat wall of volume and range. The Rotel sounds great and feels big and detailed without losing steam when it gets loud. Which it does.
 
Good stuff.

Maybe those speakers will loosen up and shine some more. :)

I'd LMAO if those numbers came up this Saturday!!! :D
 
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