NAD c355bee/bw 685 combo

alastair84

alastair84

alastair84

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28 Aug 2003
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Portsmouth
Anyone have this or a similar combo?
I have the amp already. Bought 2nd hand.
I'm going to superfi in Manchester this morning on the off chance that they'll have some 685s to demo.
I listen to electronic music mainly and I love my bass.

The source is the onboard sound on my crap motherboard (an asusrock) :p
But will be getting a CD player later at somepoint when i've increased my CD collection from a staggering 2 albums.
Would also like your opinions on the speaker cable. Thinking of getting Chord Company Carnival Silver Screen.
Cheers. :)
 
ok thanks for the replies guys :P
Ended up buying the 685s.
I'm trying to run them in atm but judging by the loud banging/knocking on my ceiling, it looks like the neighbours above me aren't very happy about this. :D
especially when i play the 1st track from Leftism or my 1 minute self-made track from ableton.
 
BTW: does anyone have any recommendations for a 2nd hand budget CD player to go with this system? I have a budget of around £150, and looking for a warm sound.
cheers.

note: i listened to the Mission MX1s and also the B&W cm1s too at superfi. The bass on the cm1s was definately tighter than the 685s. I couldn't believe this when i thought: "hold on, the cm1s have a small bass driver unit, how can this be?" Im not saying that the bass on the 685s was muddled/boomy. Just that they're different sounding bass. In the end, i liked the bass on the 685s more, as it surrounded me more, if that makes any sense? After listening and comparing the 685s/cm1s, I could appreciate why the cm1s were £100 more than the 685s, but still i prefered the sound from the 685s more. The demo amp was a Rotel 05 something (I did ask to demo their lower budget NAD amp, as this was as close to the sound that my system would produce), and i forgot the brand of the CD player.
 
Also i had a matrix moment at the superfi shop. I had d/l Leftism on flac in the morning and burnt it to a blank white CD. At demo time, i put the CD in and the bloke goes: "hold on, we've got originals." Im thinking, ok....but i want to listen to my CD, my taste in music not yours.
Then we got to the front of the shop and he pulls out Leftism original album. I thought OMG! HOW THE HELL DID U KNOW MY BLANK CD WAS LEFTISM? Unknown to me, he had put in my blank cd into the cd player, and the cd player recognised it as leftism on the LCD display, but i didn't see this lol. HAHA. I was soooo freaked out by this. :o
 
It's not too surprising that you found the CM1s a bit bass light. They are considerably smaller. The cabinets won't support as much bass extension but will control resonances better, hence the greater accuracy at the expense of depth.

Chord Carnival will be fine. Just out of curiosity, ask them if it is directional and which way sounds best. Can you post the answer back here? Plugs can make quite a bit of a difference too.

CD players - Would a NAD be too obvious a choice?
 
Lucid will probably know what decent 2nd hand CD players to look at in your price range. He knows quite a bit about hi-fi. :) Glad you are liking your 685's, they do look like very nice speakers. Good choice on the CD, Leftism is one of my fave albums. :D

Edit: Lol, speak of the devil. :p
 
Haha....almost got me again there! haha
I dunno man, ring em yourself lol. it's a freephone number lol

what model NAD cdplayer u recommend? :)
 
alastair84 said:
I dunno man, ring em yourself lol. it's a freephone number lol
Click to expand...
I presume we are talking about the speaker cable? If so, I already know the answer, but would be interested to hear if they have any views... or if they've even tested it.

alastair84 said:
what model NAD cdplayer u recommend? :)
Click to expand...
TBH secondhand can be a bit of a lottery. You and I will have different takes on the sound we are looking for. The good thing with s-h is that you can buy, try and sell with a minimum outlay as long as you don't pay over the odds. Perhaps just look at a few reviews of older models and draw up a short list of likely candidates.
 
IMO its a bit of cobblers when it comes to speaker cable & direction.

I use 1.5mm lighting cable for my speaker wire, all the hi-fi mags back in the mid - late 80's raved about it & that's what I use to this day. You can buy it by the roll from most good DIY stores without breaking the bank & you can use whats left over to wire your house.


CD player - I agree with Lucid - get a NAD. (C515BEE should do the job)
 
I don't intend to get in to a huge debate about this. All I will say is that cable is just as much a component of a hi-fi system as the beefier power supply or better capacitors you might find in a higher grade source or amp. Whether a person hears the difference depends on several things. The first is the ability of a system to reveal any change - be it good or bad. Next is whether the listener can put their finger on what has changed in the sound. Finally it's how the listener reacts to that change.

Pretty much every person on the planet can tell a good live performance from a bad one. Unfortunately the Hi-Fi industry and associated press is so full of jargon, smoke and mirrors that folk often forget what it is they're trying to listen to....which is a rendition of the artist's performance. A bad system will make a mess of things.
 
alastair84 said:
look mate, wtf are you talkin about? one way cable? the electrons only travel in one direction?
Click to expand...
First things first, there's no need to swear at me thank you very much.

It is to do with the way the cable is extruded. There's probably some explanation to do with crystal boundaries or some such... That's not really so important. It's how the cable sounds. In one direction your Carnival will sound better than the other.

Also, why did you bi-wire?
 
alistair84, why are you kicking off and trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill? I think you're taking this all a bit too seriously.

You're obviously excited about Hi-Fi. I can't fault you for that. But please don't have a go at the people who are taking the time to answer your questions and offer you a bit of advice.

I haven't written anything with the intent to offend. What I can't control is the tone of voice you read in to other people's posts. Don't be too quick to take offence just because mine aren't peppered with text slang and smilies. Okay?

Look back at your own posts. Some of them are quite terse. I turned a blind eye until your "wtf are you talking about?"

Also, I haven't been disparaging towards the retailer you have used. I'm simply curious about the quality of advice you have received. As you yourself said, you've spent £400-odd with them. Have they any views on cable directionality? Chord certainly have.

So, all in all just chill out a bit, eh? It's meant to be a hobby we do for fun. :D (there you go, a smiley just for you)
 
Ok thanks for the smiley. :) If chord do have a view on directionality, how come i can't find it through google? and how come you can't help me? (determine the correct direction that my speaker cable should run?)
thanks.
 
If it was me (& I'm only assuming this) the writing on the cable should be going away from the amp towards the speaker. That was the way I ran my old QED 79 strand cable on my old hi-fi system, when I 1st started dabbling in hi-fi in my mid teens.
 
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