Critique/Advice on HiFi purchases please.

[Vogon]

Hi people
I am thinking of splashing out on some HiFi gear, not having had any for a decade or so, listening through my current AV 4k player and amp (Panasonic UBD820 player Denon AvR2400H Amp and Q Acoustics 3020 speakers).

I was thinking of Cambridge Audio AXA35 Amp (may want the phono input at a later date) and AXC25 CD player with Fyne Audio 302 floor standing speakers.

They all seem to be well regarded, and I want the Amp/CD to have matching aesthetics.
Any thoughts on A: would I notice much difference over the current AV setup, and B: will these work well together ?

 

[Vogon]

Thanks for that Lucid.
The speakers are spoken of very highly, even to the extent subjectively they are as good as a lot costing nearer 1k … but that is a review and as you say not always unbiased.
I will ring the local RS and hope they have the components in stock to demo together.
I have had someone mention Cambridge Audio are a sort of RS own brand, no idea if that's the case as I can find them available elsewhere.

Bearing in mind I prefer uncluttered and simple aesthetics , and (also aesthetically) to keep the amp and CD player the same brand/range, are there other worthy components for similar money (£500) for both) ?

BTW my Sub for AV is a BK Gemini 2 bought as my very expensive one gave up the ghost after 7-8 years and the local-ish manufacturer wanted to charge me nearly £100 to look at it with no guarantee they could fix it and would only refund the fee if I bought another similarly expensive model from them if they couldn't.
The BK isn't as quite musical as the old one, but does the job excellently for movies and at around a third the price of the outgoing MJ Acoustics unit (and that was 7-8 years previous) so a win in my books. Besides I prefer not to use a sub for Music

 

[Vogon]

Yep, I see were you are coming from
I actually have been looking at the NAD and Marantz as alternatives.
And may be rethinking the speakers as floor standers are not going to work for my space as I hoped. So as I am consigned to "bookshelf" speakers the B&W 607's are on my shortlist.

 

[Vogon]

I never did listen to the CA stuff, I Demo'd the Marantz 6006 UK edition amp and CD player and the NAD 316BEE with C538 and various speakers.
For me, the NAD blew the Marantz away for clarity, but I wasn't content with its volume, pushing it up it seemed to pull back on the sound.
This was why I didn't even try the CA stuff, The amp was rated lower output than the NAD, and generally they are conservative.
So I came away knowing which speakers I liked, but not knowing what to do about the rest.
After some thinking, I decided to listen to the NAD D 3045 and NAD C 368 Amps with the hope they had the same sort of sound as the 316Bee.
As they cost considerably more I planned to use my Sony X800 4k Player, that was in the loft after being replaced by a better machine, as a CD Transport.
So back to the shop for a listen of the cd/amps and speakers, and I was much happier with them both.
The supplier already had a nice combo deal on the Amp/Speaker package I wanted, so after a bit of haggling, I decided on the C368 as the deal wasn't that much more over the 3045, and the extra inputs and power couldn't hurt
Once set up at home and busy running in the speakers I wasn't convinced the Sony was doing as good a job as the NAD player I had heard on demo.
As luck would have it, a small windfall came my way and I have spent the morning installing and playing with the C538 CDP, after ordering it online, and very pleased I am too

NAD C 538 CDP
NAD C 368 AMP
B&W 607 Speakers

 

[Vogon]

I don't know, I just went with what I liked the sound of
Admittedly after I heard the NAD I didn't look at any other make as that just sounded right to me.