So, been a bit absent from these depths for a long time now. All changed, moved my M35is on a while ago when I was moving a lot (3 times in 2 years) and when my NAD C272 went pop I never bothered to replace/fix it, sold off my Musical Fidelity gear and have been "listening" to music through a crapola pair of Logitech X-140s! 
I was getting seriously fed up, but due to changes in my circumstances I couldn't really go out and blow the required wedge to get my old setup back.
Cue my project: Get myself back into a listenable system for as absolutely little as possible!
I knew that to achieve this I would have to be fairly open to brands I didn't particularly enjoy and models I have never heard at the older end of the spectrum and spend a long time looking and doing research quickly and accurately so as not to miss a bargain...
After about 2 weeks it all came together and I once again have a system and considering the odds stacked against me, its actually pretty decent!
First up, the amplifier. I saw plenty of Arcam Alphas going for around the £100-£200 mark, but generally speaking I knew that I probably could do just as well for less money. Audiolab 8000As are still holding thier value just as well as ever, no chance of getting one of those at a steal, I would need to turn to something more obscure.
After narrowly missing out on a Musical Fidelity B200 for a very, very cheap price I lucked across a Rotel RA-810A for sale on eBay. It was at a price that meant I could sell it on no issues should I hate it (which is what I thought of the newer RA-01 and RA-03 models I had listened to a while back). Absolutely immaculate condition, no noise where there shouldn't be and no cosmetic damage to speak of. Perfect!
Obviously I couldn't demo this without a pair of speakers so my full focus turned to a pair of speakers. I have fairly particular tastes in speakers, I don't like clinical fatiguing sound (I'd much prefer an inaccurate sound that I could tap my feet to than an accurate one that I just had to turn off!) so that ruled out B&W et al immediately. At the end of the market I was looking at, Mission are the stand-out favourite. I found a pair of 760 booksheves for an incredible price but whilst I was deciding about the looks I turned up a pair of Kef Q35s again for cheap. A long, long time ago I purchased a pair of Mission M73is and at that time the Kef Q35i was about. The Kefs would have won if it wasn't for price, so I figured the Q35 would be the ones to go for.
Picked them up and they are missing their spikes and there is a small amount of cosmetic damage but nothing you would notice if you weren't scrutinising them, not bad!
Hooked them up to the Rotel and as my CDP is currently elsewhere I hooked up the only working source I had to hand, my iPod Nano and hit play.
So, what did I think? Detail better than I thought possible from the speakers, nowhere near the thinness I expected from the Rotel. Overall its a very musical combination, perhaps lacking in bass impact, but I was never expecting that to be prominent from such a setup anyway!
What did it all cost, I hear you ask? £95.
I was getting seriously fed up, but due to changes in my circumstances I couldn't really go out and blow the required wedge to get my old setup back.
Cue my project: Get myself back into a listenable system for as absolutely little as possible!
I knew that to achieve this I would have to be fairly open to brands I didn't particularly enjoy and models I have never heard at the older end of the spectrum and spend a long time looking and doing research quickly and accurately so as not to miss a bargain...
After about 2 weeks it all came together and I once again have a system and considering the odds stacked against me, its actually pretty decent!
First up, the amplifier. I saw plenty of Arcam Alphas going for around the £100-£200 mark, but generally speaking I knew that I probably could do just as well for less money. Audiolab 8000As are still holding thier value just as well as ever, no chance of getting one of those at a steal, I would need to turn to something more obscure.
After narrowly missing out on a Musical Fidelity B200 for a very, very cheap price I lucked across a Rotel RA-810A for sale on eBay. It was at a price that meant I could sell it on no issues should I hate it (which is what I thought of the newer RA-01 and RA-03 models I had listened to a while back). Absolutely immaculate condition, no noise where there shouldn't be and no cosmetic damage to speak of. Perfect!
Obviously I couldn't demo this without a pair of speakers so my full focus turned to a pair of speakers. I have fairly particular tastes in speakers, I don't like clinical fatiguing sound (I'd much prefer an inaccurate sound that I could tap my feet to than an accurate one that I just had to turn off!) so that ruled out B&W et al immediately. At the end of the market I was looking at, Mission are the stand-out favourite. I found a pair of 760 booksheves for an incredible price but whilst I was deciding about the looks I turned up a pair of Kef Q35s again for cheap. A long, long time ago I purchased a pair of Mission M73is and at that time the Kef Q35i was about. The Kefs would have won if it wasn't for price, so I figured the Q35 would be the ones to go for.
Picked them up and they are missing their spikes and there is a small amount of cosmetic damage but nothing you would notice if you weren't scrutinising them, not bad!
Hooked them up to the Rotel and as my CDP is currently elsewhere I hooked up the only working source I had to hand, my iPod Nano and hit play.
So, what did I think? Detail better than I thought possible from the speakers, nowhere near the thinness I expected from the Rotel. Overall its a very musical combination, perhaps lacking in bass impact, but I was never expecting that to be prominent from such a setup anyway!
What did it all cost, I hear you ask? £95.
