ADVICE REGARDING SYSTEM UPGRADES /SET-UP PLEASE
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IN DETAIL:
Want to improve my combined system for Music more than for home-cinema. But hopefully both in parallel. Looking for bang-for-bucks (or rather for £ sterling) for quality. It also must have high ‘Wife Acceptance Factor’ (WAF); in this case: white, styled, and as unobtrusive as possible (I might also through in some white lies about cost). I’ve started from a high WAF position, but pretty low audio quality (Q-Acoustics Q-AV speakers and AVR). Although. have bought some new kit in past couple weeks.
Not esp knowledgeable about / good at physics; DIY electronics a no go. Although (as an aside) , there is a Raspberry Pi 400 kit - enclosed in a keyboard – kicking around unused,. if that could be pressed into use, Maybe my 13 year old code do any software stuff.
BUDGET: around £2500-£3500, preferably at towards lower end, of which almost half has already been spent (Chromecast audio, new fronts and (on order) Subwoofer). Leaving £1250-1750 ($1650 -$2400) to play with, with DAC and amplification being the main things.
I could do above this if it was definitely going to give a major step up in performance that I would be likely to appreciate; and / or if there was a particular time-limited bargain to be picked up. Also happy to not spend the whole budget.
MUSIC: I’d like to have a system that allows me to listen to music across range of classical, vocal Jazz, gothic-punk and rock. However, (with apologies if this offends the purists), I mostly listen to electronic music having once been a clubber back-in-the-day, including dance/house, big-beat and techno.
USERS/ AUDIENCE: Primarily used by me, but teenage boys who will also use to watch Netflix/Movies and wife to put music on (using voice-control via Alexa / Fire-cube / Amazon-music).
In terms of quality, I’m the only one who will take any real notice at home. I like to fiddle with thing and can be obsessive about getting about details and getting thing ‘right’, but then tend to move on to focusing on another project. Based on my primary listening preference you’ll already have realized I’m not the most refined. I’m not totally cloth eared, but certainly no golden ear either.
LISTENING SPACE / LAYOUT: Living room. Approx 12’ wide, 20’ long and 9’ high. i.e 2160 cubic feet.
To the left a bay window to the right currently open plan to dining room. But going to be repartitioned with acoustic glass wall (to 38DB) as part of building works next year. So working sett up assuming for dimensions above
Listening position dead central (10m from either end of living room). Sofa back against wall. No latitude to move sofa.
TV attached to chimney breast (14” deep). Centre speaker below TV (22” from floor), Front speakers are 12” from wall. And sit 6-8 inches from side of chimney breast, but project in front of it (centre of cone by approx. The fronts are 7’ apart approx. 9.5 ft from primary listening position, slightly toed-in, sitting in on weighted stands 60 cm from floor. The position the Sofa and the front & centre speakers (bar minor adjustment) are essentially fixed factors. There is no room for floor standing speakers.
There is slim Sub (see below) front left hung on the wall front left ‘corner’ (into curved Bay window). I could keep this or not. Either plan to buy new sub which will have to sit front right, angled in – approx. 1m to side of front right speaker)
There is a low, 180 cm wide, heavy AV cabinet which houses (and hides) the AV-amp and BD player, Chromecast, all plugs / transformers, wires and ethernet splitter. There is room in there for a 2nd amp, and a DAC, but not an awful lot else if air-flow to be preserved. Any new components need to live in the cabinet, out of site (behind the black glass ‘window’).
MUSIC SOURCE: Mostly from Synology NAS. Moving to slowly to convert CDs to FLAC; most ripped to 192KB VBR MP3 & Ogg (using EAC).
As aforementioned, the Mrs uses Alexa to play tracks from Amazon Prime Music via the Fire-Cube
No separate CD player. No plans to get one. Guess could use BD, but don’t.
STREAMING: Casting to Chromecast Audio from Synology as DNLA using HiFI Cast on Android Phone (also have USB Audio Player, but Casting is unstable). Toslink Optical cable.
There is good Wifi and also wired ethernet.
This recent change from using Squeezebox Duet (sadly broken) and then Chromecast and Fire-Cube to ACR via HDMI.
DAC: No separate DAC (Squeezebox RIP). Therefore Currently that within the AVR.
AMPLIFIER:
Another area looking for advice and understand there may be multiple possible approaches (all presumably with compromises given budgetary constraints)
No dedicated stereo Amp for several years (my Marantz PM66SE packed in)
At present only have SONY DA2400ES AVR doing it all. Capable of 7.1. Not unhappy with it as things stand for movies. My new front speakers are such an improvement that even musically it’s doing relatively OK (with direct sound setting). However, other settings to allow base to come in disappointing. it is also getting long in the tooth (I’ve had since 2010). It doesn’t support 4K TV - and in the next year or 2 I expect I will get a 4K TV as prices for decent 65” OLED sets continue to fall.
SPEAKERS
FRONT SPEAKER: I have bought, just this week, a pair of new Revel M105s (white); which I picked up for a bargain £799 (from Nintronics). They are amazing, massive improvement in quality even given limitation of rest of system. Many Thanks for the review Amirm – they wouldn’t have been on my radar had I not seen your comments (and review) about. And didn’t imagine in my price bracket (looking for Revel M16s when found this bargain)
They replace a (very) old pair of Mission 701s which had been residing in my parents’ loft for over a decade which I had dug out, but ‘sadly’ immediately failed the WAF test. I mention these because I love these speakers for their delivery of electronic music. They are not very neutral but have amazing bass for their size. The M105s beat them hands down on everything (including Laurent Garnier – Techno) apart from Trip-Hop (Portishead, Massive Attack) which has really deep base in it. With the upshot being I need to get new subwoofer to go with the new fronts for music (as well as Movies)
SUB-WOOFER: At present I have a 13 year old Q-Acoustics AV-Sub. It’s not ‘man enough’ for the job. But is relative unobtrusive. Being white, only 17cm deep and mounted to the wall above the skirting board. Angled into room front left corner.
After reading some of the threads here, and then reviews on audio-phonics I’ve ordered a SWS SB1000 Pro Sub. Which on paper should, I hope, get the balance right between performance and WAF. Although, there is going to be a skirmish over even a 33cm white cube being added to the floor.
CENTRE SPEAKER (UK spelling):
Q-Acoustics LCR 50 – this is a width adjustable passive sound bar, with 3 separate speakers. NTX rather than conventional design. Using centre only. It’s performance is OK. No way going to stretch to Revel 205C (£1000) let alone 208C (£2000). As bracket so wide and recessed into wall bit of pain to change for a narrower centre. As will have to do fill in holes / sand down / paint etc. So while open to possible option for a better centre (so I can keep my out for a bargain) think this be the last thing I change.
SURROUNDS
2 Pairs on Q-Acoustic AV Surrounds currently wall mounted very close to ceiling (too high to be optimal for 7.1 set up) .
Also have pain Mission 77DS Dipole speakers which I picked up on ebay last and mounted on wall last weekend. They much improved the surround experience (in part position) but just larger, more capable speakers. However they are relatively large and black. Thus have failed the WAF test and will go back on ebay. I have another pair currently in dining room which plan to mount lower to use as low surrounds. Which won’t sound as good but will have to do. Again open to ideas so I can keep an eye out for a bargain; but spending money on surrounds is not the priority.
Help / Advice gratefully received – if you would be so kind please
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I was wondering whether if I got a Denon AVR3007H (£1150 / $) that might suffice. Full stop.
But assuming otherwise
Would adding a Behringer A800 Amp (£180) to power the fronts provide a significant upgrade in performance?
How does one switch between inputs on the A800?
And if I did that whether a Topping E/D 30/50 (??which) could / should act as a pre-amp for music to the Behringer. In terms of quality and of practicality. Are the Topping DACS of sufficient quality acting as pre-amps?
I think the answer to this si going to be no (please excuse my ignorance)
Definitely hoping for suggestions wrt AMPS. Seen that the Nord Amps score highly. Bit confused what is what with these. Also take most of / all of budget. IS there anything recommended in-between? I auditioned a Music Fidelity MSi2 when I went to listen too speakers, I had high hopes, but lacked a bit of oomph. Certainly compared to the YBA heritage A200 I also listened to as well (could get for £1000). I Wondered about the Cambridge Audio CAX81 (again possibly as a complete solution). Unfortunately out-of stock in UK presently
I am also unclear how to connect the subwoofer best so can use optimally for both Music and Home cinema with any of these options. Or even if it is possible to do so. I also wondered about the pros/cons/ practicalities of running (in the long run if not immediately) a 5.2.4 setup with with SB1000 and also keeping the Q-AV sub. Help!
On the subject of subwoofers. Open to other suggestions as have not received the SVS SB1000 Pro yet. But already rejected NK Electronics (great value, geographically close but not aesthetically acceptable) and Ardrenal 1961s (were in running until realised inputs on the right side / would be highly visible).
Ditto centre and surrounds (just in case a bargain came up). Don’t see either the Revel C208c or even C205c as being options due to £££.
Many thanks – just for reading if you have got this far.
Hopefully someone can offer some sagely advice.
