Replacing B&W 606

[asr_jon]

Running a bit of a Heath Robinson setup at the moment. Time to make it better.

Currently headphone port of a Sonos play 5 into Yamaha CR-440 into B&W 606s. The Yam is a bit hissy/noisy when i move the pots and could do with a service.

I want to play CDs because they can be picked up for cents and I listen to mostly classical orchestral and piano.

What I want is clarity, as in to hear all the instruments / notes or at least hear what the person mastering the disc wanted me to hear.

Started researching DACs and Chifi which led me here. Contemplating a cheap / used CD player coax/optical into the back of one of the $200-300 integrated amps that has onboard DAC, low noise and good objective ratings for fidelity.

Problem is my research on here has suggested that my speakers would not be the first choice for "fidelity" - even at the same price point there may be better options.

Is this really the case? Am I going to get any more clarity with a new DAC / AMP combo over just any old fair quality CD player through the current amp and speakers??

Would there be a speaker model I would potentially swap / trade for that would measure better and give me the outcome I want?

Cheers,

Jon

 

[Beave]

These 606?

https://www.soundstagenetwork.com/i...&catid=77:loudspeaker-measurements&Itemid=153

 

[asr_jon]

Yes, precisely those

 

[Deleted member 48726]

You should keep the amp and get that cd player first. It doesn't matter that the knobs hiss a bit when you move them. Then you should assess if you like what you hear.

Don't change a lot of things at once. That's expensive.
Your amp may be fine regardless of its potentiometers dirty.
Your speakers may be fine. But I would advice you to try get a proper cd player first.

Then you may be happy and you can get your amp cleaned.

That's the easy route.

 

[Beave]

It looks like your receiver is from 1979-1980. It was rated at 30 watts per channel into 8 Ohms. It's hard to know how well it's performing today and whether or not a new amp would be an improvement.

As for the speakers, they will 'soften' the low treble and accentuate the high treble. And their response will change considerably depending on how you toe them in/out.

 

[GXAlan]

How big is your listening space?

Justin Hurwitz uses JBL Series 3

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1463236596505841665

 

[asr_jon]

OK reporting back:

My amp was dead(ish) - I played white noise through both channels, one was quite a bit quieter and with music, quite distorted.

I got a Denon DCD710-AD for $100 AUD second hand and initial results are encouraging, particularly through headphones but also through an old Kenwood Power Amp I had kicking around, albeit fed from the headphone out of the CD player because there's no volume control on the amp.

I've ordered a Fosi BT20A Pro with the 30 volt PSU which will arrive tomorrow.

I have no proper speaker stands. I have a couple of stools that are the right height but obviously transmit everything to my hardwood timber floor laid over chipboard, built on joists. Have posted question in the DIY stands thread and note the poly pipe design also.

In terms of doing the simple stuff first, I should sort out stands and speaker position first yeah? How useful is a calibrated microphone in getting speaker position right? I've ordered a Sonarworks XREF20 because it's good value for money (150 aud) and you get a 20 day free trial.