Speakers/ampli balance for a streaming system

[fweakyyyy]

Dear all,
I'm looking to start my audiophile adventure and i need to set up a good starting system around 2500-2700€. My room is 15-20 square meters with quite low ceilings and grit floors.
I'm very undecided about either getting an all-in-one streamer amplifier or a separate streamer and an integrated amplifier or even just an integrated amplifier with bluetooth connection.

So my questions would be:

• Better to start with a more budget heavy speakers set and cheaper ampli?
• Is it better to have a separate streamer or is it ok to go through bluetooth connection through the ampli? Does it really change and does 24/32 bit really matters for a beginner? Like Arcam a15 has bluetooth so it's tempting
• Which integrated amplifier would you suggest? I was looking at Audiolab (6000 or 7000), Arcam (a15), Cambridge audio (cxa81), Rega mk4 ...
• Feel free too suggest speakers
• What about all in one solutions?

Thank you very much in advance for all who will help my search!!

 

[staticV3]

Hi @fweakyyyy! Welcome to ASR.

I would recommend you spend most of your budget on the speakers, that's where you'll see the biggest return in sound quality.

Are you looking for bookshelf speakers? Or floorstanders? Are subwoofers an option?

 

[ZolaIII]

See about those:

(Europe) Master Deals Thread on Audio Product Sales

You should not sleep on that offer. I got one of those for my active subwoofer and it instantly smoothed out female vocals. Adds a bit of punch to the cello though, so maybe not for everyone.

www.audiosciencereview.com

If you can get them especially for that price and pair them with Yamaha R-N 1000A if you can find it for a good price and that's pretty much it and all in one, I don’t know if you can/want sub but in smallish room those will be enough on their own and you have YPAO (room correction) and YPAO Loudness (dynamic scaling equal loudness compensation).

Edit:see if you also want original stands there is a discount deal for those little lower on same page.

 

[JeremyFife]

Hi, and welcome
That's a nice amount of money to get yourself a very fine system.

How far away from yours speakers are you likely to be sitting, and how loud do you like to play? It would help to know what sort of music you like (bass heavy, full orchestra etc) and if you will have one main listening spot or many.
What will you use as your music source? A streamer, or a PC or something else?

If you've been reading posts here you will know that the biggest impact on your sound is the Speakers "in your room". Electronics are pretty good now and you are unlikely to make a bad choice.

This means that you should definitely put most of your budget towards speakers and that you also should have some method for controlling the sound - DSP / room correction.
It's also worth thinking about Active Speakers (amplification inside the speakers).

You have many choices available to you (too many ) but look at the Review Index here as a good starting point.
WiiM products are interesting for their great streamers and very (very) useful PEQ
The miniDSP Flex is a brilliant thing to add proper DSP and future subwoofer integration

To give you an idea, here are some thoughts from my own fantasy shopping list ;
#1
All in one: WiiM Amp (really) $299
Speakers: something from the Revel, or Kef range. Philharmonic BMR Monitors ... very personal. Won't go very loud, but will sound amazing

#2
Streamer: WiiM mini - $80
PreAmp / DAC / DSP: miniDSP Flex - $600
Active Speakers: Genelec 8030C / Neuman KH 120 ii - $1200/1500

#3
Streamer: WiiM mini - $80
PreAmp / DAC / DSP: miniDSP Flex - $600
Amplifier: Hypex NCore NC502 from a reputable supplier - $700
Passive Speakers: Ascend Sierra 1 v2 - $1000

Yamaha, as suggested, also do some nice integrated receivers that include room correction

 

[fweakyyyy]

Hi @fweakyyyy! Welcome to ASR.

I would recommend you spend most of your budget on the speakers, that's where you'll see the biggest return in sound quality.

Are you looking for bookshelf speakers? Or floorstanders? Are subwoofers an option?

Hey there and thank you for your answer! Giving the measure of my room i would say bookshelf without subwoofer

 

[fweakyyyy]

See about those:

(Europe) Master Deals Thread on Audio Product Sales

You should not sleep on that offer. I got one of those for my active subwoofer and it instantly smoothed out female vocals. Adds a bit of punch to the cello though, so maybe not for everyone.

www.audiosciencereview.com

If you can get them especially for that price and pair them with Yamaha R-N 1000A if you can find it for a good price and that's pretty much it and all in one, I don’t know if you can/want sub but in smallish room those will be enough on their own and you have YPAO (room correction) and YPAO Loudness (dynamic scaling equal loudness compensation).

Edit:see if you also want original stands there is a discount deal for those little lower on same page.

Yamaha sounds great! It has all the things i'm looking for and room correction might be a big plus since i'm not experienced on speakers placement. Is the r-n800a good too?

 

[fweakyyyy]

Hi, and welcome
That's a nice amount of money to get yourself a very fine system.

How far away from yours speakers are you likely to be sitting, and how loud do you like to play? It would help to know what sort of music you like (bass heavy, full orchestra etc) and if you will have one main listening spot or many.
What will you use as your music source? A streamer, or a PC or something else?

If you've been reading posts here you will know that the biggest impact on your sound is the Speakers "in your room". Electronics are pretty good now and you are unlikely to make a bad choice.

This means that you should definitely put most of your budget towards speakers and that you also should have some method for controlling the sound - DSP / room correction.
It's also worth thinking about Active Speakers (amplification inside the speakers).

You have many choices available to you (too many ) but look at the Review Index here as a good starting point.
WiiM products are interesting for their great streamers and very (very) useful PEQ
The miniDSP Flex is a brilliant thing to add proper DSP and future subwoofer integration

To give you an idea, here are some thoughts from my own fantasy shopping list ;
#1
All in one: WiiM Amp (really) $299
Speakers: something from the Revel, or Kef range. Philharmonic BMR Monitors ... very personal. Won't go very loud, but will sound amazing

#2
Streamer: WiiM mini - $80
PreAmp / DAC / DSP: miniDSP Flex - $600
Active Speakers: Genelec 8030C / Neuman KH 120 ii - $1200/1500

#3
Streamer: WiiM mini - $80
PreAmp / DAC / DSP: miniDSP Flex - $600
Amplifier: Hypex NCore NC502 from a reputable supplier - $700
Passive Speakers: Ascend Sierra 1 v2 - $1000

Yamaha, as suggested, also do some nice integrated receivers that include room correction

Hello and thank you for the very detailed answer! Speakers would be places like 3mt from the listening point. I listen mainly to classical (solo to full orchestra) and rock/indie music. I won't get very loud tho. Music source would be my laptop with some hi-res streaming service, hence my question on whether to get a separate streamer... Will bluetooth/usb do the job anyway or is it a big step up to get a wiim or similar?

As for the integrated solution i saw the yamahas being recommended a lot and i bet they sound great. I was also looking Arcam a-15, audiolab 7000a or cambridge cxa81 but i guess i would have to focus on the speaker

 

[staticV3]

Hey there and thank you for your answer! Giving the measure of my room i would say bookshelf without subwoofer

In that case, consider the Devialet Phantom I or Phantom II.

These will give you the closest thing to a full-range system, without employing a subwoofer.

You can stream you music to them directly via WiFi, AirPlay, Spotify Connect, Bluetooth, or use Toslink.

 

[ZolaIII]

Yamaha sounds great! It has all the things i'm looking for and room correction might be a big plus since i'm not experienced on speakers placement. Is the r-n800a good too?

Well if you don't nead HDMI and USB audio inputs and could find old stock of R-N803 (R-N803D) that would be value, not a big fan of R-N800A myself and neither of new R-N line is value oriented (priced). Wharfedale Linton's are great and have very good DR or max SPL before compressing and you need it one or the other way especially for classic complex instrumental music if you can fit them of course they are on the big side especially for bookshelf's.

 

[JeremyFife]

Hello and thank you for the very detailed answer! Speakers would be places like 3mt from the listening point. I listen mainly to classical (solo to full orchestra) and rock/indie music. I won't get very loud tho. Music source would be my laptop with some hi-res streaming service, hence my question on whether to get a separate streamer... Will bluetooth/usb do the job anyway or is it a big step up to get a wiim or similar?

As for the integrated solution i saw the yamahas being recommended a lot and i bet they sound great. I was also looking Arcam a-15, audiolab 7000a or cambridge cxa81 but i guess i would have to focus on the speaker

Cool.
No need for a separate streamer. USB into a DAC will be ideal.
Bluetooth is a technical step down - it's a lossy technology and can't transmit any hi-res signal. However a good Bluetooth version, Ldac for preference, will be so close that you are unlikely to hear the difference: technically worse, but audibly the same.
If that bothers you, then $90 gets a WiiM Mini which streams hi-res over Wi-Fi. You can't hear the difference, but it's technically as good as it gets.

Choose your speakers, see how much you have let for amplification. Ideally, audition the speakers in your own room (easier to say than do)

 

[fweakyyyy]

Cool.
No need for a separate streamer. USB into a DAC will be ideal.
Bluetooth is a technical step down - it's a lossy technology and can't transmit any hi-res signal. However a good Bluetooth version, Ldac for preference, will be so close that you are unlikely to hear the difference: technically worse, but audibly the same.
If that bothers you, then $90 gets a WiiM Mini which streams hi-res over Wi-Fi. You can't hear the difference, but it's technically as good as it gets.

Choose your speakers, see how much you have let for amplification. Ideally, audition the speakers in your own room (easier to say than do)

Perfect! USB will be fine, i don't need bluetooth. I think i will audition some speakers then choose a decent amp like yamaha, what do you think?