Help Building a Good Sounding Separates System
default -- Sun, 12/20/2009 - 20:01
Hi Everyone,
New to the forum and looking for some advice. After a few years wandering in the hi-fi wilderness of the iPod, I recently plopped a Cambridge 840C CD player into my so-so HT/music set-up (Cambridge 540R, Epos ELS8 bookshelf speakers) and have found my appreciation for audio equipment and CDs transformed. Now I'm looking to create a separates stereo system around the 840C. I've done a lot of reading and researching on getting to know the usual suspects, but I'm looking for some ideas on preamps/power amps and floorstanding speaker combinations to mate to the player at about $2k per component. I was thinking along these lines:
* Parasound Halo A21 amp
* Paradigm Reference Studio 60 v5 speakers
* Parasound JC 2 preamp (way over my price range, but though I might eventually stretch or maybe try to get a factory refreshed or demo to mate it to the A21)
I've also been looking at the Magnaplanar 1.6, PSB Imagine, Epos M16i, Monitor Silver speakers and just saw that Cambridge has released the 840W and 840E amp/preamp which has gotten good reviews. I'm just getting caught with too much choice and, more importantly too many combinations because I only have one "keeper" component.
I mostly listen to rock (Stones, etc..), blues, and jazz, no classical or vocals.
So...any ideas on what kind of combinations might be right for my CD source and what might complement my listening tastes?
Thanks in advance...
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Congratulations on discovering high-end audio and the Cambridge 840C. That's an amazing player and one of the greatest bargains in all of hi-fi.
The new Cambridge 840E preamp and 840W power amp are excellent choices, but a little over your $2k per component target. The Parasound JC-2 preamp comes very close to the best available at a fraction of the price. You can't go wrong with the JC-2 unless you cut your speaker budget to get one. The speakers are an important part of the system. If you have the space, the Magneplanar 1.6 can sound stunning. They need to be positioned far out into the room, and be driven by a substantial power amplifier (the Cambridge 840W will do the trick). None of the other speakers you're looking at will match the Maggie in transparency, resolution, or soundstaging. If you need to position the speakers closer to the walls, the PSB is an excellent choice. Look for Robert E. Greene's review of the T6 in the next issue (it mails on the 23rd). I'm not sure about the Monitor Audio; they have made good-sounding speakers in the past, and we have the new Silver RX-8 in-house at the moment undergoing a full review.
One piece of advice I should share with you is to shop for a dealer, not for equipment. If you find a skilled and caring retailer, you'll end up with a great sounding system no matter what the brand names. A key indicator as to a dealer's quality is if he gets great sound in his store. If not, keep looking.
Hope this helps.
I second RH's advice of shopping for a dealer. Do you have any local high end audio dealers? I would visit each one in your area and explain to them that you are in the early stages of researching/shopping for a high end system. Describe to them what type of music you like to listen to, what the room where the system is going to reside in is like (dimensions, surfaces, etc...), and finally give them the budget parameters. The dealers should then set up a number of auditions for you of systems that they think should meet your needs. Take music you are familiar with to each of these auditions and this way you will start developing a sense for what sonic attributes you are seeking. Try to choose music for the auditions that will showcase different aspects of a system (bass extension/articulation, midrange clarity and resolution, timbral accuracy, treble extension and smoothness, etc...) as this will allow you to develop a better ear and what to listen for when you assess a high end system. Finally, while I understand your intention to build a system around the Cambridge 840C CD player, I would start with choosing a speaker that hits all the sonic attributes that float your boat and work your way backwards. I would submit to you that the two most important and difficult things to get right in building a system are the speaker-room match and then the speaker-amp match (due to speaker sensitivity and impedance characteristics). Once you have these two variables properly selected, you will be able to tweak the sound through the choice of a pre-amp and source (in your case you are already set there). Hope this helps flesh out a plan for you. I don't mean to dissuade you from seeking input on gear in these forums but I would do the above first and take your time and you can always come back to the forums with questions on specific equipment or systems. Good luck and happy shopping.
Thanks for the reply, Robert. I actually bought the Cambridge in large part because of your review of the product. With regard to my budget, I can stretch a bit for the right components -- I could swing the Cambridge W and E plus the Maggies. From what I've read, it seems like that might lack a little punch for rock and guitar driven blues or might be a little too clear/cold...what do you think?
How do you think the Cambridge pair compares to the Parasound A21-JC2 combo? I'm intensely curious about the Maggies (again, in part because of J Valin's comment that the Parasound A21 would sound great with them), but NYC apartment living might torpedo that idea if they do have to be more than a foot or two out in front of the wall.
Excited to read about the Monitors!
Thanks for all your help,
Ben
Thanks for the advice cmalak -- I'm just trying to narrow the search a bit and then, when I'm closer to opening my wallet, will go out to the local dealers. I'm working on putting together a good listening list to bring with me that reflects my day-to-day taste (and not which are simply the "best sounding" discs).
Just to throw something else into the mix, someone on another forum recommended going with a $2-3k integrated like the krell S-300i or the Simaudio i-3.3 and using the spare change to perhaps shop around for a slightly higher class of speakers (in addition to the ones on my list). Wondering what you all thought.