Hifi system upgrade

[Vampa]

Hi all,

I am currently looking for an upgrade in my Hifi system. Please find details of my current set-up below:

For music:

Synology DS212j NAS
Mac mini (Audirvana)
M2Tech Hiface II
QED performance digital cable
Rega DAC
Atlas Element Integra analogue cable
Rega Brio-R
Chrod Carnival Silverscreen cable
Tannoy Mercury V4 (bi-wired)
BK Gemini II subwoofer

For Home cinema:

Synology DS212j NAS
Mac mini
Hdmi cable
Marantz SR5004
Chord Crimson plus analogue cable (from the receiver pre-out)
Rega Brio-R
Chrod Carnical Silverscreen
Tannoy Mercury V4 (bi-wired)
BK Gemini II subwoofer
Tannoy Mercury VC
Q Acoustics 2010i surround

I am quite happy with the home cinema set-up and think that the versatility and SQ it provides is more than enough for movies. However, music-wise, and playing flac files, although good, I think the quality can be improved. My gut feeling is that the current bottle-neck I have for music are the Tannoy Mercury V4s. I think they are very good for the price (250 £ rrp currently for the pair in the UK) and sound good for cinema, but as very entry-level floorstanders, feel that lack some precision and clarity in the middle range for music and do not fully make use of the Rega DAC+Brio-R capabilities. I would appreciate your comments/opinion on that.

I was previously using the Home cinema set-up with the Marantz SR5004 for music as well but was not really happy with the SQ, so I acquired the Rega pack recently and they have certainly improved the SQ over the SR5004. When I demoed the Rega DAC+Brio-R I did it with various B&W, Rega, Tannoy, MA and KEF speakers in the range of 500-600 £ the pair. The only ones that to me sounded better than the Tannoys were the KEFs. Therefore, I am currently inclined towards KEF speakers. As I would like this upgrade to be durable, I am looking at floorstanders in the 1000-1500 £ range. As I am based in the UK, I tend to UK brands. I am currently thinking about two options (have not demoed them yet):

· Tannoy Revolution DC6T SE floorstanders. Very good reviews and feedback from owners. Currently available for 1000 £. Not really sure if the SQ step-up would justify the price increase over the V4s.

· KEF R-series. Very good reviews and feedback from owners as well. R500s currently available for 1500 £ (the R700s could be too much for the Rega Brio-R wattage).

Any feedback from owners or anybody who has listened to these combinations would be greatly appreciated. As additional info, my living room is 42 m2 with high ceiling (about 4 meters) and I listen to indie/rock mainly (Calexico, Mumford & Sons, Placebo, Foo Fighters, Paolo Nutini, etc.)

Many thanks in advance to all.

 

[Wynbnt]

I can not help you, but maybe you can help me. I have a 5.1 with Bowers & wilkens 705 bookshelf Speakers in the front. In Ceiling Profiecient in rear. I do not remember the model, but the higher end ones for home theater.
A denon avr 2312 to drive them. I was wondering how to get great sound out of these beautiful speakers without breaking the bank. I have access to marantz, denon, yamaha at some discount.
I am not sure of bi- amp wiring, to amp drivers separate from tweeters. I guess some of the issue might be power, but I believe it could also be speaker placement, room, EQ, crossover? I also have a subwoofer, set the speakers to small, crossover at 80Hz.
What is different about higher costing receivers? Would Bi Amp help? If you Bi Amp what do you use?

 

[Vampa]

Hi,

I would not say I bi-amp. Let me clarify: For music, I use the mac mini directly connected through a coaxial digital cable to the Rega DAC, and this to the Rega Brio-R and this to the front speakers. The SR5004 does nothing there. For movies, I use again the mac mini, in this connected through hdmi to the SR5004, and this directly to the center, surrounds and subwoofer. To use the two fronts for movies, I use the pre-outs of the SR5004, which are connected to another input of the Rega Brio-R, and from this to the front speakers.

This way, I do not have to touch any cables when want to switch from music to movies. My personal experience, at least with entry-level AV receivers, is that they are not so good for music, so will get a much better SQ from a stereo integrated amp.

I have checked the Denon 2312 user manual and it comes as well with a pre-out option (see page 81/151 of the manual), so you could use a similar arrangement to mine.

 

[TLS Guy]

Hi,

I would not say I bi-amp. Let me clarify: For music, I use the mac mini directly connected through a coaxial digital cable to the Rega DAC, and this to the Rega Brio-R and this to the front speakers. The SR5004 does nothing there. For movies, I use again the mac mini, in this connected through hdmi to the SR5004, and this directly to the center, surrounds and subwoofer. To use the two fronts for movies, I use the pre-outs of the SR5004, which are connected to another input of the Rega Brio-R, and from this to the front speakers.

This way, I do not have to touch any cables when want to switch from music to movies. My personal experience, at least with entry-level AV receivers, is that they are not so good for music, so will get a much better SQ from a stereo integrated amp.

I have checked the Denon 2312 user manual and it comes as well with a pre-out option (see page 81/151 of the manual), so you could use a similar arrangement to mine.

If I had to have a top three UK speaker recommendation, it would be ATC, Spendor and PMC. I would really look at Spendor in your price range. One of their tower will be slightly over your price range but well worth it. Spendor speakers are very nicely voiced.

 

[Vampa]

Hi, thanks for the recommendation. I am trying to set-up a demo with the Spendors A5/A6 and the PMCs in my price range next Saturday. Have checked the ATCs but as they have generally low sensitivity, think the Rega brio could not have enough power to drive them. I also could not find any dealer where I leave (Scotland) having them.

Other contenders I am trying to demo this next week are the aforementioned Tannoy Revolution, KEF R500 and the Epos Epic 5.

 

[twoeyedbob]

Thought i was the only scot on here...
Pretty confusing reading here ,with all sorts of equipment i've
Never heard of.

Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk 2

 

[Vampa]

Hi. Demoed the KEF R500, KEF R700 and the Epos Epic 5. I also demoed my V4s first to get used to the demo room. I demoed all of them with the Rega combo, listening to Adele, Guns and Roses, AC/DC, Nirvana, Fleet Foxes, XX. Conclusions:

- Any of the three were a clear step-up over the V4s. Night/day.
- The Epos were quite good. Well balanced and good pairing with the Regas to me. Nice option for 1 k£.
- The R500s good as well. Warmer than the Epos and with more bass. Good middle range. Sounded good with everything we threw them.
- The R700s got the wow prize of the evening to me. I was concern whether they could be too big for the Regas. They were not. The Rega Brio could drive them well, without any sign of effort. I also doubted previously if I was going to be able to notice a clear improvement over the R500s. I was. Although the sound style was obviously similar to the R500s, to me they outperformed them in every field, therefore justifying the price difference. They sounded amazing in the demo room, which was like 18 sqm, so should sound even better in my 42 sqm living room.

I will be demoing the Tannoys, Dalis and PMCs the weekend. Let's see how they perform compared to the R700s.

 

[ozzy10]

Kef r700s

Hi Vampa, I purchased a pair of r700s along with a r700c and had them shipped out of the UK to my home abroad. After unpacking I found one of the r700s was built very poorly due to the top panel being on a massive slant, how this ever got out of the factory I don't know! Kef have been very unhelpful and will only replace the speaker if I ship the pair back to the dealer, even though there is a dealer here in Cyprus. Not very helpful at all considering it is their poor product. This was my fourth set of Kef speakers but NEVER AGAIN. They clearly are not willing to help there customers. Don't buy from them!!!!!!!!!!