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Need new amplifier and speakers
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I have a budget of just over £1000.00 to spend on an amplifier and speakers.
I listen to lots of different types of music. What amp and speakers should
I go for in this price range? I would ideally like an integrated amplifier
and floorstanding speakers.
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My first instinct would be to say go for something like the Arcam DiVA
A80 (£650) with the Mordaunt-Short Avant 908i speakers (£500). (I have
the slightly older 908 model without the "i" and they're brilliant.)
Don't forget speaker cables too, contrary to what some may say on this
group they *do* make a difference. I'd go for something like Chord
Rumour 4 (£20/metre) and make sure you bi-wire the speakers.
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It would help if you said something about your taste in music, your room
acoustics, etc.
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I may want to add surround speakers for home cinema in the future so I think
I should bear that in mind. I haven't bought any new hifi in over 7 years
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The problem is that this will change the requirements, so making it harder
for others to advise. What may work well as a stereo system for your taste
in music may not suit you and your room as part of a surround/theatre
system.
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so I simply don't have a clue.
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In this case, it'll take you a bit over-budget, but go for the Arcam
DiVA AVR-250 (£1000). This is pretty much the only AV amplifier at this
price range that sounds truly musical (the sound is somewhere between
the A80 and the £900 A90 integrated amplifiers). Then look at adding the
matching Avant 905i centre (£120) and a couple of pairs of 903 bipolar
surrounds (£120 per pair) and a suitable sub and all will be sorted.
I can speak for the above as that's the system I use, along with an
Arcam DV79 DVD-A/CD player and associated kit. Only downside to the
AVR-250 is that it doesn't have a phono pre-amp - add a Pro-Ject Phono
Box 2 for £55 or so if you want to spin the old vinyl.
One word of warning - make sure you use the same type and length of
cable for the centre as for the main L and R speakers. Otherwise it'll
sound weird. Trust me - I upgraded the L and R speaker cable from Audio
Innovations Silver Bi-Wire (£5/metre) to the Rumour 4 and had to put the
system into phantom mode until I'd replaced the cable to the centre
speaker with Rumour 4 as well.
For the rears, 105-strand OFC cable from Richer Sounds will do just fine
(Gale XL-105 at 69p/metre). Just make sure the cables to each pair of
speakers are the same length (a few inches difference won't matter, a
few feet will though). You don't need to mess about making sure the
cables to all 7 speakers are the same length however, just treat them as
three sets, set one L/C/R, set two L/R surround, set 3 L/R back
surround. As long as the cables within each set are near enough the same
length all will be fine.
If you aren't planning a full 7.1 system, you can use the additional 2
channels of amplification on the AVR-250 to either bi-amp the front
speakers (I tried this but couldn't hear any advantage over bi-wiring)
or run a second set of speakers in Zone 2 (eg kitchen, dining room). If
you're using all 7 speakers and want zone 2 you can plug a power amp
into a set of phono sockets and use that instead (which is what I'll be
doing for the kitchen once I've moved house).
Hope that's of some help...
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