Seperates advice

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M3G4

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Hi all, you all seem quite knowledgeable so here goes...

Basically I'm taking the plunge into seperates systems. Currently, I've got a pair of decent sony floorstanders (old ones that were the only sony speakers that won awards... lol) which are being driven by a Yamaha RX-V357 AV Amplifier and a Panasonic DVD player.

Obviously, the reciever isn't really musically geared up and although I know the sony speakers probably aren't very good by a long shot, I know with some decent equipment they could be made to really sing.

In terms of seperates, I was originally going to go the NAD C320BEE/C521BEE route. However, I've always liked the idea of having a multi-disc CD player, and recently I've seen some going for only £10 more than the NAD one mentioned - for example, the Marantz CC4300.

My question is, would I get as good quality sound from the marantz CDC than the NAD CDP?

Also, do you have any better suggestions for an amp/CD combo for a budget of around £350? Preferably new, as I really don't like getting second hand.

Cheers!! :D
 
Don't get a multi-changer they generally sound shite. If you want that sort of thing get a squeezebox and a nice big hard disk for the computer. Much better :)
 
good advice ......

also if your not getting a mega discount on buying both units together hold off on the amp till you get used to the new sound.

It could be that you don't need the amp

other cdps worth looking for are the marantz cd 5*** series these are very good with a few minor tweaks ...I've done two cd5001 to very good effect if I say so myself. You can raise these to a performance that you'd find hard to buy under £800 imo. Also you can pick them up for about £120 new
 
It would seem that the cambridge stuff is well regarded and cheap. Personally I would go down the secondhand route for more bangs for bucks. Nait 3, the above and change the speakers when funds allow.

Rod
 
zanash said:
good advice ......

also if your not getting a mega discount on buying both units together hold off on the amp till you get used to the new sound.

It could be that you don't need the amp

other cdps worth looking for are the marantz cd 5*** series these are very good with a few minor tweaks ...I've done two cd5001 to very good effect if I say so myself. You can raise these to a performance that you'd find hard to buy under £800 imo. Also you can pick them up for about £120 new
Click to expand...

Would one of those Marantz be as good as the NAD without the mods? I'm not sure I'd want to open it up lol :)

Also, I'm guessing the CD5400 won't be as good judging by the differing price?

Thanks for the advice guys :)
 
just a thought

if you're attracted to a multi-player because of the idea of having many discs in the machine - have you thought about burning MP3's onto a blank DVD ?

With reasonable sound quality I can get 50 albums on one DVD. You can select tracks through your TV, it works well.

For your budget, I'f youre not into home cinema (?) - I'd get the best stereo amp you can.. second hand if you want the most for your money.

If your budget is limited, I'd go for the best Rotel you can get.
 
Its difficult to offer an opinion .....the budget cdp as they stand are going to be similar but with different flavours of sound.

the nads are good ...
the marantz cdps have a lot of extra music in them if your prepared to squeeze it out., I'm speculating but it may be that the marantz tend to use the same /very similar pcbs across there series so they need to be able to make the cheap ones sound less good than the more expensive ones .....by modding your bring the cheaper unit closer to the higher priced units . Of course with a little more work these will yeild super results.
 
zanash said:
Its difficult to offer an opinion .....the budget cdp as they stand are going to be similar but with different flavours of sound.

the nads are good ...
the marantz cdps have a lot of extra music in them if your prepared to squeeze it out., I'm speculating but it may be that the marantz tend to use the same /very similar pcbs across there series so they need to be able to make the cheap ones sound less good than the more expensive ones .....by modding your bring the cheaper unit closer to the higher priced units . Of course with a little more work these will yeild super results.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your input :)

Is this more of a case of trying to demo the players and judging which I think sounds the best?

I think I'm going to stick the the C320BEE for amplifier duties, as it seems by far the most capable in my limited budget :)
 
bottleneck said:
just a thought

if you're attracted to a multi-player because of the idea of having many discs in the machine - have you thought about burning MP3's onto a blank DVD ?

With reasonable sound quality I can get 50 albums on one DVD. You can select tracks through your TV, it works well.

For your budget, I'f youre not into home cinema (?) - I'd get the best stereo amp you can.. second hand if you want the most for your money.

If your budget is limited, I'd go for the best Rotel you can get.
Click to expand...

Yeah I did try that once, but my panasonic DVD player has a less than favourable analogue output, even on my Yamaha amp it sounded littered with noise and wasn't nearly as refined a sound as using the Yamaha's onboard DAC system was (I use a digital-coaxial link from DVD to AV Amp for audio output). I honestly think even with a decent DAC I could probably get a much better sound from a dedicated CD player.
 
I would suggest you stick with the DVD player as a transport and blow your budget on a decent DAC.

I would suggest for your budget a Behringer DEQ2496 with some mods would be, by far, the biggest bang for the buck. If you have a look at my website you will see I offer these mods as a service :) I was going to get an independent review for xmas time, but unfortunately UPS completely messed that up by driving a forklift truck into the review model!! Whoops, indeed! Other than the super sound, it also offers you digital room correction in that price… so really it is unbeatable.

But… to try and be a bit less biased, you can get some very nice looking DACs imported from China via eBay and people like Cattylink.com

There are also some nice ones in the form of the Scott-Nixon kits which you can buy pre-built and the Monica 2 DAC as well.
 
Good suggestion.....

you just can't beat what the deq does

or if your not bothered with all those funtions the src2496 is very good value ...but again to make it sing you need to swap the supply caps as there not the best in the world.
 
zanash said:
good advice ......

other cdps worth looking for are the marantz cd 5*** series these are very good with a few minor tweaks ...I've done two cd5001 to very good effect if I say so myself. You can raise these to a performance that you'd find hard to buy under £800 imo.
Click to expand...


.....as the owner of one of the marantz 5001s , I'llsecond that....
 
In my opinion with a budget of £ 350 the best option is second hand

If it was my money I would be looking for a used Rega Planet and
a Rega Brio .

The Brio is very underated and can be had quite cheap via ebay .
 
I must say I agree with early. Buy 2nd hand!
Especially if you follow the advice above and end up going for an amp and a dac. Neither of them has any moving parts, so the risk of buying second hand is much smaller. You can make your money go a lot further that way and get something a class above to what you are considering now.

which way you go, enjoy the music! :)
jack
 
really not keen on going second hand i'm afraid :(

I have another question (sorry guys!)

Basically, when I listen to my music loud, I have the amp set to around -13dB, which is loud enough for me and the speakers don't seem to have much problem handling. However, I was wondering if the NAD amp would have any trouble keeping up, given that it's rated 50WPC, whereas the speakers are rated 100WPC (88dB sensitivity allegedly) at the same sort of volume level? Or am I asking a crap question? :D
 
C320BEE/C521BEE - are an excellent combo to my ears, IMHO. We've got a couple of the Marantz multi-disc players to pipe music around our sports centre at the school I work at - they seemed to do the job OK for a multichanger, but I know I'd take the NAD over the changer any day.
 
M3G4 said:
really not keen on going second hand i'm afraid :(

I understnd your reluctance; it can have it disadvantages...would say though that amongst my upgrade purchases this year i bought a second hand piar of ruark sceptre speakers for £100 this year. You look at the quality of the build+connections..... ...there is no way I could have bought that new. (though I did have to be patient waiting for them to arrive....)
Click to expand...
 

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