What £20k system would you chose against this criteria?

Dominic,

I think you are going in the right direction. Find a good patient dealer and use them. SoM are ideal and they have a buy back facility. They have one of the widest selections of hifi and with 8 listening rooms more than enough variations. John will ensure that you get what YOU want.

About 10 years ago (during to some very boring cirumstances) I went out to buy £20K of hifi. The 2 local dealers were very keen to sell but could not put together a system. They let me hear a £10K set up and then said the £20K must be better :mad: And you will have to go to the manufacturers to hear it :(

Basically they were operating at the other end of the market (but were bespoke hifi dealers).

I also doubt there are many people here who have heard a decent £20K set up in a domestic environment. You have every right to demand an excellent system that looks really good and will blend in with your domestic requirements.

That therefore excludes the Cambridge CDPs and Squeeze-box SB3s. They are OK (and not much more) but easily outclassed. Some of what has been recommended is a little down-market for what you can expect to get (especially if second-hand).

I suggest you continue with SoM and maybe take some of the better recommendations to John. He is a pretty straight guy (but obviously interested in your wallet :D.)

Do keep us up to date with how your lucky venture is going and don't agonise it, it should be fun.
 
George Sallit said:
That therefore excludes the Cambridge CDPs and Squeeze-box SB3s. They are OK (and not much more) but easily outclassed. Some of what has been recommended is a little down-market for what you can expect to get (especially if second-hand).
Click to expand...

Be careful though, the expense isn't always justified. As Peter Daniel said "I will show you a better example of BS."

£150 Pioneer DVD Player:

969938_1.jpg


£6000 Goldmund Eidos 18:

969938_2.jpg
 
haha thats brilliant... have they actually changed anything to justify the £6000?

i remember a chap took apart a cyrus dad1 and found inside, the innards of a cheap panasonic portable cd player.
 
Hahaha...the biggest joke ever...:D

An award should be issued here. Regretfully there are other examples.

Gerner:)
 
There doesn't seem to be a power transformer in the Pioneer :confused: It must be more eco friendly!

Beautiful example Shin ;)
 
Great spot. I hope there arent any ZGers who upgraded from a Pioneer to a Goldmund If I had Id be sick!

Armed with this new info I have a perfect solution those with £20K to spare and want to approach studio standards

rebadged of course


Andy
 
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Can we make the Goldmund / Pioneer a sticky? Call it 'High end uncovered' or something?
 
dominicT said:
Hi guys, thank you all so much for all of the replies so far however I have not told you what music I like or what I am looking for from a system and manufacturer, new but pref second hand. Having read some of the threads here to try and find out what you guys look for and how you listen to systems I thought that I needed to do a new thread, especially after reading the entire 18 page one from Oct 2007 on music vs hifi!

What I want is a system that enables me to hear exactly the detail the mastering engineer heard when the piece was mastered. I know that this is impossible but it is what I am aiming at, if I can get 50% there then I will be happy. I do not want to hear the hifi system I want to hear the music. If listening live to a piano I want to hear it as though it was in the room and know which brand it was. If an electric guitar I should be able to tell a Tele from a Strat and whether it was a Boss CE-1 that was used or not. I have never heard a 'forward sounding' guitar or cymbal live but have done so many times on hifi - unacceptable. Detail means both the level of information recorded and that the detail is accurately produced.

I know what so many instruments and effects sound like and it is so frustrating not to hear this level of detail.

Now you know the level of detail that I want, how do I want it? I do not want it thrust at me Bel Canto style (great detail though). Whilst the Quad II-forty power amp delivery was tonally accurate it was a little too much laid back. The Audio Reference/Krell 400 presentation was about right but the Krell was not tonally accurate (drums sounded boxy unlike the Quad).

In terms of scale I prefer omni directional like the Shahinians and Quad 2905 but am not adverse to a 'normal' speaker. (I listen as I am doing things as well as just sitting down so a 'sweet spot' seating position does not really do it for me.) I prefer a larger scale than the SF Amator II produce and was happy with the scale of the 2905, WB ACT and LSA L2 Towers. The speakers will be in a room 20'x25'. The room will be treated. All Equipment will sit on Hutter racks. I expect interconnects to be a small percentage of the budget and just to tweek an inherently correct sound.

The look of the electronics is irrelevant as they will be hidden from view. The speakers must look fantastic (floorstanders only) - design cue is Bentley Arnage or Aston DB9 not Caterham 7 or Noble!

You may be wondering about things like boogie factor etc? My answer is this. If I record a violin it sounds like a violin on playback. If I record a tele through a fuzz poedal it rocks out on playback as well. A decent system should be able to do chamber music to Motorhead. If systems cannot do this they are not accurate. If compromises have to be made then the majority of music that I listen to has either an instrumental or vocal 'performance'; it is rythmic and expressive.

Gear that I have liked/disliked:

WB ACT - dynamic and accurate
2905 - accurate, perhaps more expressive midband but not as dynamic
Naim (4 years ago) toe tappingly good but too forward and unlistenable after 20 minutes.
Hutter and Isoblu racks - natural, dynamic, detailed - Mana too forward leading edges, harsh, not enough detail.
Accustic Arts - overall many strengths, draws you in but not enough detail - Ayon more detail but flatter delivery.
Bel Canto - strangled music and made several CDs sound harsh, thin and compressed.

Manufacturers must still be in business and likely to stay in business and have a good reputation for reliability with a service operation in the UK - MEG probably out of the picture then. Build quaility must be excellent. Would prefer to go with a longstanding brand with a good reputation rather than a cottage industry eg Meadowlark went bust but Wilson Benesch are still going strong.

Forget my requirement for a DAC and multi room I have another plan for that this is just for stereo replay of CDs.

Music I like to listen to: Goldfrapp, Air, Genesis, Roxy Music, Matt Munro, Sinatra, Herbie Hancock, Santana, Weather Report, Bill Evans, Jobim, Heatwave, Jacksons, Bill Nelson, David Sylvian, Mozart, Vivaldi, Numan, Vangelis, Marvin Gaye, Prince, Mark de Clive Lowe, Jose Padilla, 70s Bowie, Police.

I know that this is a very specific brief but then everyone has a specific brief dont they!
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What 20k setup? Mine...
 
i'm presuming you've got the house / space to put this so...
i'd go for active funktion 1 p2's, these are purple monstrosities however if aesthetics are all i'd pay a competent fabricator to make me some custom enclosures to hide the 'nastiness', personally i think they look rather funky.
source would be the network transport of your choice (squeezebox, eva, whatever) some hooning great storage server (a cheap pc or nas box with a few terrabytes in it)
dac would be audio synthesis dax discrete variable.
if there's any spare cash left over i'd look into modding the net transport to use a/s's custom clock / data link. i'm sure david at a/s could sort you out.
wires would be whatever.
a decent power block would top it off - there are some good ones from china.

that's pretty much my dream system.
 
yermaw said:
:JPS:this might piss off the what HI-FI'RS but audiophile HI-FI is a bit of a con most people can get a far better system for less money if they listened rather than read reviews
iv worked in the audiophile HI-FI industry for 10 years and worked up from richer sounds to stereo stereo once Glasgow's best HI-FI shop.and now i do Custom installation of audiophile HI-FI and video.
in my head for the most revealing and detailed sound id recommend you audition the fabulous b&w 802's or any from that range they are remarkable speaker's ( u may already know the 801's are used in the mastering suet at abbey road studios).
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I was with you there right up until you mentioned the B&W 802's. :D
 
yermaw said:
http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:Kei755PteTZ51M:
[IMG]http://www.bonnec.com/Alto.jpg
[IMG]om/Timpano.jpg
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=
[url]http://www.homecinemachoice.com/reviews/hccreviews/SpeakerPackages/BandW/BandWNautilus800.jpg&imgrefurl=[/url]
http://www.homecinemachoice.com/reviews/hccreviews/SpeakerPackages/BandW/BandWNautilus800.php&h=554&w=1000&sz=72&hl=en&start=8&um=1&tbnid=XGa79QAEg4xlGM:&tbnh=83&tbnw=149&prev=/images%3Fq%3Db%2526w%2Bspeakers%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26sa%3DX
hope this works
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Amazing things these new fandangled computers eh? Don't worry you'll get the hang of it.
 
shure but do you have space for a set of sig 800 in your home
801's are not far behind in sound and so easy to live with

as you can see my computer skills out with crestron and lutron programing is prity bad hence the bad pic links
life is a learning curve lol
 
ok let me go over my mess up
the 800's are in abbey road
801's are big and nead alot of power
802's are the best of the 800's in a more friendly size
in the original post true clarity and repoduction is what hes after the 802's do this with the bonnec set up at least abby road think so with the 800's
 
yermaw said:
ok let me go over my mess up
the 800's are in abbey road
801's are big and nead alot of power
802's are the best of the 800's in a more friendly size
in the original post true clarity and repoduction is what hes after the 802's do this with the bonnec set up at least abby road think so with the 800's
Click to expand...

I suggest he listens to them, his experience may be different to mine..

I do agree with Abbey Studios on the amps though Classe do make a nice solid amp that sounds really sweet. Haven't hear (or heard of) Bonnec.
 

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