Hi-fi Upgrade

[Petrushka]

I'm looking to spend some of the inheritance from my late father on an upgrade to my existing hi-fi set up but the choice out there is bewildering and I've completely lost touch with the pricing structure etc having not looked for many years so would appreciate some recommendations from you classical music enthusiasts out there.

At present my CD player is fine (Technics SL-PG 5) and don't see the need yet for a new one. I therefore want a new amplifier and speakers and my budget is £750 to £1000. My current amplifier is a Technics SU-V 500 and speakers are Wharfedale Laser 80 (given to me by a friend who was upgrading) and my listening room is small, semi-detached standard.

I know I can do a lot better even on a relatively tight budget (most of the inheritance will have to go on essential house maintenance so can't go completely mad, alas).

My preference is for a clean, detailed treble and bass with plenty of oomph but what I want to make sure of before going ahead is that everything will be an improvement on what I've already got. As most of it is pretty elderly and modest stuff this shouldn't be too hard. Most of the money I've had available has gone on CDs not the kit to play them on! That needs to change and as I approach my 60th birthday I want to get something that will give lasting pleasure in the years ahead.

Over to you.

[Beef Oven!]

I'm looking to spend some of the inheritance from my late father on an upgrade to my existing hi-fi set up but the choice out there is bewildering and I've completely lost touch with the pricing structure etc having not looked for many years so would appreciate some recommendations from you classical music enthusiasts out there.

At present my CD player is fine (Technics SL-PG 5) and don't see the need yet for a new one. I therefore want a new amplifier and speakers and my budget is £750 to £1000. My current amplifier is a Technics SU-V 500 and speakers are Wharfedale Laser 80 (given to me by a friend who was upgrading) and my listening room is small, semi-detached standard.

I know I can do a lot better even on a relatively tight budget (most of the inheritance will have to go on essential house maintenance so can't go completely mad, alas).

My preference is for a clean, detailed treble and bass with plenty of oomph but what I want to make sure of before going ahead is that everything will be an improvement on what I've already got. As most of it is pretty elderly and modest stuff this shouldn't be too hard. Most of the money I've had available has gone on CDs not the kit to play them on! That needs to change and as I approach my 60th birthday I want to get something that will give lasting pleasure in the years ahead.

Over to you.

These active Quads that came out recently could well be an excellent solution and space-saving (taking care of both amp and speaker upgrades).

http://www.whathifi.com/news/quad-gets-active-with-compact-9as-speakers-with-built-in-dac

[pastoralguy]

These active Quads that came out recently could well be an excellent solution and space-saving (taking care of both amp and speaker upgrades).
http://www.whathifi.com/news/quad-ge...h-built-in-dac

I had a pair of these demonstrated to me last year when I was upgrading my hi-fi. Would definitely recommend.

[remdataram]

My preference is for a clean, detailed treble and bass with plenty of oomph but what I want to make sure of before going ahead is that everything will be an improvement on what I've already got. As most of it is pretty elderly and modest stuff this shouldn't be too hard. Most of the money I've had available has gone on CDs not the kit to play them on! That needs to change and as I approach my 60th birthday I want to get something that will give lasting pleasure in the years ahead.

Over to you.

You don't indicate the size of your budget but my advice is to go to an established and respected Dealer. Go for a pre-booked demo, take some of your favourite CDs and your CD player. Listen to different combinations until you find one you like within your budget; then arrange to listen to your choice at home. Any decent dealer will do this.

The world is full of advice about 'these Speakers', 'this Amp' etc. It's what the complete System sounds like in your home that matters.

Good luck, keep listening to the music, rather than the hifi!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Within the last few weeks, I upgraded my speakers with some second hand B & W Nautilus Technology speakers. The sound is now so superb that I wish I'd done this years ago.

[MrGongGong]

Within the last few weeks, I upgraded my speakers with some second hand B & W Nautilus Technology speakers. The sound is now so superb that I wish I'd done this years ago.

Blimey
First the Steinway
now the Nautilus speakers

lend us a tenner m'lord

(or a spin in the DB6 ?)

[Beef Oven!]

You don't indicate the size of your budget........

True, in his OP, he merely explicitly states what his budget is.

"I therefore want a new amplifier and speakers and my budget is £750 to £1000."

[Beef Oven!]

Blimey
First the Steinway
now the Nautilus speakers

lend us a tenner m'lord

(or a spin in the DB6 ?)

Get the Christmas club money out early

[remdataram]

True, in his OP, he merely explicitly states what his budget is.

"I therefore want a new amplifier and speakers and my budget is £750 to £1000."

Quite right, perhaps I need to see my doctor/optician.

[jayne lee wilson]

Within the last few weeks, I upgraded my speakers with some second hand B & W Nautilus Technology speakers. The sound is now so superb that I wish I'd done this years ago.

Which model, EA? Don't tell me it's those glossy, whirling sea-monsters from another world!? Wow, anyway...

[Dave2002]

A friend of mine upgraded his speakers a few years ago, and his are Monitor Audio BR5s. They are a pair of the most pleasant sounding speakers I've heard for quite some time. http://www.monitoraudio.co.uk/suppor...bronze-br/br5/

They are nla, but I think the current replacements might be the BX5s - http://www.monitoraudio.co.uk/products/bronze-bx/bx5/ which are available for around £500 - http://www.sevenoakssoundandvision.c...FUT3wgodRCYABw

It's possible that some other speakers might have deeper bass - and indeed I may have an old pair of such dating from the 1970s. Normally this doesn't matter too much though - although where my speakers do have an advantage is in recordings such as Keilberth's recording of the Flying Dutchman, in which you not only hear the sailors singing in their chorus, but also hear/feel the stage and the bumping up and down. Not everyone will think of this as an advantage though, but few speakers do this.

I do hear other speakers from time to time, and these Monitor Audios seem to me to be some of the best for domestic environments, and to have a very natural and realistic sound for the reproduction of classical music.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Blimey
First the Steinway
now the Nautilus speakers

lend us a tenner m'lord

(or a spin in the DB6 ?)

Calm down a little. I did say Nautilus Technology speakers. I did admire the full £17,500 Nautilus speakers before buying the CDM NT7 speakers second-hand for £750. But they are nevertheless excellent and have made a huge difference to my sound system. I wouldn't mind the sea monsters though.

And the Steinway's an upright.

[jayne lee wilson]

Anyway. Petrushka -

As remdat said, with the budget decided get thee to a dealer, tell them what you listen to and how - then do lots of auditioning, but do listen in your own room before committing...

It doesn't do any harm to peruse a few magazines! HiFiNews is the best, HiFiChoice rather less critically intelligent but could give you an overview of what's about... and you'd get a feel for the thing. (Bearing in mind what Pope said about a little learning...)

Yes the Technics SL-PG5 was very good in its day, may well still be (my own players/transports date from the mid/late-90s, albeit with modifications or DACs added), but when you upgrade amps/speakers it will alter the balance of the system, and may reveal things about your CD player that are less pleasing. Bear this in mind too - that everything interacts. Remember, the amps and speakers can only be as good as their source (CD, tuner etc.), so if you upgrade them first you may find the CD Player isn't quite up to it. (The purist view would always be to upgrade sources first, because that's where the music comes from! So if you don't like a given combination of new equipment with your old source, it can be harder to determine why if only the amp and speaker is new. Just be aware..).

A dealer can sort all this out if they're good enough, and if they know what classical music needs...

**Personal Tip? If you want to keep your player, DEFINITELY add a DAC, perhaps the Cambridge DACMAGIC+, for around £350. Digital replay/processing has seen huge improvements in the last 5 years or so, under R&D competitive pressure from computer sources... they just go on getting better and cheaper!

[PJPJ]

I'm looking to spend some of the inheritance from my late father on an upgrade to my existing hi-fi set up but the choice out there is bewildering and I've completely lost touch with the pricing structure etc having not looked for many years so would appreciate some recommendations from you classical music enthusiasts out there.

At present my CD player is fine (Technics SL-PG 5) and don't see the need yet for a new one. I therefore want a new amplifier and speakers and my budget is £750 to £1000. My current amplifier is a Technics SU-V 500 and speakers are Wharfedale Laser 80 (given to me by a friend who was upgrading) and my listening room is small, semi-detached standard.

I know I can do a lot better even on a relatively tight budget (most of the inheritance will have to go on essential house maintenance so can't go completely mad, alas).

My preference is for a clean, detailed treble and bass with plenty of oomph but what I want to make sure of before going ahead is that everything will be an improvement on what I've already got. As most of it is pretty elderly and modest stuff this shouldn't be too hard. Most of the money I've had available has gone on CDs not the kit to play them on! That needs to change and as I approach my 60th birthday I want to get something that will give lasting pleasure in the years ahead.

Over to you.

I'd be tempted to spend the improvement money solely on speakers; they'll need auditioning preferably at home. I am very happy, after many a long listen to all sorts, with PMC. The smallest of these DB1i, produce enough sound for a smaller room. Your local PMC dealer may well have a good secondhand pair of these or the next size up. Well worth auditioning in any case.

[Thropplenoggin]

I second lots of the advice on here, though would differ with JLW by saying that HiFi Choice is an excellent magazine as most of the stuff reviewed is in the realms of affordability*, unlike HiFi News, where the prices are just absurd. What HiFi reads like a joke these days, where certain makes get 5-star reviews time and time again, and the vagueness of the reviews makes them useless e.g. Dali Zenon 3s.

I recently upgraded my speakers for a Denon micro system to a highly-rated pair (Dali Zensor 1s in the end, JLW!), and the difference was incredible: I spent the next few weeks going through my entire CD collection just to hear what I'd been missing. Stuck on a decent pair of stands with better cable, and I found I didn't need to invest in a new amp/CD player just yet.

So find out what's out and what's coming out...or look at a nifty all-in-one system like the Marantz M-CR610 that offers CD and streaming and has a pretty decent amp by all accounts. Paired with a decent pair of speakers (on stands: Dali Zensor 3s, Q Acoustic Concept 20s; or some decent floor-standers) this could be the ideal solution. The Marantz is being bundled in lots of different ways.

Don't forget you'll need to think about speaker cables and interconnects (though whether this makes as much difference as audiophiles suggest is still open to debate - by which I mean, don't pay silly money unless you can hear the difference. Good budget stuff (QED, The Chord Company) will be fine to start off with).

One more thing: apparently building a classical music hifi system is quite difficult, because of the demands and dynamics of the music involved.

*One example would be the stellar review the Fiio X3 Digital Audio Player** receives in this month's issue. At £160, it's the cheapest on the market, offers better functionality than the new Sony hi-res audio player, and has a very good DAC chip in it. Plugging this into the Denon provides me with another 'transport' for music that sounds wonderful to these ears. Not all of us can afford Astell & Kern players (£££), tho' I know someone here who can!

**the one Bryn dismissed out of hand.