Hi,

Just obtained a pair of Kef Ref 2 and 200c centre for a very nice price. Now on the upgrade path to do justice to these beasts!

Would prefer to go secondhand and have an initial budget of £1000. See my signature for current kit - where do I start??

I'm thinking power amps using my AVR8500 as a processor within the £1000 budget then a processor when funds allow - advice please

[Steve.EX]

More power.

Originally Posted by Steve.EX

More power.

This I know

Anything else?

Can anyone recommend a power amp for me to consider, I am thinking perhaps a 5 channel amp using 4 channels to biamp the Kef references and the remaining channel to power the 200c and the internal amps of my AVR8500 for the rears for now. A processor would be next when funs allow.
Happy to consider secondhand to get better quality for my money.

Anyone

Would a Rotel RMB-1075 be a worthwhile upgarde given the information posted above anyone?

[Steve.EX]

I think you may want to be aiming slightly higher?

Originally Posted by Steve.EX

I think you may want to be aiming slightly higher?

Hi Steve.EX

Having had the Kefs setup for a few days the AVR8500 does a very good job at driving them but i suppose I should not be surprised as it is a very poweful high current receiver.

Therefore I take your point about the Rotel perhaps not being much of a sep up. Could you give me some pointers to get me started?

[alexs2]

The Rotel would probably give you more power and headroom,but won't necessarily be much of a step up in sound quality terms,as has already been suggested .

You may be able to find a multichannel Parasound going used/ex-dem for the sort of budget you have,and that would be a decent upgrade,but anything else is likely to exceed your budget,if you want to improve the sound quality as well as the power.

[Thunder]

I could recommend looking for a second hand Parasound 2205 which would do the job quite nicely

Hi Alexs2 and Thunder

I did wonder if perhaps Parasound might be the way to go and could stretch the budget to perhaps £2000 if that made much difference. Whilst the Harman Kardon delivers the "current" to drive the speakers I truly appreciate that quality processing and amplification is ultimately required to get the best from these Kef's.

If I went down this route then as the next stage in a few months I would need to look at a Processor (Must say I adore Logic 7 processing on the Harman Kardon which is "borrowed" from sister/parent Co Lexicon), where would this quest take me and how much might I need to budget for a worthwhile upgrade?

(Never ending this lark, how many tickets to the Local UCI could I purchase for the outlay over the years!!!)

[gavp]

Arcam P7 £2000
http://www.audio-t.co.uk/html/listin...p?srch_cat=g_1

Arcam AV8 £850!!!!!
http://www.holburnhifi.co.uk/fs_offers.html

As for other power amps I've seen good prices on RMB-1095's (£1k-£1250)
and also the Linn AV5125 (£600-£1500) and I saw a Parasound A52 go for about £1k on ebay, I also think there is a Bryston for sale in the classifieds.

Happy hunting

[joust]

Hi RayB,

I also have a HK8500, and am also thinking at some time on the future to go down the Kef ref upgrade (I currently have Mission 773e's and a 77C1) - how do you rate the upgrade so far?

In answer to your original question, from all accounts a Parasound 2205 would be a good step (should be able to find one under a grand), alternatively, there's a Bryston 9BST for sale in the classifieds (at £1550), either of these would be a step up in quality.

Cheers

Joust

Originally Posted by joust

Hi RayB,

I also have a HK8500, and am also thinking at some time on the future to go down the Kef ref upgrade (I currently have Mission 773e's and a 77C1) - how do you rate the upgrade so far?

In answer to your original question, from all accounts a Parasound 2205 would be a good step (should be able to find one under a grand), alternatively, there's a Bryston 9BST for sale in the classifieds (at £1550), either of these would be a step up in quality.

Cheers

Joust

The Kefs work well with the AVR8500 and this is more than capable of driving them. So far a very good upgrade!

[slingshot]

Originally Posted by RayB

I am thinking perhaps a 5 channel amp using 4 channels to biamp the Kef references and the remaining channel to power the 200c and the internal amps of my AVR8500 for the rears for now. A processor would be next when funs allow.

Instead of biamping using a 5 channel process for 1000 you could get a nice 2 channel amp, I would have thought this will drive the Kefs much better than a 5 channel Rotel.

I recently swapped from an Arcam P90 to one of these form my main PMC speakers and it sounds very good :-

http://www.iplacoustics.co.uk/sa_400...mblin_semi.htm

The rest of the channels are still driven with the old Arcam amps.

[scarty16]

[QUOTE=gavp]Arcam AV8 £850!!!!!
http://www.holburnhifi.co.uk/fs_offers.html
QUOTE]

I wish it was an Arcam ints not is a crappy Cyrus!!!

[gavp]

[QUOTE=scarty16]

Originally Posted by gavp

Arcam AV8 £850!!!!!
http://www.holburnhifi.co.uk/fs_offers.html
QUOTE]

I wish it was an Arcam ints not is a crappy Cyrus!!!

I see they've changed it, I can assure you it said Arcam when I viewed it hence the
I thought it was too good to be true although I bought my 1075 2nd hand for £375 from these guys so they do the occasional good deal......

[scarty16]

[QUOTE=gavp]

Originally Posted by scarty16

I see they've changed it, I can assure you it said Arcam when I viewed it hence the
I thought it was too good to be true although I bought my 1075 2nd hand for £375 from these guys so they do the occasional good deal......

If it had been the Arcam it wouldn't be there now, as I would have bought it!!

[Reano]

Another good thing to try is some Musical Fidelity Monoblocs they had the 250 watts per channel (8 Ohms) ones. I have tried the X-A 200 and it made a marked improvement to my Pioneer VSX AX5i and that has bi-amp facilities built in!

Look on eBay they pop up from time to time at very good prices.