All in one or seperates for Leema Xero speakers

leo79

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Another how longs a piece of string thread but I'm hoping I've bagged a pair of Leema Xero's which were on my wish list a few years ago when I was into the whole hifi/av scene.

So I'm looking for some suggestions from people more knowledgeable than me.

Ideally I'd like an all in one unit, amp, CD, tuner, music streamer and be able to link Spotify, oh and it also needs a phono input for a turntable.

It doesn't have to be an all in one and I realise with what I want out of it then seperates are probably the only way to go.

The 2 priorities are best sound the money and also be fairly easy to operate as my better half is keen to get back into listening to quality music over a quality system. (we're both sick of alexa and bluetooth speakers.)

I'm more than happy to hunt down second hand models but also with black Friday coming up I'm hoping it might be a good time to buy.

Budget isn't massive, about £600 but would pay more if something ticked all the boxes. I've got the speakers, turntable and interconnects.

Thanks
 
Great speakers. I loved mine; as peppy as a gymnast on speed.

They do like a good amp though. I ran mine with a musical fidelity XA-2.

I’d suggest something with similar heft. So no all in one alas...

Except, possibly this shiny new model from a Marantz.


This has everything you need. Except a CD player sadly.

Therefore, without killing your budget you could add one of these using either the analogue or digital outputs to suit.


 
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Great speakers. I loved mine; as peppy as a gymnast on speed.

They do like a good amp though. I ran mine with a musical fidelity XA-2.

I’d suggest something with similar heft. So no all in one alas...

Except, possibly this shiny new model from a Marantz.


This has everything you need. Except a CD player sadly.

Therefore, without killing your budget you could add one of these using either the analogue or digital outputs to suit.

 
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Alternatively...

This bad boy...


At a great price too...

And a used CD player to keep the price down possibly?

Alternatively, richer sounds have a good selection of new ones to consider...

Again, Marantz are never a poor buy. You could try this one either using the Yamahas superb dac or the Marantz. See which you prefer.

 
Ps, if you already have a Blu-ray player I’d certainly try that first into either the Yamahas or MArantz’s modern dacs.

Good luck.
 
Brilliant, thanks very much. I'll have a look through all of that when I get home.

The XA-2 was also on my list from many moons ago. I must have read somewhere that they were a good pairing
 
Brilliant, thanks very much. I'll have a look through all of that when I get home.

The XA-2 was also on my list from many moons ago. I must have read somewhere that they were a good pairing

I loved it. The only problem was no remote control and I’m lazy.
 
They all look like excellent options but the nr1200 has got me thinking now about selling my soundbar and just using good old fashioned stereo set up and I could dig out and hook up my monitor audio rsw12 for films.

It's all going in the tv cabinet anyway so this could work out quite nice and also give me a bit more cash by selling my ysp-2700 soundbar.

Of all the receivers (if any) out there that offer the same versatility as the nr1200 would you say this is the best of the bunch or could I get better performance by spending a bit more money?
 
For a little more there is the mk2 Arcam Solo music which seems to fit the bill except the phono which can be sorted by a £50 second hand Rega A2D Fono which is very small and will tuck away in the back of the cupboard.


Or new Arcam Solo Music



For an extra £100 you can get the movie 2.1 which has a blueray dvd drive.
 
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Brilliant, thank you, added to the list. Completely forgot about the arcam solo.
 
The other thought would be the Naim Unitiqute2 but that does not have cd or phono, the unitilite has cd but no phono.
 
just been looking at arcam solo's as it happens as there seem to be a few deals about....

weighing up options at the moment as i'm hopefully moving but dont know where yet...so might have to downsize...or treat music and movies separate....will need to change speakers first..either way

the hdmi connections would be handy too (though dont know if theres much difference between the music solo and the movie 2.1 ..i imagine the cd playback would be better on the music)

music wise i've a audio analogue primo amp...which would have been 500 quid back in the day...and a cyrus cd player..which would have been 600.....and a squeeze box touch for streaming

as the solo music is about the same price as both wondered how the all in one arcams compare to similar priced separates ?

or if the older models are worth the discount over the newer ones
 
The Audio Analogue amps are supposedly very good. Happy to dish out the current that the Leemas are fond of
 
Yeah they have a good rep...Italian I believe...picked it up from a place closing down....

Half sized amp ...similar to Cyrus stuff..... wished I'd picked the matching cd player at the same time but already had the cryus cd 6

You don't see those ones around much on the second hand market

....must admit I've always liked the look of the smaller ..cheaper sonus Faber speakers...also Italian I believe
 
In that case, you could simply plug a Chromecast Audio into one of the inputs and have a pretty good streamer and a mighty fine amp.

Along with the Cyrus CD player you’re done.
 
Would have Thought the squeeze box touch would trounce a chrome cast audio ?!
Meant to have a half decent DAC in them... I thought anyway....was a £250 bit of kit in its day...probably getting on a bit compared to newer stuff out there

Was talking to hi fi guy about the DAC in a touch and if it was worth adding one...he said don't bother unless youre going to spend £300 + .
 
I’m not sure about the dac difference between the CCA and the SBT, probably not a lot in it either way. I was impressed with the CCA, but I’ve not heard the squeezebox.

The CCA does mean you can use Spotify Connect natively and not have to stream though.

Also, with your current stuff, you’d also need a small dac for the TVs optical output I assume?

It’ll likely sound a bit better than the sometimes cheap headphone outputs on tvs that you’d otherwise need to feed into an analogue input on the Audio Analogue.
 
Well at the moment the TV set up is a question mark ...depends if I go down the stereo route for movies

Havent really looked at any gear for a while ..been using the same stuff for a few years now
 
Right, hit a bit of a problem. I'm limited to the depth of the unit it's going in. It never occurred to me that this would be an issue and I was about to order the Nr1200 but thought I'd just double check the dimensions.
Anyway, I've got no chance of fitting it, or most other systems for that matter, into my cabinet. I'm limited to 305mm, but I could nibble a bit out of the back to accommodate any protruding plugs/cables etc.
So I've got it now to a naim unitilite and a marantz melody.
There's a Unitilite available for £950 or I can get the Marantz for £480.
I realise the Naim should be in a different league due to it's heritage but I'm also thinking that it is 8 years old and maybe newer technology in the Marantz could have the edge?
Or I'm probably talking out my bottom which is normally the case.

Thanks
 
The Marantz does not have the current to happily drive the Leemas.

Of the two I’d go for the Naim every time.
 
I got offered an Audiolab 6000a for a good price so I've ended up giving that a go.

All I can say is wow, definetly the best hifi sound I've heard in a while.

I've even done away with the soundbar which I'll now be selling to contribute towards a good network/CD player.

Chuffed to bits.

Thanks for all the input :thumbsup:
 
Glad you’re pleased with your new hifi.

They are perky little speakers are they not?

Not sure how much you’ll get for the sound bar, but this is the cheapest network CD player I’ve seen.


And this one used.

 
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Great speakers. I loved mine; as peppy as a gymnast on speed.

I see what you mean! Absolutely brilliant with music, I'm literally blown away. Love them.

Used as TV speakers is another story though. I don't know if I can live with them as a 2.1 set up, seems to be too much detail for crappy signals. I need to have a play.
 
Are you using the optical out of the tv, or the headphone output?
 
Optical
 

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