Phate18
Novice Member
Hi AVF,
Being young and stupid, I bought speakers and an amp before I really knew what I was doing and am now wondering what I can do to salvage the situation. My current, very mismatched set up is:
My split is probably 50% music, 25% gaming, 25% TV.
The M-ONE has a good DAC, but its 40 Wpc simply isn't enough to drive the big floorstander Monitors. The sound is very clean and there is good separation, but it's lacking any sense of oomph, especially in the bass department. The speaker spec says it goes as low as 35 Hz, but it just feels lacklustre even at higher volumes.
What would you recommend I do in this situation? Ideally, since I've already spent about GBP 900 on setting up the audio part of the above, I would like to spend no more than another GBP 500 on fixing it if possible. I have aspirations to build a 3.1 or 5.1 set up in the future.
I have considered buying a reasonable AVR like the Denon X3500H (around GBP 650 currently) with support for Dolby Vision (to match the Bluray), which should have enough power, but I'm worried that the sound quality in music listening is going to suffer, and I don't have any of the other components for home theatre yet. (Subwoofer and a matching centre would be another what, 700? And then surrounds and heights, oh lord...) Or a cheaper AVR with pre-outs and a dedicated power amp to drive the fronts?
Or, since I listen to music a lot, should I buy a better amp+dac combo? I have looked at the likes of the Cambridge CXA80, which is very expensive at GBP 800 and would not fit in any future home theatre expansion. I can't seem to find any high-power amps in the lower range of the budget spectrum other than integrated network streamers, but is the DAC going to be as good as the M-ONE?
Or finally, would a separate DAC and power amp fit this better?
I know I've dug myself a hole here, but I'll be thankful you for any tips you might have for me.
Being young and stupid, I bought speakers and an amp before I really knew what I was doing and am now wondering what I can do to salvage the situation. My current, very mismatched set up is:
- LG B8 55", viewed from 6ft or so in a room that opens into a fairly big living space/kitchen.
- Audiolab M-ONE amp+DAC all-in-one (40 Wpc, spec)
- Monitor Silver 6 floorstanders (recommended 60-150 W)
- LG UBK90 Blu-Ray player
My split is probably 50% music, 25% gaming, 25% TV.
The M-ONE has a good DAC, but its 40 Wpc simply isn't enough to drive the big floorstander Monitors. The sound is very clean and there is good separation, but it's lacking any sense of oomph, especially in the bass department. The speaker spec says it goes as low as 35 Hz, but it just feels lacklustre even at higher volumes.
What would you recommend I do in this situation? Ideally, since I've already spent about GBP 900 on setting up the audio part of the above, I would like to spend no more than another GBP 500 on fixing it if possible. I have aspirations to build a 3.1 or 5.1 set up in the future.
I have considered buying a reasonable AVR like the Denon X3500H (around GBP 650 currently) with support for Dolby Vision (to match the Bluray), which should have enough power, but I'm worried that the sound quality in music listening is going to suffer, and I don't have any of the other components for home theatre yet. (Subwoofer and a matching centre would be another what, 700? And then surrounds and heights, oh lord...) Or a cheaper AVR with pre-outs and a dedicated power amp to drive the fronts?
Or, since I listen to music a lot, should I buy a better amp+dac combo? I have looked at the likes of the Cambridge CXA80, which is very expensive at GBP 800 and would not fit in any future home theatre expansion. I can't seem to find any high-power amps in the lower range of the budget spectrum other than integrated network streamers, but is the DAC going to be as good as the M-ONE?
Or finally, would a separate DAC and power amp fit this better?
I know I've dug myself a hole here, but I'll be thankful you for any tips you might have for me.