Captain Col
Standard Member
I've moved my stereo into a larger room than it was previously, so it's now in a room that is 6m x 2.5m with a 3.5m high vaulted ceiling. Speakers are mounted 2m from the ground along the shortest wall with listener sitting at the other end of the room (so 5.5m away and ears about 1m below, but speakers tilted and angled to point at the listener).
System is a Cyrus 6XP (40w, 8ohm) into Monitor Audio Silver RX2 speakers (100w, 6ohm).
I'm pushing the amp a bit harder than I was previously and whilst it's not straining, I'm not getting a full sound. I have a budget of £5,000-6,000 to upgrade and wondering where best to put my money. I can't get floor standers sadly, so looking at.
A sub - either SVS sb-3000 or Monitor Audio Silver W12 to match the speakers
A streamer - as well as something like Tidal, all my CDs are ripped to FLAC using Exact Audio Copy so something that can play those files
A power amp
The streamer is very confusing as the starting point. I've mostly been looking at pre-amp DAC streamers rather than integrated but all seem to have their flaws. The HiFi Rose gear looks great but their own forums suggest they're full of bugs; Naim ND5 X2 seems more solid but lacks MQA (which I assume I would want) and limited connectivity; NAD c658 ticks the boxes on spec but again seems to have problems etc. I also have a Cyrus CD 6SE which I'd like to keep but thinking using the optical connection to a DAC would improve overall quality, perhaps? I'm going around in circles trying to figure things out.
On the amp, there's a reasonable package deal available on the NAD c658 + NAD c298 amp which will do 185w into 8ohm but I'm reading unfavourable things about Class D and not sure if that much power would damage my speakers, not that I'll be cranking it to the max. Or should I stick with the 6XP as a pre-amp and add in a Cyrus power amp coupled with a BlueSound Node?
I know I need to audition some stuff but since no shop does everything, I'm trying to figure out where to focus my attention first. I don't mind starting from scratch as I can use the existing system elsewhere.
Any thoughts on this jumble of information would be much appreciated!
System is a Cyrus 6XP (40w, 8ohm) into Monitor Audio Silver RX2 speakers (100w, 6ohm).
I'm pushing the amp a bit harder than I was previously and whilst it's not straining, I'm not getting a full sound. I have a budget of £5,000-6,000 to upgrade and wondering where best to put my money. I can't get floor standers sadly, so looking at.
A sub - either SVS sb-3000 or Monitor Audio Silver W12 to match the speakers
A streamer - as well as something like Tidal, all my CDs are ripped to FLAC using Exact Audio Copy so something that can play those files
A power amp
The streamer is very confusing as the starting point. I've mostly been looking at pre-amp DAC streamers rather than integrated but all seem to have their flaws. The HiFi Rose gear looks great but their own forums suggest they're full of bugs; Naim ND5 X2 seems more solid but lacks MQA (which I assume I would want) and limited connectivity; NAD c658 ticks the boxes on spec but again seems to have problems etc. I also have a Cyrus CD 6SE which I'd like to keep but thinking using the optical connection to a DAC would improve overall quality, perhaps? I'm going around in circles trying to figure things out.
On the amp, there's a reasonable package deal available on the NAD c658 + NAD c298 amp which will do 185w into 8ohm but I'm reading unfavourable things about Class D and not sure if that much power would damage my speakers, not that I'll be cranking it to the max. Or should I stick with the 6XP as a pre-amp and add in a Cyrus power amp coupled with a BlueSound Node?
I know I need to audition some stuff but since no shop does everything, I'm trying to figure out where to focus my attention first. I don't mind starting from scratch as I can use the existing system elsewhere.
Any thoughts on this jumble of information would be much appreciated!