Castofthousands
Standard Member
Speaker & Amp upgrade advice. Large open planned room.
Hi there, first time posting a question on the forum (although I have been reading extensively for the last few weeks).
I’d appreciate some advice. I am about to upgrade my amp as my 25 year old Marantz finally packed in and update my similarly old Eltax Symphony 6 speakers.
The system will be going into an 8m wide open plan room, with a wall that half divides it (open plan living room, come dining room, come study). Basically 4x4.5m and the other bit is 4x3.5m (I’ll try and add pictures to help it make sense). The floor is thick laminate throughout with a couple of rugs, two large picture windows, stuff everywhere and pictures on all the walls!
The speakers can be placed a couple of metres apart, probably with the windows behind them, but in reality placement can never be optimal (mostly because we also have a wood burner and the discussion about moving stuff to create space for a new set up has already caused some squabbling).
So with all that in mind, I have a budget of around £1200 (plus a little extra for some magic speaker cable) and my research has lead me to look at:
Speakers:
Dali Oberon 5’s
B&W 606 S2 Anniversary
Q Acoustics 3050i
Amp:
Rega Brio
Audiolab 6000a
Cambridge Audio cxa61
I have a small vinyl collection and a vast cd collection. We also use Spotify (from Apple devices). Current equipment is my ancient Marantz 67SE CD player and a Sony TT. Music tastes are best described as eclectic, from jazz to folk/Americana, pop, electronica, contemporary classical music, basically anything.
Unfortunately it is not very easy to go and test out any kit where I live so the purchases will be blind. Plus I’m not sure with the shape and content of my room how useful listening to how things sound in a purpose built booth would be.
If possible can anyone comment/advise on whether what I’ve listed are reasonable choices?
Perhaps what would be most forgiving regarding placement issues, room size etc Whether any particular amp/speakers complement each other (or am I barking up the wrong tree?).
And will my old CD player be compatible? (if not any recommendations/comments would be much appreciated)
Basically I’d like to return to being absorbed by the music again, something that is lacking from streamed music through iMac speakers. Sorry if that’s overkill on the detail (and post length). Thanks in advance.
Hi there, first time posting a question on the forum (although I have been reading extensively for the last few weeks).
I’d appreciate some advice. I am about to upgrade my amp as my 25 year old Marantz finally packed in and update my similarly old Eltax Symphony 6 speakers.
The system will be going into an 8m wide open plan room, with a wall that half divides it (open plan living room, come dining room, come study). Basically 4x4.5m and the other bit is 4x3.5m (I’ll try and add pictures to help it make sense). The floor is thick laminate throughout with a couple of rugs, two large picture windows, stuff everywhere and pictures on all the walls!
The speakers can be placed a couple of metres apart, probably with the windows behind them, but in reality placement can never be optimal (mostly because we also have a wood burner and the discussion about moving stuff to create space for a new set up has already caused some squabbling).
So with all that in mind, I have a budget of around £1200 (plus a little extra for some magic speaker cable) and my research has lead me to look at:
Speakers:
Dali Oberon 5’s
B&W 606 S2 Anniversary
Q Acoustics 3050i
Amp:
Rega Brio
Audiolab 6000a
Cambridge Audio cxa61
I have a small vinyl collection and a vast cd collection. We also use Spotify (from Apple devices). Current equipment is my ancient Marantz 67SE CD player and a Sony TT. Music tastes are best described as eclectic, from jazz to folk/Americana, pop, electronica, contemporary classical music, basically anything.
Unfortunately it is not very easy to go and test out any kit where I live so the purchases will be blind. Plus I’m not sure with the shape and content of my room how useful listening to how things sound in a purpose built booth would be.
If possible can anyone comment/advise on whether what I’ve listed are reasonable choices?
Perhaps what would be most forgiving regarding placement issues, room size etc Whether any particular amp/speakers complement each other (or am I barking up the wrong tree?).
And will my old CD player be compatible? (if not any recommendations/comments would be much appreciated)
Basically I’d like to return to being absorbed by the music again, something that is lacking from streamed music through iMac speakers. Sorry if that’s overkill on the detail (and post length). Thanks in advance.
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