Question Speaker & Amp Upgrade

Danhifi

Established Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2018
Messages
112
Reaction score
13
Points
73
Age
48
Location
Israel
I currently own a pair of Wharfedale 9.1's paired with a Monitor Audio A100. I use the Airplay function with my iPad to listen to music via Google Play with music I have uploaded. I really enjoy the sound, however for some odd reason I felt the need to upgrade!!! I live in Israel and travel to the UK every so often and before I arrive I usually order my gear. So far I gave purchased a pair of B&W CM 1 S2 speakers and now I am driving myself nutty looking for an amp and CD player. I won't have the opportunity to listen to any of the gear prior to buying it. I listen to 50's and 60's jazz, classic rock, folk rock and classical. I don't own a single CD, so I will be building a new library if I go the CD route. I have narrowed it down to the following and would enjoy the validation that the following items are worth the upgrade.

New Rotel A12 + Rotel CD14 £1200
Ex-Demo Units A14 + CD14 £1068
New NAD C368 + NAD C538 CD Player £1048
New NAD C368 with Blusound Module + Tidal Hi-Fi subscription
£1098
$11/month ( I am not so keen on this option as reviews of the blusound app are less the stellar and there are many parts; that if one goes down your stuck without music).

1. How would one benefit from the listed upgrades? Is it "better" then what I have?
2. All being about equal price, is one a better purchase the any of the others? 3. Are there other options in the same price range available that I could consider that would play nicely with the B&W's?

Any thoughts, comments, prepared statements, questions or lectures will be appreciated.

Dan
 
Frankly, once you’ve been used to the utter convenience of streaming and using limitless libraries, going backwards to cd playing will be very limiting and, I suspect, very irritating.

I’d consider this amp;

Evolution 50A | Creek Audio Ltd

Already something of a legend as Creek amps tend to become.

Available here and elswhere: comes in a fine silver finish too.

Creek Evolution 50A Integrated Amplifier

I’d then add one of these.

Yamaha WXAD-10 MusicCast Wireless Streaming Adapter - Wireless Accessories - AudioVisual Online - UK Home Cinema and Hifi Specialists

A tiny thing with excellent pedigree.

And you’re guaranteed some fine sounding hifi.

Cds are just a pain now. And if you’ve actually got none... then why start?

I still have about six hundred cds, but I haven’t picked one up in years.
 
It's a bit obvious that someone will pick what they use themselves as a recommendation, so I'll do it.

I had the a100, lovely piece of kit that it is, o changed it out foo a marantz pm6006 because I had the 6005 in another room and preferred the sound.

I'm not recommending the marantz, they are probably to close to warrant a serious upgrade, but I do recommend a seperate streaming unit to whatever you buy. If you buy any amp with dnla/airplay built in you are likely limiting how good an amp you can buy

I often recommend the teufal Raumfeld connector as a great streamer, add it to an amp of your choice and I think it frees up options
 
@Paul7777x Suggested, the creek is a stellar amplifier. I recently sold mine on due to upgrade. I went for a pre-power combination rather than an integrated amplifier and if space permits, would recommend it. As he also mentioned, CD players are a bit of a faff once your used to streaming.

The CM1's are not very efficient at 84db so would benefit from some good amplification.

Yamaha preamp, has airplay, dlna, optical and analogue inputs a great built in dac. any cheap cd player circa £20 with an optical out will work as a transport as the yammy will be doing the decoding if you want a cd player.

Yamaha WXC-50 Wireless Pre-Amplifier MusicCast Bluetooth AirPlay

For power I'd look at this. Ample power to drive the insensitive CM1's and with a high damping factor, will have great grip on the lower frequencies.

Emotiva Black BasX A-300 2 Channel Power Amplifier - AV Power Amplifiers - AudioVisual Online - UK Home Cinema and Hifi Specialists

Personally IMO, You would struggle to find a system with these features and power in this price range.
 
I understand that the CM1's are considered '"power hungry" however I did some research and some listening tests (with my A100 and Wharfedale's) and concluded the following.

1. In order to get, what most are saying is an acceptable decibel level to listen to music at 2 meters; 75db-85db, an amp would need use about 4-8 watts. Factor in dynamic spikes up to say 96db and an amp would only need to use about 32 watts, well under the 60 that the amp (Rotel A12) states as total power.

2. I listened to two types of music that I feel would have large spikes A.) AC/DC - Back in Black and B.) Beethoven's Symphony #5. I measured with an SPL meter and received the following data points.

AC/DC Back in Black: 70db average at 2 meters with spikes to 79db. It was loud for me.

Beethoven's 5th: 60db average at 2 meters with spikes to 77db. Again, loud enough.

Taking these measurements in account and not needing close to 99db or above I can't see why needing more power is justified.
 
I would speculate that if you can get a discount on the Rotel A14, that is a worthy consideration. The normal selling price on that is £999. The combined price for new equipment (CD+Amp) would be about £1550.

ROTEL - A14 Integrated Amp with DAC

ROTEL - CD14 CD Player

Rotel Stereo Integrated Amplifier A14

Rotel CD Player CD14

Depending on your remaining budget, you can add the Yamaha WXC-50 (£250) for full Network Streaming capability.

Yamaha MusicCast WXC50 Networked Pre Amplifier - Superfi

Though if you have more money, there are other streaming options -

Cambridge Audio CXN Network Player - £799 -


Cambridge Audio CXN V2 (Black)

Or the BlueSound NODE-2 - £499 -

Bluesound NODE 2 Hi-Res Wireless Music Streamer

BLUESOUND - NODE 2 Network Streamer

In summary, you are looking for ...potentially....

- New Amp/Receiver
- New CD Player
- Network Streaming


And you budget is ... what? At least £1000, but how much for everything?

You should be able to get the Rotel A14, Rotel CD14, and the Bluesound Node-2w for about £2000 with out discounts. How does that fit your budget?

A system that would include Streaming, would be the Cambridge Audio CXA80 amp (80w/ch) and the Cambridge CXN Network Player, both about £800 each. The Cambridge CXC CD Transport would be another £300. That bring the total for everything to £1900.

Cambridge Audio CXC (Silver)

Cambridge Audio CXA80 (Silver)

Cambridge Audio CXN V2 (Silver)

Though well below your budget, an Amp that has everything and then some -

Yamaha RN803 Network Receiver, DAB/DAB+, 100w/ch, Network Streaming, DAC (2xOptical, 2xCoaxial, 1xUSB-Media) Room EQ, Full Bass Management, and more - £560 -


Yamaha R-N803D Network Receiver

In the process of finding a source, I found several places selling this amp for £699, so £550, £560, and £570 are attractive prices.

MusicCast R-N803D Network Receiver - Overview - Yamaha - UK and Ireland

At least consider it ... if you want a lot of amp, and to save some money.

Personally, the Rotel A14, Rotel CD14, and the Bluesound Node-2 for about £2000 seems very appealing, and if you can get further discounts, so much the better. Using your original numbers, you claim to be able to get all three of these for about £1600 ... NICE.

Just one man's opinion.

Steve/bluewizard
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom