I've recently upgraded from my £200 system - NobSound ns15g pro Class D + Wharefedale 9.1 speakers + bluetooth AptX HD to phone (which i was very happy with, once i'd finally got the speakers setup properly on stands) to some monitor audio silver 100. A surprising step up in sound in lots of ways. So i'm now disappearing down the rabbit hole of researching more upgrades. Next on the list:
Cambridge Audio AXR100 amp, to see if thats a big step up again or if the NS is a bargain because its sold direct from the manufacturer and doesn't have the extras such as remote, nice casing, multiple inputs, western brand with advertising etc. I've tried cheaper class D amps before, the ns15g pro is the best i've heard.
I'm more looking forward to getting a Yamaha AV receiver with YPAO RSC multipoint (not any of the lower implementations of YPAO) to correct for room acoustics for the first time, from what i've read doing this properly makes a huge difference to rooms like mine which are large and full of hard surfaces. This page is great - Yamaha YPAO and YPAO R.S.C. It also means i can connect via HDMI to TV and chromecast via HDMI for streaming, have a parametric equaliser and change the equaliser based on volume automatically.
The sound quality in AV receivers is apparently a step down from stereo amps (yet to check if thats the case with my ears and with a receiver that costs almost double the stereo), so i'm thinking of using the pre-out of the Yamaha and using the cambridge audio as the amplifier if that makes a good improvement.
So far thats £275 for the speakers, £400 for the amp and £300 for the receiver, all 2nd hand and around £2200 rrp if bought new.
Would i be better off selling the monitor audio speakers and cambridge audio amp and instead buy some active studio monitors, since the receiver can handle the inputs and has lots of options to tweak the sound if I find its too sterile? Say for example the Yamaha HS8 or Adam Audio T8V, would that be comparable? They're only £300 a pair 2nd hand so there's room to go up in price...
The speakers will go around 20cm to the back and 50cm to the side wall or less, so would a front ported speaker do better? I'd like to have decent bass but no subwoofer since i'm in a flat.
Cambridge Audio AXR100 amp, to see if thats a big step up again or if the NS is a bargain because its sold direct from the manufacturer and doesn't have the extras such as remote, nice casing, multiple inputs, western brand with advertising etc. I've tried cheaper class D amps before, the ns15g pro is the best i've heard.
I'm more looking forward to getting a Yamaha AV receiver with YPAO RSC multipoint (not any of the lower implementations of YPAO) to correct for room acoustics for the first time, from what i've read doing this properly makes a huge difference to rooms like mine which are large and full of hard surfaces. This page is great - Yamaha YPAO and YPAO R.S.C. It also means i can connect via HDMI to TV and chromecast via HDMI for streaming, have a parametric equaliser and change the equaliser based on volume automatically.
The sound quality in AV receivers is apparently a step down from stereo amps (yet to check if thats the case with my ears and with a receiver that costs almost double the stereo), so i'm thinking of using the pre-out of the Yamaha and using the cambridge audio as the amplifier if that makes a good improvement.
So far thats £275 for the speakers, £400 for the amp and £300 for the receiver, all 2nd hand and around £2200 rrp if bought new.
Would i be better off selling the monitor audio speakers and cambridge audio amp and instead buy some active studio monitors, since the receiver can handle the inputs and has lots of options to tweak the sound if I find its too sterile? Say for example the Yamaha HS8 or Adam Audio T8V, would that be comparable? They're only £300 a pair 2nd hand so there's room to go up in price...
The speakers will go around 20cm to the back and 50cm to the side wall or less, so would a front ported speaker do better? I'd like to have decent bass but no subwoofer since i'm in a flat.
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