The Doors Forum

I think there was a thread for this before, Im interested in what systems people are listening to music on.

I am in the process of putting a decent stereo system together on somewhat of a budget.

I just purchased a pair of Dali Zensor speakers following the advice of my friend who is a sound engineer and some research myself, For my budget range a great option. I got an ex display pair for a little under retail at £179. Very happy

Im looking at a Pioneer PD 10K SACD player and yet to choose an amplifier but im narrowing it down. I haven't even started to look at a turntable and pre-amp yet.


Any suggestions or advice?

Also please share your own systems. Up until now ive been using an old Sony surround system, a Pioneer stereo and my Polaroid blutooth TV sound base and dare I say it a steeple-tone turntable


heres my speakers

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152240313008? ... EBIDX%3AIT


http://www.whathifi.com/dali/zensor-1/review

Here is the thread you are referring to. http://www.thefreedomman.com/forum/view ... tem#p88107

Are you looking for an Integrated amp or a separate amp/pre-amp setup? Here is a link for reference only. They list Integrated and Separates. NAD makes quality stuff.

http://www.crutchfield.com/g_344650/Int ... fiers.html

TheDoorsMusic wrote:Here is the thread you are referring to. http://www.thefreedomman.com/forum/view ... tem#p88107

Are you looking for an Integrated amp or a separate amp/pre-amp setup? Here is a link for reference only. They list Integrated and Separates. NAD makes quality stuff.

http://www.crutchfield.com/g_344650/Int ... fiers.html

Hi

yeah I want a separate amp and pre amp but I have bought a cheap second hand integrated Technics amp just to keep me going until I see what I want

I have bought this setup for now to start me off

Pioneer PD10 K SACD player
Technics SU-300 Amplifier
Dali Zensor 1 speakers


I Intend to get a Good amp soon and a pre amp. Any suggestions for the pre-amp ?

Great choice going separates.

My suggestions for pre-amps:

Parasound 2100 2.1

NAD C 162

NAD C 165BEE

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Personally i'm a NAD user, i have an Stereo Integrated Amplifier C356BEE and a NAD Phono Preamp, any of NAD Amplifiers have a Phono Input and pre amp is a must

for an starter NAD system you can use the C316BBEE along with the pre amp PP2i, they are not expensive and are good, check reviews. also they work prefectly with PSB speakers, the starter of this one is the Alpha B1.

now i see you already have a vintage system, just try to use a good cables, i recommend Audioquest they have an starter laber Evergreen for connections and also de Type 2 for speakers

and well, if you're looking for a turntable try the brand new Rega Planar 1 it came with a really good starter Rega Carbon cartridge.

i also love technics turntables but, every turntable that i've bought i spent more money to tune it, better go for a brand new with guaranty

Hey Spermy

thanks I will look into those pre-amps. I must say the Technics amp I have is solid and clear, its was a bargain at £30 but I will be upgrading within the year and will look into what you suggest.

I am using Vann Damne speaker and RCA cables I find them excellent value

The Dali Zensor 1 speakers I have are fanfukingtastic

Ideally id like an RCA switch box so I can switch between 2 different analogue set ups, and one day thats exactly what I will have

TheDoorsMusic wrote:Great choice going separates.

My suggestions for pre-amps:

Parasound 2100 2.1

NAD C 162

NAD C 165BEE

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Ill have a look thanks, its all budget permitting

The Technics SU300 is a good one, i had one for a very short time,


just remember that any set up is good one when you enjoy it, isn't a must have the top lines of each brand, i sed a lot of vintage systems, amps, turntables, cd players, but makeing comarisions between marantz, nad and oppo, the oppo got the best results for me (Oppo BDP 103 system (multplayer) that is fantastic)

I agree on the Oppo BDP-103 Universal Player. One of the best players I've ever owned. Highly recommended.

https://www.oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-103/

Also, don't let the Interconnect or Speaker Cables be the bottleneck in your system. Do the research and buy great performing cables.

TheDoorsMusic wrote:I agree on the Oppo BDP-103 Universal Player. One of the best players I've ever owned. Highly recommended.

https://www.oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-103/

Also, don't let the Interconnect or Speaker Cables be the bottleneck in your system. Do the research and buy great performing cables.

I completely agree, Van Damne cables, which I have are industry standard. Used by many professional audio recording and performance technicians, Not the most expensive by any means but a lot of overpriced products are simply that, overpriced. I find the Van Damne cables a significant improvement over the basic cables provided by manufacturers.

The Royal Sperm wrote:The Technics SU300 is a good one, i had one for a very short time,


just remember that any set up is good one when you enjoy it, isn't a must have the top lines of each brand, i sed a lot of vintage systems, amps, turntables, cd players, but makeing comarisions between marantz, nad and oppo, the oppo got the best results for me (Oppo BDP 103 system (multplayer) that is fantastic)

yeah I picked the technics up simply because it was £30 and I expected it to be solid and serviceable, I must say im impressed It was a real find. I can certainly live with until I am ready to upgrade. Along with the Pioneeer PD10 SACD player I get a really clean and full sound.

Hey

any advice for peoples on a good DAC? or general advice when spending under £50

anytimecowboy wrote:Hey

any advice for peoples on a good DAC? or general advice when spending under £50

Musical Fidelity have really good DAC, i really don't know about the price range, since the OPPO i used included a pretty damn DAC, even improve the images, and more

I got my music system together.
Pioneer a30-s amplifier.
Sony PS-HX500 turntable.
Pioneer PD10-K sacd player.
Novafidelity x10 hdd and server
Dali zensor 1 speakers
And far too many vintage tape decks

anytimecowboy wrote:I got my music system together.
Pioneer a30-s amplifier.
Sony PS-HX500 turntable.
Pioneer PD10-K sacd player.
Novafidelity x10 hdd and server
Dali zensor 1 speakers
And far too many vintage tape decks

nice!

I've based my system around the Cambridge Audio range and its served me well for a number of years now.

Amplifier - Azur 540a https://www.whathifi.com/cambridge-audi ... 50a/review
Cd player - Azur 341c https://www.whathifi.com/cambridge-audi ... 51c/review
Preamp - Azur 640p https://www.whathifi.com/cambridge-audi ... 40p/review
Turntable - Project Genie 3 https://www.whathifi.com/pro-ject/genie-3/review
Speakers - Celestion F30 floorstanders http://www.hifi-review.com/151328-celestion-f30.html

As an overall system, I'm very happy with it. It sounds pretty good (most of my friends can't believe how good records sound!) but I'm considering changing the speakers. With 2 kids now, floorstanders aren't as practical as they used to be ...

I just bought the cambridge audio cp2 phono pre amp. Expecting it to be good

I had the Cambridge cp2 but quickly sold it.It didn't do well on the dennon amp I had.I had to put the bass button all the way to the left and the treble all the way to the right and I wasn't pleased with the sound.
Maybe it didn't fit with the dennon amp, I don't know.
I now have a Marantz 2226 reciever and very pleased with the sound

I think the Cambridge Audio kit works best when paired with other CA kit. That's the advice I was given when buying.

Not that I have that much experience but before I bought the cd player I had a Philips model which sounded like it had too much treble - that problem went away when I bought what I have now.

That preamp seems to be the newer model to what I have - if you've bought it from Richer Sounds, they'll change it for you if you're not happy with it.

Hopefully that wont happen, but I've read also that Project preamps are also good quality and value if you need an alternative.

All of this is subjective of course - room layouts, type of music played, hearing and expectations all play some part!

Yes, it seems to work best with other CA systems.

thanks for the insights. I paid £75 used on eBay, seems hardly touched almost new.

Ill be setting it up this weekend and comparing to the phono stage on the sony turntable and against the pioneer amp a-30 phono stage. ill let you know

For those interested

My set up is nearly complete, well clearly is a constant work in progress

I'm using a Pioneer a30-s amplifier to run the following

SMSL Sanskrit pro DAC
Cambridge Audio CP2 phono stage
Sony PS-HX500 turntable.
Pioneer PD10-K sacd player.
Novafidelity X10 hdd and server
Technics RS BX501 cassette deck

all coming out of Dali zensor 1 speakers

in the next few weeks I will be adding a darkvoice tube pre amp and new headphones. The Pioneer A30 has a power amp direct switch so I can run the tube headphone amp through it as a pre.