40th Birthday Present

Owen, that's generous of you.

I'd weight the £1K budget more towards the record player.

Chris

The typical Edwardian front room is approximately 3.25m x 3.80m, so not a particularly large room. Any half-decent speaker should be able to fill that volume pretty well.

That ex-demo price is a cracking deal and very tempting. Does the £1000 include the cost of interconnects and speaker cable? If so, the interconnect should be the Rega Couple2 or an ex demo Chord Crimson (the Couple is better at £100 but the Crimson is cheaper online at £65) or even a Chord 2phono-DIN interconnect but that's £150. The NACA5 speaker cable is £30/m nowadays. This is a concern since 2x5m runs would mean £300 and deplete the kitty. Even the minimum recommended length of 3.5m per side still comes to £210. 

So let's assume the minimum length, cabling costs here are £310 leaving £490. If you scrounge an extra £100 - your remaining budget is £590. I'd buy a pair of Dynaudio Emit m10 speakers (£500) on Atacama Nexus 6i stands (£90 sadly, but that's all there is left in the kitty - the Dynaudio stands make a big difference but they're a lot more money). The Dyns are a good match to the Naim and very musical. So you'd have an RP1 Perf Pack/Rega Fono/Nait5i/Dynaudio Emitm10 system properly cabled up, all in for the £1000.

The more natural source match for the Nait is a Planar 3 but that's £625 in P3/Elys package price, leaving little for the speakers after cabling. So with cabling at £310, we're already at £935. I just checked on Richer's site and see a pair of Q Acoustics 2010GR speakers for £80 and a pair of 2020i's for £100. They're obsolete stock so that's why they're reduced so much. If they need to go near the wall, buy the 2010 as it has a leaner bass response, though it suffers in terms of resolution and scale. Still, Q Acoustics make decent speakers. Add £90 stands and we're at either £1105 or £1125. This is a better balanced system which would also suit well but it breaks the bank.

Frank.

What about b&W speakers? I am thinking in the 685 S2. In the past I had the old version of those speakers and sound great for rock/prog music. The budget is not far from what you have. If you can listen to them just check it.

From Spain... Javi

Great advice from Frank. Not unexpected as he's a Dealer of course but you have his expert  input for fee.  He must be a very nice chap.

As Frank says, but you could buy second hand Naca5 which should bring the total back to budget.

Regards,

Nick

Could go Witch Hat N2 for the speaker cable (apparently same spec as A5), or keep an eye on eBay for good 2nd hand A5. Should save Frank's extra £100 either way.

Edit: great minds think alike, jinx, etc!

Ummm, does he have a rack for this gear?  Maybe something from Ikea to start?  Agreed, best to get everything used if possible.  Great input from Frank, BTW.

Charlie

I'd also weight the budget more toward the record player and go with the new Planar 3/Elys package. In my experience, the "source first" principle really counts with vinyl. Then go secondhand for NACA5 and speakers!  

£6 on Ikea Lack table for Rega record player too.

C.

Frank Abela posted:

I just checked on Richer's site and see a pair of Q Acoustics 2010GR speakers for £80 and a pair of 2020i's for £100. They're obsolete stock so that's why they're reduced so much. If they need to go near the wall, buy the 2010 as it has a leaner bass response, though it suffers in terms of resolution and scale. Still, Q Acoustics make decent speakers. Add £90 stands and we're at either £1105 or £1125. This is a better balanced system which would also suit well but it breaks the bank.

Frank.

I respectfully sneak into this post of Frank to add a personal caveat re: Q Acoustics. I bought a pair of 3020s months ago, when I still thought I wanted to build a studio system around a UnitiQute. One of the two speakers came with a mute tweeter. I sent the pair back, the second one came soon and had both tweeters working. The sound of the two units, though, was not exactly the same and I was left with a feeling of a nicely designed and cleverly promoted idea, more than a reliably built pair of interesting, solid loudspeakers.

Some find that older rega speakers felt like cardboard, but those Q Acoustics felt disquietingly fragile; I wonder why, with the same sum, one cannot find a pair of Wharfedale Diamonds or the sort.

My impressions only.

M

Massimo, I'm surprised. I've had a good long look at 2010s and 2020s, and a friend of mine has a pair of 2020is, and they seem well made to me. Perhaps you were unlucky?

Javi, the 685S2 is a large standmount which needs space around it. I would think this is a less desirable solution. Certainly, of the B&W choices I would choose the 685 rather than the smaller (and cheaper) 686 because the latter is really difficult to drive whereas the 685 is easier. Be that as it may, I would still choose the m10 if it were my system. 

I realise that a rack would be helpful, but the budget is stretched as it is, so I'm hoping a handy sideboard will be available. 

Frank.

I'd go for the rp1 with a pair of b&w cm1's2,as for speaker cable...I wouldn't bother with the expenditure of nac a5 at this level and be content with some linn k20 aka nac a4 second hand,it can be had for peanuts.Then a new cart for the turntable if possible.

Frank,

yes perhaps it was just bad luck but even the working pair didn't feel totally reassuring. It's easy, though, to build a bias after a first impression (biases work both ways..). But then, I was not convinced about the whole project.

Best

M

How about the new Rega Planar 2 ... somewhere between the RP1 and the Planar 2 in cost and presumably in performance.  Look to be a good budget turntable at £375 including Carbon Cartridge - though maybe hard to get hold of immediately.

That leaves you £625 for speakers and cabling.  Ideally yes £100 for a interconnect and £210 - £300 for NAC A5 is what you want ... but surely a Chord Crimson Vee3 (£45) and either Linn K20 or Van Damme cabling at around £5/m would be more appropriate for the budget.

After cabling you will have around £500 for speakers: lots of options there and its going to be down to (your friend's) tastes as much as anything when choosing.  A trip to your dealer with your friend is going to be needed here.

Anyway some people are going to say I've ignored the source first requirement ... you could step up to the Rega Planar 3 / Elys package but then you are going to have to cut back on speakers.  Worth asking a dealer to demo the two options - Rega Planar 3 and (say) Monitor Audio Bronze 1 vs Rega Planar 2 and (using Frank's suggestion) Dynaudio Emitm10.

And a trip to Ikea will get you a Ikea Stuva ... likely everyone will moan about the sound quality restrictions but looks smart for an initial purchase / setup.

Many thanks for all your great feedback and support on this one!  Let me digest the recommendations and of course I'll keep you updated as to what I decide to do.  I'll demo the RP1 and Planar 2 - like the idea of the Dynaudio Emit M10's (I have Excite X38's myself and am a fan of the brand).

Once again appreciate the help.

My son uses Q Accoustics 3020 speakers on the end of an RP1, Rega Brio, PC, Audioquest Dragonfly system. They really are ludicrously good for the money. No problems with tweeters or matching.

Keith