downgrade dilemma

Options:

1. Keep the CDX, sell the rest and by a pair of stax electrostatic headphones with an energiser. The energiser is it's own amp, meaning that you can plug it directly into the back of your CDX and won't need any amps at all.
Along the way, they make the best sounding headphones I've ever heard.
2. Divource and setup your system however you like

Sandy,
Here's another possible route for your downgrade that might offer significant benefits -
1. No space problem
2. No black boxes
3. Economical
4. Instant WAF
http://www.stoneaudio.co.uk/tivoli/about.htm#modelcd

David

thanks for both suggestions- but I certainly couldn't afford another divorce...the WAF is important but she is most tolerant as she also enjoys music(so no headphones). I was wondering, perhaps naively, if a Nait and a wee pair of modern speakers would work (it's a long time since I kept up with 'developments' in hifi) Adore the Tivoli radio but have yet to audition the CD player, interesting...

Without going as low as, say a Linn Classik, it seems to me that all you can do is go to an integrated amp. Now the Naim Nait is a lovely little amp but it's not going to drive those arcs of yours. The Arcs have one benefit in that they are designed to go close to a rear wall. If you change speakers too, you'll probably want to go near the rear wall again courtesy of the lack of space. i recently reacquainted myself with a pair of Linn Kans (driven by a mammoth Naim amp) and they were really engaging. So you could look at getting a Nait and Kans. A classic cystem in its day. The CDX will work beautifully into that.

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

quote:

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So you could look at getting a Nait and Kans. A classic cystem in its day. The CDX will work beautifully into that.

---

Yes, i can totally confirm that!
A Nait-2 is good enough to show the sonic level of the CDX.
My system recently consisted of a Nait-2/CDX/Kans. I swapped my Kan's for some new Diapason Micra MKIII's early this year.
(looks great, sounds even better!)

regards,
Alco

I actually got the Arcs as replacement for Kans 'cos they sounded like 'BigKans', but better mannered...I liked their directness but warm too, unlike the Kans. Being 'out of it' a bit, I've not heard of Micras, but will suss them out.
Now I've discovered this forum, I am fearful I won't get any work done and will develop an unhealthy interest in mains cables and plugs, or is that just turning 40?

Am I crazy pt 3???

Been there done that. I sold my CDI, 102napscHiCap, 180, nat03 and Intro's. Bought a Linn Classik. Sold the Classik. Bought a Nait 5 and CD5. Bought 2 HiCaps. Sold the bunch and now I have CD2, 82HiCap, 180 and Monitor Audio Studio 20sec's.

You'll go the same way...

Regards, Bas

Sounds like everyone is saying to keep the CDX. Makes sense - you and your partner want a CD player.

Next is the amps. You have three boxes - 72/Hi/180.

If you replace these with a Nait, the addition of a *-cap is likely. The improvement is huge and you've been there, so you're likely to wind up with two, full-width boxes anyway. Turns out your 72 and Hi are half-width, so you can stack them on top of the 180 and take up only a smidge more space than, say, the Nait 5/FC2 that I have. Unless you are dying for remote, I see no reason to do this.

Speakers. As others have said, the ones you have work near a wall and the likely replacements should also be wall-huggers in the interest of space. As for standmounts, and kans are an obvious - if "old skool" choice - I'm always surprised at how, once a stand is added, they have the same - or very similar - footprint and height of small tower speakers. Intros, Credos, and Allaes come to mind as obvious partners for your kit and can provide warmth beyond what the Kans do.

They may also be *easier* partners than the Kan combo would be. Much has been written here about trying to get Kans to work right. I recall one poster stating that Kans shouldn't be used with CD due to the harshness of the medium being a poor match with the balance and tendencies of Kans. The CDX seems especially tricky to setup, so nights of frustration could await you if you go this route.

- GregB

Insert Witty Signature Line Here

2 cushions - put one in front of each speaker .
Seriously though, why not just turn the volume down?
If you do want smaller speakers, I can say that I'm using Kans with my CDX (82/250), and they sound just fine. One point to bear in mind about Kans is that their size is the size of the speakers plus stands, ie. about the same as Kelidhs or similar.
On the amp side, can a 72 run off a 140 (ie lose the space taken up by the 180, and then a like sized box replacement of 140 for Hi)?
I can't help thinking that we'll see you back posting a "what's the next logical upgrade" question in a while or so.

Paul Rowlands

,suppose like so many, I seek The Grail, and appreciate the combined years of experience available at this 'Holy Place'. Kan't see myself going bak to the Kans, and take on board the size/footprint ideas. We've a low ceiling~2m, and a room of 3x4m, and the Arcs 1m off the wall. I'm intrigued (sp.?) that the CDX needs 'set up'- its on Audioquest sorbothane feet on a sturdy small wooden table thanks to all who've replied so far.

"and the Arcs 1m off the wall"

This puts them quite a bit out into the room then. I thought Arcs were 'wall huggers' - guess not.

This means, though, that Naim speakers or Kans/stands - the can really go 6" or closer to the wall - can buy you back a fair amount of real estate in your room.

As to messing with the pre/amps, these boxes just don't take up *that* much more room than an integrated - unless you *insist* that each have its own shelf on a rack.

As for the Holy Grail, well...I would dare say that *for a one-box solution* the Nait 5 is IT. It has been written up as "The best integrated on the planet". It also partners well with the wall-hugging speakers above. If I were you, I would keep the 72/hi/180 that you have, but the Nait is a "Holy Grail" option - even if a bit of a downgrade from where you are now.

- GregB

Insert Witty Signature Line Here

Thanks Greg,
Perhaps it is me that is 'off the wall', or was that Michael Jackson...? Yep, tha Arcs do dominate the room rather. Maybe a compromise ( in the eyes of my wife) would be other speakers and I'keep the Nait option as a strategic fall back position

Sandy,

Coincidentally I was looking at the Stoneaudio site today and came across the Sequence 400 speakers, which certainly look the biz in terms of domestic acceptability - wall mountable, multiple colour options, 7 cm thick. I wonder if anyone here has heard them? Hifi Choice reviewed them a while back - the review is on their website, in the archive - and they gave them a recommendation, albeit a slightly qualified one. An interesting possibility I think though, and not a bank-breaker at £300.00. Maybe these, and some decent headphones for when you get tired of their limitations, could form part of the solution to your prob.

Dan

I remember Sequence speakers from my three months as a hi-fi sales assistant about a decade ago. One customer sold himself a pair, so to speak, but otherwise we didn't even bother suggesting them - the idea that anyone without severe hearing loss might have bought them was absurd. The only place where they sounded better than the bottom of the range Missions (which themselves were pretty mediocre) was under a shelf in the display area where several pairs of speakers were crowded together. And even then, it applied only at exceptionally low volumes...

Maybe they have improved since then...

--J

Damn! And they look so promising...

Dan

BIG THANKS GREG , I've had these Arcs 8 years and never thought of them as wall huggers! 6" out they have a new lease of life and this also has WAF! I may yet escape the trauma of getting rid of them...but I still don't know how to set up the CDX

keep the boxes you have..unless you live in a shoebox they aren't taking up much space at all. As for speakers it has to be about how they sound, I would suggest some sbls ,they go right up against the wall.....sorted!

Mad Boy Matt

Hey Mad Boy,
Been there and we didn't get on- not warm enough (there's old fashioned for you) I might be living in a shoebox(luxury) if I keep up/downgrading...

Sandy

My advice for what it is worth is sell the Hicap, 180 and ARCs and buy a used 140 and a pair of one the many excellent 400 GBP book shelf speakers around. I run a very similar system and it gives me almost as much pleasure as my posh main system (52, supercap, blah, blah, blah).

good luck

Nic P

Hey wait a minute whats this about a PSX ..Sandy??

Mad Boy Matt

Hey Mad boy, Really meant XPS. Too many letters to remember. Depends on my beloved's opinions and the outcome of a damages claim I have ongoing ( who says a car crash doesn't have it's silver lining?) Or, the old chestnut, should it be a new pre amp? Think I might not have to downgrade afterall if I can chose some 'nice' furniture.

Sandy,

Probably too late now for your purposes, but I was sufficiently intrigued by the Sequence speakers to get a pair, just running in. I have to say that for the money they are quite impressive - nice open sound, clean treble, and surprisingly rhythmic. A more natural tonal balance for orchestral stuff than my Intro 2s, but not in their league for incisiveness/ resolution. A neat compromise though I think between sound and WAF.

(Quite hard to get hold of, however.)

Dan

Hi Sandy

Can't help with amp choice but how about Ruark Etude standmounts. Ruark speakers sound really good with Naim amps, mind you I heard the Etude's in front of CDS3/552/500 + Chord Odyssey 4 speaker cable.

Colin.

Here's my suggestions:
1. Put your main system in storage.
2. Get a Classik.
3. Look lost & forlorn for a while and grumble about how it's not that great.
4. Resurrect the old system at a suitable time.

You might find that you stop at (2).
(I sometimes think that having had a good system makes you more tolerant of a lesser one.)

Paul Rowlands