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i think you need to give a rough budget for your speakers
Hi all,
I’m looking to venture into an audio setup that I can actually enjoy and will be basing it around a Quad 34 & 306. I mainly play CDs. Can anyone recommend a good pair of speakers to compliment it? I was looking at some ProAc Tablettes, either the 2000 Signature or a standard 8,9 or 10, but have very little knowledge of what’s out there. The 306 does not have a sub output so the speakers would need to do everything.
Hopefully my layman’s terminology makes sense!
i think you need to give a rough budget for your speakers
Budget, room size, music tastes and whether you would condsider used?
PMC OB1 used wouldn’t be much money and would be a good low-mid end option.
Best get a mask on and head to a proper high store to see what they can demo for you.
Really no substitute for listening to them, ideally with your own system - a decent hifi shop will let you demo a load of speakers and then take the pair you most like home to demo there with your gear. Either that or lug your amp and CD player to the shop and spend a few hours listening. Matching the speakers to the rest of the system makes a big difference.
Budget I would say is around £500 for the speakers and I would consider used. The ProAc speakers are around that price, used. Room size is 14" x 13". Music tastes are extremely varied, probably more than the average person. I'm just as home with house/trance as I am with rock, metal, folk, soul, funk, jazz, and sub-genres. Probably the only genre I don't listen to at all is classical
The Quad setup is a very neutral laid back sound. I would unhesitatingly listen to the new KEF LS50 Meta speakers which are top class.
A sub can be added such as a REL connected to the speaker outputs on the amplifier if you think it's needed
I use a REL 'T' series sub. on my LS50's.
If you go for a compact speaker invest in some good stands.
I can tell you the LS50 can go pretty deep on bass notes.
Amplifier design has moved on with class D & G amplifiers that may outperform the Quad.
Get decent cables and a good CD player and consider a DAC to enhance the CD player.
Thanks for the feedback so far, it's much appreciated
Rod, what is a DAC?
It's a digital to analogue converter.
A good one can improve the CD sound.
https://www.whathifi.com/best-buys/hi-fi/best-dacs
Review here on the LS50 Meta
https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/kef-ls50-meta
The LS50 meta is double the OP’s budget.
Sevenoaks have the previous LS50 for around £500 in their clearance though.
Thanks Rod. I don't have a CD player yet so can get it with DAC built in. I like the look of the Marantz CD6007:Originally Posted by Rod
https://www.whathifi.com/best-buys/h...est-cd-players
The KEF LS50 Meta are out of my price range unless I can pick up a bargain pair second hand, but the predecessor does look good. All in with Quad 34/306, Marantz CD player and the speakers I'll be in for around £1,200 which doesn't seem bad. I'll need to add speaker stands and cables to that.
If you can get a pair of LS50 for £500, I would say buy them 👍🏻
Sounds a bargain!
If you can,take your amp and cds to audition the speakers,don’t forget good quality speaker cable.
I'd look around for a used set of ProAc speakers myself. They have been producing the same, very effective, designs for decades now. A second had set of ProAc Response floor standers will likely set you back around the same or less than a new set of their shelf speakers; and they have build some amazing speakers over the years (the ProAc Response D38 included).
Thanks for the feedback so far guys. I've settled on a Quad 34/306 setup with some ProAc Anniversary variant of some sort. Preferably 8, 9 or 10.
The bit I need to think about now is the CD player / input. A Marantz CD-6007 looks like a good option
https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/marantz-cd6007
But what about streaming my music from Spotify? What's the best way to get that through the system? n Is it as simple as connecting my phone to the CD player or does that result in a loss of quality? The Marantz has the following paragraph but I have no idea what it means!
'The big news here is the change of DAC chip to an AKM 4490 (the CD6006 used a Cirrus CS4398), allowing the CD6007 to process high-resolution files.
Not through the CD disc drive, of course. You’ll need to use the front panel USB Type A socket to get the files into the player, as there are no other digital inputs here. You can play hi-res PCM music up to 24-bit/192kHz and DSD128. The last generation model could cope with 48kHz files at best and not DSD.'
Last edited by Schofie; 28th October 2020 at 12:01.
A bit of research and I think I've answered my own question...
https://www.whathifi.com/best-buys/s...usic-streamers
FYI, someone posted a beautiful set of PMC GB1i a little while back on SC, for very little money. Might be worth a look.
I recently re-discovered my HIFI and wanted a streamer. I bought a Chromecast Audio (now discontinued, actually I bought 2) but still available here:
https://www.mymemory.co.uk/smart-hom...g-devices.html
Using the joy of Amazon, I also bought a Bluesound Node 2i (now available at a much better price £400 vs £500 when I bought it).
I back-to-backed the Bluesound and Chromecast for 3 weeks. Fed them both into my pre-amp aux or via optical into my pre-amp DAC and fiddled over time comparing both methods using Tidal HIFI, Amazon HD (on trial subscriptions) and Spotify. Also spent time comparing the streaming sources to CD.
After 3 weeks I sent back the Bluesound to Amazon. Maybe it’s my ears but I couldn’t hear a significant difference - I do recall one evening hearing a difference but it was so nuanced it was hard to describe.
So I now use the Chromecast with Spotify and cancelled my Tidal/Amazon subs.
Of note my HIFI gear is old (generally) but good quality - Naim pre/power amp, Rega Planet CD, Townsend Elite Rock TT, Neat Iota Alpha speakers (excellent speakers btw)
I rarely listen to CDs now, unless the album is not on Spotify. Never listen to vinyl (young kids).
I am very happy.
Bottom line, splash out £27 quid on a Chromecast Audio and see how you like it.
Hope this helps
Last edited by davek; 29th October 2020 at 12:28.
Cheers. I think I'm now pretty settled with the system I'm going to go for, which is:
Cambridge Audio CXN for streaming. May go for the V1 second-hand:
https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/cambridge-audio-cxn-v2
Marantz CD6007 for playing CDs. May go for the 6006 second-hand:
https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/marantz-cd6007
Quad 34/306 Amp/Preamp
Either Proac Tablette speakers of some sort or the PMC GB1i if they're still available
All in if I buy wisely that should be around a £1,500 setup
I'm listening to a pair of ProAc D2s at the moment, love them, even the wife agreed at the demo session these were the one(well two), tried PMCs at the same time but preferred these.
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