Reply With Quotefor a smaller amp take a look at cyrus amps - i owned a cyrus 3i in the past and it was a cracking small form factor amp.
* if you want to go even smaller and dont need much power class t amps are also good
I have some Monitor Audio Radius 90 speakers knocking around and I would like some recommendations for a small integrated amp that would fit nicely on my desk. I intend to use the line out from my Focusrite audio interface as the source (the Focusrite is effectively my DAC).
Secondhand bargains a must or low cost new equipment is OK but form factor is critical.
Thank you!
for a smaller amp take a look at cyrus amps - i owned a cyrus 3i in the past and it was a cracking small form factor amp.
* if you want to go even smaller and dont need much power class t amps are also good
Last edited by pugster; 4th November 2021 at 22:01.
Sony WXA-50 is small and measures well.
Cyrus amps are excellent. There's a nice 6vs on eBay for £150 plus delivery
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cyrus-6vs...-127635-2958-0
If you can find a nice one at a good price, a Musical Fidelity X-A1 would be sensational.
NAD D 3020
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Try a Aiyama A04 for £74 (+10% off at the mo) from Amazon. Send it back for free if you dont like it.
I have one on my home office desk feeding some diy desktop spkrs and its great.
Rega io
Small form factor. UK made. Relatively inexpensive new. Well reviewed at price point.
+1. Beware of UK designed but made in China gear.Originally Posted by SNA
Wow that is cheap. Don't you have to be careful with Cyrus gear pairing? I seem to remember they have a reputation of being quite bright and detailed sounding
Most UK companies in hifi are now Chinese owned.
It depends on speaker characteristics and room acoustics to a certain extent.
A PSX power supply was a great add-on
Many thanks for the recommendations, I will look into them. I've come across the Pro-Ject Stereo Box S/S2 - any thoughts on those?
Or the Teac H300?
Personally, I would go class d for a desktop amp so you don’t get something that kicks out loads of heat and don’t need to worry about leaving it on. Like I said above, the NAD D 3020 or 3045 would be great.
Never realised the R90 were a good music speaker, I have them in my 5.1 set up in the corners.
Have been tempted to upgrade the fronts to 225 to match the centre & now have an idea for what to use the other speakers for.
Have been told I am not allowed any more than 5 speakers in the lounge, so can’t upgrade to something a little more modern sound stage wise.
Not old school amp I know but I picked up a really cheap Onkyo AV amp which has network connectivity and a USB port and coupled that to a pair of Elac Debut B5.2 speakers which allows me to play music from USB or from my NAS.
Was slightly sceptical about how it would sound but the amp sounds much better then my old school Technics class A amp.
I went old school- Arcam Alpha 6 driving pair of Mordaunt Short speakers. All 80s/ 90s gear, but sounds great. Step up from the Camridge Audio set-up I have in the brewery. Pretty cheap, too.
Forgot this little amp....
https://www.project-audio.com/en/product/stereo-box-s2/
Circa £200
After some failed bids/offers for other amps, I went for that Pro-Ject amp. It's absolutely tiny, no larger than a deck of cards really!
I'm going to finish the mini-system off with an old Monitor Audio Radius 360 sub, should be a nice little office set up!
Great Rico ^^^ nice set up!
Well, having been listening to my new setup - i'm not particularly pleased and it will teach me to do more research. My office is very 'live' and the clap test gives nearly 2 seconds of spiky decay which does not make for an enjoyable listening experience with a mid/treble A/V satellite speaker and an underpowered amp.
Back to the drawing board! I'm considering KEF LSX which are well suited to nearfield listening and via DSP can be tuned for the space.
Let’s indeed take this back to basics it’s too easy to get into a kit list.
How big is the room, how far are you from each speaker, and what kind of music do you listen to?
All the average audio dealers I’ve encounter start with the equipment I need and why XYZ is crap etc. The good ones are a calm source of logic.
Once you confirm that we can go from there. I tried some new speakers last year which in the demo room were fantastic, but in my home sounded completely lifeless.
Here is my office. It's 2.5 x 3.5m. I'm about 1m from each speaker baffle. The window reveal and right hand wall are sound-proofed and plastered, the left hand wall is blockwork and plastered. So a very bright sounding room at the moment. I listen mainly to rock and metal.
Might be a combo. Metal/rock can be bright with heavy cymbals, the speakers have metal tweeters, and there’s not much scope for movement. You could try them in different placement, adjust the toe angles etc.
Aside from that can you adjust the source to defeat the treble? Not ideal but sometimes it’s the only way.
I have always had issues in my listening room, similar smooth surfaces and a wooden floor and tried several options to reduce reverb. I changed my front end streamer last month to one with room correction and the difference is night and day.
Last edited by pete-r; 15th November 2021 at 17:13.
Get the speakers on stands, off the windowsill, and away from those corners, most things will sound pony where you've got them!
Have you got any good value recommendations please?
I'd have a look on Richer Sounds for speaker stands, they're bound to have something decent but good value for money.
Gear4music always have decent deals on their own brand stands, either desk mounted, or taller floor standing ones, which are probably what I’d go for with your set up
thanks, I've ordered some adjustable floor stands
Get some blutac, a blob of blutac at each corner to prevent the speakers vibrating where you don’t want them to, I think you’ll see some improvement. Though, those speakers do look on the small side for energetic listening to rock.
I’ve ordered some foam isolating pads too. I’m under no illusion I need to invest in some bigger drivers.
Just to come to the defence of smaller units, I've got some Ruark MR1 active speakers (https://www.ruarkaudio.com/products/...speaker-system) which do surprisingly well for very compact units.
There's no getting away from physics though, and I've got them paired to an also suitably compact REL T-Zero (https://rel.net/uk/shop/powered-subw...t/tzero-mkiii/) subwoofer that handles the low end duties and transforms the overall sound.
I've found this set up much easier to deal with in my home office, rather than having to deal with trying to place larger units in a small space and rather close listening distances.
I listen to a pretty eclectic mix of music, but metal, rock and prog make up the core and I'm happy with the combination of small speakers and a sub.
Same for me although I went for Genelec 8010s monitors matched with the slim Genelec 7040 subwoofer. The integration is incredible and with your eyes shut you would swear you were listening to large full range speakers. The best hifi components I have ever bought, I listen to them all day near range in my study and love them, such clear and detailed sound quality.
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