Have your say & ask the experts

I am currently trying to decide what to buy for my first major hi-fi system.
Yesterday I got to demo some equipment and it was a real experience!

I tried out three sets of B&W speakers (685, 684 and CM7) partnered with a Rotel RA-06 Amp and matching CD player.
The 685 sounded great with everything I threw at it. For a variety of CDs it delivered a consistent, quality sound.

Next came the 685s... I put on some Classical Music (Steve Reich) and all of a sudden the extra bass of these floor standers created a much more dramatic and moving sound. After moving on to some other music however, I became a little disappointed with them. The bass was over powering on the Sigur Ros tracks. There was a very full sound but the extra bass resulted in a lack of clarity and definition. It was muddy. I would have not expected this from a 5star speaker at this price level.

The CM7, is the most expensive speaker, but it is clear why! Tracks that sounded muddy on the 685s became very clear, and tracks that sounded lovely on the 684s acquired a whole new dimension of sound. Listening to them was a fantastic experience. I had hoped to buy something like the 685 but after hearing the CM7s I think my initial budget is going to be stretched somehow as I am seriously considering getting the CM7s.

Unfortunately the local B&W dealers have a very limited choice of Amps. I was very happy with the sound of the £950 CM7s and £485  Rotel RA-06 Amp but What-Hi Fi did not consider it a 5 start product. Could there be a cheaper Amp that would deliver a similar sound... or perhaps there is a similarly priced amp that would sound even better! There is a 2nd hand Roksan Kandy MkIII Amp being sold in another shop for just £250 would this be a worthy alternative? As I would not be able to test the 2 out together would it be worth the risk?

Are there any other Amps you recommend?

I play some records so a phono stage would be nice and I do not play music at an extremely high volume so the Amp does not need a huge amount of power.
 

One quick question to tag on at the end... I intend this to be a mostly digital music system. Is Dacmagic the way to go or is there anything better worth considering? £350 is my budget for a DAC.
 
Thanks for all your advice!

Why not try the Rotel RA-1520 ? Review in WH next issue.

I have heard of people using a Naim Nait 5i on the end of B&W CM7's.
Try to have a listen..

I would be looking to spend at least as much on an amp as speakers.  I would have thought something from Naim, Cyrus or Roksan would be worth considering.  If you want a built in DAC, I would listen to Naim and Cyrus as both offer this option in their latest models.

 Look at ebay for 2nd hand Cyrus amps.

 

Hi,

Thanks for the replys. I will definatly check out the review of the Rotel RA-152... although I dont think the local dealer sells it. 

Is the DAC in the Cyrus much better than the DacMagic? I do like the idea of having dac and amp in one.

Any other thoughts?

Would the Cyrus 8xpd be a good match for the B&W CM7. I have no local Cyrus dealers to test this out.
Are there any other similar Amps with an integrated DAC?

 

Thanks

I drive 703's and 683's with Roksan Kandy. They blend extremely well. IMO more transparent than Rotel. If I were you, I would go with the Kandy+CM7's. But best try before buy!!

I always hear how great Rotel sounds with B&W but I don't like the sound. Too much mid-hall perspective for me. I like a little closer. I'm waiting to see a review for the new NAD C275BEE / C165BEE amp /pre. I had a shop owner tell me the sound is completely different than last years C272.

Has anyone heard the Cyrus 8xpd amp with B&W CM7 speakers?

Do you think this would be a good combination? 

 

Thanks for the advice!

My other half has the B&W CM7's (finished in Wenge which is gorgeous BTW) with a Cyrus 8vs2 integrated, Cyrus XPower and Cyrus 8SE CDP and the system sounds superb.

She listens to music ranging from Motown to some Jazz to La Roux and so on; they can cover such a broad spectrum of music and play it all very well.

IMO Cyrus and B&W go very, VERY well together but so do Arcam and B&W as well so dont rule them out.

Depending on your budget, and if you can find one, the Arcam FMJ A32 integrated is a superb amp and would suit the CM7's down to a tee, more so if you partner them at a later date with the Arcam p35 power amp!

What source are you looking to use?

Hi dan,

Thanks for the reply. Good to see you are happy with that combo. The system will mainly use uncompressed music streamed using a squeezebox. For this reason I like the idea of the onboard DAC on the new Cyrus amp. I also use a cheap turntable (with built in phono stage) and will eventually (no time soon) buy a CD transport to use with the DAC. Unfortunately there are no Cyrus dealers near me and I hope to by the CM7 ex demo so it is hard to audition a good variety of equipment!

If I were you I'd look to save hell of a lot of money and buy a new 8vs2 amp off eBay and get yourself a good DAC as well (i.e. C/A, Beresford etc...)

The Cyrus 8vs2 is a stunning amp and will drive the CM7's superbly

d_a_n1979:

If I were you I'd look to save hell of a lot of money and buy a new 8vs2 amp off eBay

... thinking of getting  an older cyrus amp off ebay and then taking advantage of the current Cyrus half price promotion http://www.cyrusaudio.com/content.asp?ContentID=118