Yep, cld be due to lighting.

Do you think it's good to match marantz CDP with NAD or some other branded amp like CA or Rotel?

It's hard to tell as diff model from the same make have diff characteristics. My advice is that you try to audition it. However, I knew that CA Azur pairing with NAD has quite good result.

can my HT and stereo sharing one pair of speaker?
how could i do that?

AVJ

you would need a AV receiver with pre-outs on the main L/R channel, and conect that to your stereo amp inputs. (pre-in, or AUX input on an integrated)

If the stereo amp is an integrated amp then maybe you can connect a CD player direct to it, but controlling the volume level between AV and stereo is a problem.

The other way is to use the AVR as a pre-amp and let it control the volume.

hey guys, i'm looking for a good CD player that supports digital output around RM600-RM800

Any recommendations?

u may try Marantz CD5400. That wld fit your budget. However, there is already a replacement model for this which cost a litlle higher than your budget.

how much would the CD5400 be?

And where can i find it?

Thank You

Thanks for the feedback. If that's the case, i'd prefer not to mix them up. 2 separate system should be fine.

my room is now under renovation, thinking whether to use carpet or laminating flooring. i think carpet should be better for audio but a little difficult to maintain. it gets dirty easily. any advice??

It slb be abt RM700-RM800 by now. Try to haggle.

CMY in Gurney Plaza might have this since they do carry marantz.

Ah, thank you very much. What would the more expensive replacement CDP be? If the price doesnt differ much well i can see myself purchasing that one instead

Little ghost, i have posted the review for this at previous page as above.

Hi gurus,

Am looking to purchase a hifi system with the usual components of amp, speakers and cd player. Have auditioned the following system recently:

1. Quad 11L (Wonderful with vocals, but bass is lightweight, to me at least)
2. Audiovega some Tube CD Player
3. Audiolab 8000S Amp

Am intending to audition the the following other stuff in the coming days:

1. Creek A50iR
2. Creek 5350SE (Prob beyond budget)
3. Cyrus CD 6s (Prob beyond budget also!)
4. Epos M12.2
5. Epos ESL 303
6. B&W 309
7. Marantz SA 7001
8. Wharfedale Pacific Evo 30
9. Quad 12L
10. Cambridge Audio Azur 640A
11. Cambridge Audio Azur 640C
12. Monitor Audio RS 6 (Def beyond budget. Anybody know why this is RM 6k here? It is only USD 900 in the States, is it the distis fault they uplift the prices?)

Listen to alot of different kind of stuff - rock (Audioslave, Coldplay, Gnarls Barkley, Belle & Sebastian, Bloc Party, Flaming Lips), jazz vocals (Emi Fujita, Stacey Kent, Diana Krall, Nat King Cole, etc) and also acoustic guitar instrumentals (Tommy Emmanuel, Roger Wang, Kotaro Oshio), and a smidgen of classical stuff on the side.

Also, I have no dedicated audio room, just a living hall, is it true i need floorstanders to fill up the hall space with sound?

Budget is around 6k - 8k, am open to any suggestions. Any comments on the components I plan to audition? Any others I should look at? Pls do feel free to reply!

Oh yeah, will also be in the States for a few weeks soon. Worthwhile to go over and cart stuff back? Certain brands (MA, Cambridge Audio) seem to be much cheaper in UK and US compared to local prices.

Thanks for helping out a newbie!

This post has been edited by TOts: Jul 27 2006, 08:03 PM

All the items are quite good. Floorstanders usually have better low freq. But, it is not necessary to be used for living room. Some bookshelf spkrs has considerable bass.

Hey man, thanks for the reply.

Let me detail some of my adventures in auditioning some systems for everybodys benefit :

Have auditioned the following components over the weekend.

System 1:
Cambridge Audio Azur 640A
Cambridge Audio Azur 640C
Quad 11L
Supra Speaker Cables and Chord Interconnects
Price 4,999 (Desa Home Theatre)
Verdict: System is abit to midrangey and unbalanced. Seemed to be pushing vocals straight to front and lack of detail in the music.The place I auditioned the system was horrible (no stands for quads and full of ambient noise)

System 2:
Audiolab 8000S
Audiolab 8000CD
ATC SCM7
Chord Carnival Silver Plus Bi Wires and Chord Cobra 3 Interconnects
Price RM 10,000
Verdict - Amazing Detail and wonderful for jazz and vocals but too polite for rock. Soundstage while extremely wide for such small bookshelfs is still slightly lacking. ATCs are amazing though considering their small size

System 3:
Creek Evo Amp
Creek Evo CD Player
Epos M12.2
Straight Wire Speaker Cables and Interconnects
Price - RM 8,000
Verdict - Plays all kind of music well and rocks out, but high frequencies slightly harsh, will listen again to form a more concrete opinion.

System 4:
Audiolab 8000CD / Marantz SA 7001
Audiolab Pre Amp and Monoblocks
ATC SCM12
Chord Carnival Silver Plus Bi Wires and Chord Cobra 3 Interconnects
Price - Around RM 18,000
Verdict - By Far the Best system - Soundstaging for vocals was holographic, detail was amazing However, still too polite for rock. I think its either the Audiolabs are too neutral or the system needs a sub.

So for me personally, am deciding between System 2 and System 3. Will listen more over the next few days. Am leaning towards getting System 3 and a decent hi-fi sub (Is the REL Stampede available in KL? - Who sells it?) Any other recommendations?

You can get the REL Stampede from CMY in Sg Wang or Damansara Uptown.

I agree. The markup upon the latest Monitor Audio series was ridiculous. Did you ask Ban Leong why is it so, I didn't bother since I'm not looking for a speaker for now.

I quite like the EPOS M12.2. What about second hand speakers. Not only are they cheaper but you will get more cash to spend on other equipments too. You might also consider buying a superlative component/s matched with cheaper sopeakers or anything down the line, then slowly upgrade one by one. That way, you don't have to restrict the whole system based on a one time budget.

I would like to suggest the Dali Ikon series. I thought the standmount sounds very good for its price and makes a better entry level speaker then my previous EPOS ELS3 (which to be fair is 1/3 of the price). The Dali Ikon 6 however are the ones getting all the rave reviews. It might work nicely in your living room.

I would like to recommend trying the Euphonic research pre=power amp combo too.
Bear in mind that speaker matching is fussy/ critical since it isn't a power house amp.

Thanks for the recommendations. Although the Dali seems slightly beyond my budget, I'm intrigued. Who carries them in KL? I checked the Dali website and the Malaysia Disti is based in Penang with an uncontactable number.

What about Euphonic Research, where can I check this out?

Thanks!

Euphonic Research at Cyberjaya, phone number: 03-8318 1888