2 channel system for £6k - not incl. speakers

simon ess

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I do sometimes wonder how Focals would sound with my Sugden A21a.

My current speakers, Pierre Etienne Leon from about 1988, were designed for the A21a and Sugden were the UK importers. They use Focal drivers in an isobarik arrangement.
 

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I do sometimes wonder how Focals would sound with my Sugden A21a.

My current speakers, Pierre Etienne Leon from about 1988, were designed for the A21a and Sugden were the UK importers. They use Focal drivers in an isobarik arrangement.
I would imagine it would be a great combination!

Are the Pierre Irene Leon’s both Isobarik and d’appolito?!
 
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DomT

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God no!! They will make the Focals scream!! Total mismatch. Both are good but not together sorry.

To the op, room size, furnishings etc. you must mention these or your gonna get anything recommended without a thought.

Get home demos please, it’s a MUST!!

love MF kit but wouldn’t recommend if you haven’t heard or owned with the Focals. I have heard and my ears were burning!
Never heard with PMC but room acoustics play a massive part in choice of speaker.
Agreed. As I have said before on here I listened to an MF 6iS500 with ATCs and it was seriously painful to listen to. Audio Research class D by comparison was smooooth and yet more detailed.
 
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DomT

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I had the opportunity last year to try out a lot of amps and also DACs. In my experience there are more gains to be made by getting a better amp than a better digital front end. But of course it depends on the type of sound that you like. If transparency and dynamics are not so important then you can get away with a lesser amplifier but if they are then to get the transparency, dynamics and to still sound natural I found that the budget for a new amp had to be in excess of £7,000. I tested amps at all price ranges and the new £4,000 Rega amp whilst good was way behind the Hegel 390, Marantz PM 10 and Accuphase E380 and Norma 140.

So I would look for a secondhand amp or pre/power and maybe allocate up to £3,500 on this, (I bought an ARC pre/power for £2,800 that I preferred to anything up to £8,000 new) up to £700 for a secondhand phono stage (a Trilogy 906) and the rest in a streamer with built in DAC. (An Auralic Altair G1 or Innuos)
 

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Cambridge the Edge streamer / preamp and the Cambridge W power amp
.. I listened to this combination with Dali Rubicons . It was really good .
I already had an amp and speakers so just brought the streamer/ preamp .. it just does everything..
 

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1. Speakers that match your taste and room.
2. Amp to match the speakers.
3. Preamp with the features and flexibility you need. Perhaps adding a little coloration to taste.
4. Source that you like.
 

john098

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I have the old Focal Electro 1027 BE.
My Amp is Primaluna Dialoque Premium Integrated.
Most of the time I listen acoustic music and with my ears it sound great.
Don't know if the Aria sound much different.
 
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DomT

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Just a thought but the Focals can sound quite explicit but I haven’t heard that particular model. With a more explicit speaker you need to take more care with the rest of the chain. I used to have a pair of Wilson Benesch Curves that were very explicit but worked really with with Audio Research valve pre/power but when I then used a Rega P9 and Marantz PM11S2 the sound didn’t gell at all and so I changed the speakers to Harbeth and it was a great match.

The best thing to do is to find speakers that you love them match the amp to this speakers in your home.
 
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Smonks

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Thanks all, still auditioning speakers so nothing is set in stone just now. I was supposed to be auditioning the Aria K2's this morning but DPD have 'lost' them en-route from Focal to the dealers!!!
 

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This is interesting because Focal and Naim are now business partners. There are plenty of vids on YouTube.

What a lot of people don’t realise is that Focal have changed the voicing of their speakers so they pair more effectively with solid state amplification. My Kantas have a much less ‘obvious’ treble and a more reserved/less upfront balance than the 1007be for example.

(and Ed Selley on AV Forums has been using the Kantas with a Naim Supernait 3 and Cambridge Audio Edge)
 
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hearhere

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> 2 channel system for £6k - not incl. speakers
I'd definitely go for a top-drawer all-in-one I think. One costing about £4K, as what you get in such a single box will likely better £6K (probably more like £10K in fact) spent on a number of components of equal sound quality. A single fancy case and a single first-class power supply will save a ton of cash - and another huge bonus - NO CABLES!

You have the rare luxury of buying an entire system in one go. Most people look at their multi-box systems, decide which is the weakest link and look around to replace that link. This actually costs them more and they may never have a fully compatible system where all parts are of similar quality. Replacing a weakest link now simply means there's a new weakest link that will be niggling for replacement down the line.

There are some great all-in-ones at present and a carefully chosen one will match or better any multi-box £6K one. Piggy-bank the saved £2K towards a possible future speaker upgrade.
 
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DomT

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> 2 channel system for £6k - not incl. speakers
I'd definitely go for a top-drawer all-in-one I think. One costing about £4K, as what you get in such a single box will likely better £6K (probably more like £10K in fact) spent on a number of components of equal sound quality. A single fancy case and a single first-class power supply will save a ton of cash - and another huge bonus - NO CABLES!

You have the rare luxury of buying an entire system in one go. Most people look at their multi-box systems, decide which is the weakest link and look around to replace that link. This actually costs them more and they may never have a fully compatible system where all parts are of similar quality. Replacing a weakest link now simply means there's a new weakest link that will be niggling for replacement down the line.

There are some great all-in-ones at present and a carefully chosen one will match or better any multi-box £6K one. Piggy-bank the saved £2K towards a possible future speaker upgrade.
I wanted an all in one and I couldn’t find any that sounded better than separates except the Krell 300 at £9k with builtin streamer but no phono and it wasn’t better just different. The Naim Nova at £4k was easily outclassed by Naims cheap separates in direct comparison and also my Marantz at home.

Of course it’s subjective but maybe you could give some examples of these all-in-one wonders with streamer and phono.
 
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