Have your say & ask the experts

My current set up is B&W 686 speakers, Arcam Alpha 8 CD and Alpha 9 integrated amp.  I've got about £300-£400 to spend and wondered whether that would buy me much of an upgrade (rather then sidegrade) on my current kit, and if so, what's my weakest link.  Any advice gratefully received...

If you like the B&W sound take a listen to the 685s. They will give you more of everything than the 686s. Also listen to the Mordaunt-Short Mezzo 2s. I think you would struggle to improve on your amp without moving up to the £500-£700 region.

The best advice I can give is don't make a change for the sake of it. Make sure you are really convinced by any new piece of equipment, particularly if you enjoy the music your current set-up makes.

Only other thing, you don't mention what speaker stands or cables you are using. This could be a good way of maximising what you already have.

Either get the speakers updated to something a bit bigger to handle the scale the Arcam 9 has to offer, or change the CD player.

I've been scanning the forums a bit and I wonder about investing in a DAC and using the Alpha 8 as a transport.  Would this make much of a difference?

ahughes:

I've been scanning the forums a bit and I wonder about investing in a DAC and using the Alpha 8 as a transport.  Would this make much of a difference?

 

You didn't mentioned your speaker cable. It may be the weakest link.

Vizsla:

ahughes:

I've been scanning the forums a bit and I wonder about investing in a DAC and using the Alpha 8 as a transport.  Would this make much of a difference?

 

You didn't mentioned your speaker cable. It may be the weakest link.

Good point; what cables are you using? The DAC would be another option to bear in mind though. The Arcam was well put together IIRC - bit plasticky at the front (which I think comes third in the list of the replacement FMJ range and previous 5 & 6 lines) but otherwise no issues internally. Apart from the Cambridge, there's a few to consider used as well that you could get for a song now.

I'm using chord crimson interconnects, but not sure about the speaker cable.

How well do you think the Alpha 8 CDP compares with current CDPs in the £300-£400 price bracket?  I'm thinking that rather than fork out £200 for the Cambridge DacMagic I might just buy a new player.  Which would give better value of money?

Having a similar set-up (CDP and amps); IMO you'd be best going for either a Beresford DAC (or the C/A if you want to spend that bit more) OR as MP said above; aim for the B&W 685's as they really DO give that much better soundstage over the 686's.


With your budget all i could say is that it would be more of a sideways step rather then a full blown upgrade.

Also; if you were to go for the DAC and/or the speakers; yes, new speaker cable and interconnects would be an idea as well.


Ive found that QED Silver Anniversary bi-wire and QED Qenex 3 or Silver Spiral interconnects work best with Arcam and B&W and i'd whole heartedly recommend thatyou bi-wire the B&W speakers using both SP1 and SP2 terminals on your Alpha 9 amp.

As £400 will get you some reduced price specials (Cyrus, Arcam, Audiolab to name three) from significantly higher amounts, then you could make a significant step up. Arcam have been the most prolific with some truly jaw dropping cut price gear. The CD192 and the DV135 have to be up there in some of the best bargains going (DV135 £900 widely available for £299? Yowza!).

Equally, it's not necessarily night and day. My old Kenwood DP7090 (£400 in 1998) was hardly outshone by a similarly aged Linn Mimik (about twice the price of the Kenwood in its' day). Some players will be very different - Exposure and Audiolab will pin you down with a vibrant presentation, so it depends on your taste and wants from your gear. If you keep with the same kind of sound (let's say warmth as we're talking about your Arcam) and buy a higher priced player with similar tonal qualities, you might be looking at subtle differences - greater scale, slightly more presence, depth, a touch more detail, deeper bass and so on, but not at the expense of the overall character.

Lastly, if you are happy with the sound, then it might just be tweaking, in which case talk to some dealers and see what they say, which cables they recommend and if you can try some out. last but not least, have a think about the used market here - £80 will get you a higher priced interconnect, so your money goes further and it might be all you need to spend to get the change you want to achieve. Or, you might need to spend the full whack. It all depends.