Amp Comparison and suggetions

Hi,

I am trying to put together a decent hi-fi system. My requirement is 80% music and 20% movies.

I have read many of the suggestions in this forum and also have visited some dealers for suggestions.

In this connection, I would like to have the opinion and suggestions from the very experienced and knowledgeable members of this forum.

1. I know it is not a fair comparison. Can the Cambridge Audio AVR Azur 540R(V 3) play music with the same fidelity and quality as that of Azur 640A Ver 2 amp? or will it be a compromise on the musical quality?
2. Is it better to buy a decent 2 channel amp now and later, if required, buy an entry level AVR for movies ?
3. My idea is to have the amp and 2 FS now and later add on other components.
4. I know it is better to have a dedicated CD player. But my budget may not allow me to do so. In that case, which is the suggested DVD player which can also play CD's very well ?
5. As for speakers, I find that MS 906i seems to be a good pair. any other suggestions ? I am not very keen on having very heavy bass for my sound and would like to have the treble clean and crisp.
6. How about Yamaha V661 AVR ?
7. My budget is around 50k.

Thanks
Rajendran

Point 2 & 3 , this is the way to go , you are on correct track.
If budget is an issue, begin with a good DVD player and later add a dedicated CDP or even a DAC.

It is always a good idea to start with the Speakers first and then buy an Amp to match with the speakers selected. I also suggest to allocate 50% of your budget (or more) towards speakers, in your case it should be around 25K (with a total budget of 50K). You can buy a good DVD payer for 3-4K and spend some 3-4K for cables and interconnects. That leaves some 18-20Kfor the AMP, this can buy an entry level amp (new) or if you can find a much better pre-owned amp which would otherwise cost some 50-70K to buy a new.

Hope this helps

SUhas

well i just found out that MS speakers prices have gone up by 12% MS906i now costs 27k.

the cambridge audio 540d dvd player is a good cd player ,it has seperate stereo out and DAC.but costs around 15k.

Thanks for the responses.

Any idea about the approximate prices for the following ?

Azur 640 A V2
Auzur 540 R V3
540 D - DVD Player.

906i prices have gone up and the dealer I spoke to told me that it is now around 27 K.
How about our own Indian Sonodyne sonus speakers ?

Thanks

Try out the Diamond 9.5 as well as BR5 also, in that price band.

sonus doesnt produce tight bass as morduant short although i listened to MS 906i with 540A v2 amp vs sonodyne with 540rV3 avr.

sonodyne sonus v2 floorstanders costs 25k.

Menon:

The prices I had received for these products are as follows:

Azur 640 A V2 - 23K
Auzur 540 R V3 - 32K
540 D - DVD Player - 16K

Cheers

Venkat

Hi,

You can also try Jamo s718 or S708 both speakers are good and within your price range. I brought S718 and very much satisfied.

Regards

Sujeet

As has been suggested above a dedicated CDP + Amp + stereo speakers will be great for your 80% requirement ie music and also for 50% of your movie requirements ...so 90% via the same 2 channel rig should be good enough, right ?

i had started out with an AVR for a 2 channel a couple of years back and found it quite inadequate for music !

on the other hand if you are a dedicated "movie"- phile then 5.1 would perhaps be a better way to go !
regarding a HT, for me personally i find a 2.1good enough if you spend only 20% of you time on movies

regarding your questions which i do have some info on..
1. I know it is not a fair comparison. Can the Cambridge Audio AVR Azur 540R(V 3) play music with the same fidelity and quality as that of Azur 640A Ver 2 amp? or will it be a compromise on the musical quality?
doubt it very rarely do 5 channels match upto 2 unless of course you have more than 1 Transformer etc etc..


2. Is it better to buy a decent 2 channel amp now and later, if required, buy an entry level AVR for movies ?

since 80% of your requirment is music this should work for you

3. My idea is to have the amp and 2 FS now and later add on other components.

hmm..if you meant a HT setup then your amp will be insufficient and you will need a separate AVR.
ideally you can do that if you buy an AVR with a Pre out and your am has a Pre in. so the center and the reats can be connected to the AVR speaker out terminals and the stereo continue with the int amp
then you can continue to use your current stereo setup as a stereo via your curent setup and also have a HT using a same

4. I know it is better to have a dedicated CD player. But my budget may not allow me to do so. In that case, which is the suggested DVD player which can also play CD's very well ?
might be just cheaper to net a separate cdp and dvdp ? anyway not very sure as tp what DVDPs play cds also well !

5. As for speakers, I find that MS 906i seems to be a good pair. any other suggestions ? I am not very keen on having very heavy bass for my sound and would like to have the treble clean and crisp.

as long as you can hear that sound for more than 30 min and feel relaxed you should be ok..sound is highly personalised and what is crisp for 1 person could be bright for the other etc etc !