Floor standing speakers below 50K

[apk]

Hi sam,

For 50k, combo can be:

1)Marantz PM 5/6004 with Wharfedale x.2 speakers(x=9/10)

2)Cambridge Audio Amp + Mordaunt Short BS (Aviano-2)

3) NAD amp + PSB Image B-6 BS speakers

In any speaker the cross over freq is controlled by the Crossover network.

Also more no of way in a speaker need not translate into better Sound quality always.

I would add Cresssida Av Zone to the list of dealers especially combo 2 given above.

Hope this helps,

N.Murali

Murali has given some good combos above. Adding to the list, you can also look at Indian made combos such as
1. Norge Amplifier (2060) + Norge Millinium Speakers.
Alternatively, you can also combine the Norge Amplifier with wharfedale speakers. This is a very popular combination in this forum.
2. Norge Amplifier (2060) + Wharfedale 10.2 speakers

For best quality music reproduction, you may want to invest in a CD player or a DAC. The Marantz Amplifier+CDP combo on HFV Mart, along with a Wharfedale 9.2/10.2 speaker should fit within your overall budget.

Best,
APK

 

[murali_n]

Hi apk,

My suggestions were based on the budget, of course Norge can also be considered within this budget , but the stock Pre-amp of Norge has to be necessarily replaced with Super simple Pre-amp or Pass B1 to improve the sound quality.

Just my Rs.2/-.

N.Murali

 

[apk]

Hi apk,

My suggestions were based on the budget, of course Norge can also be considered within this budget , but the stock Pre-amp of Norge has to be necessarily replaced with Super simple Pre-amp or Pass B1 to improve the sound quality.

Just my Rs.2/-.

N.Murali

Hi Murali,

Yes, I have read about the improvements that both you and AudioDoc managed to get by changing the pre section of the Norge 2060. Sounds like an inexpensive tweak to take the sound to the next level.

I had suggested the Norge amplifiers (which retails at a lower price than Marantz/NAD/CA entry level amplifiers) to make enough budget for a CDP/DAC in the OP's overall budget of Rs.50K. I felt that the source (for which he was considering an iPod) also needed to be improved - either with a DAC or a dedicated CDP. Hence the suggestion to look at lower priced, but still VFM products from Norge.

I hope I am not confusing the OP even more here.....

Best,
APK

 

[sam_007]

Thanks Murali and APK for your useful information.

As APK said m li'l bit confused over the source of music and my doubts are
1> Are DAC are used to enhance the quality of sound or it is a must in CDP to convert digital signal to analog, before sending it to amp?
2> are all amp receives only analog signal? if i am playing music from ipod through amp then ipod is sending digital signal to amp or analog signal to amp?
3> which source of music is better : ipod, CDP/DAC, laptop with gud software?
4> how file format (mp3,FLACS...any other) plays a role in quality of sound?

Please suggest ur views. thnks in advance..

Sam

 

[apk]

Thanks Murali and APK for your useful information.

As APK said m li'l bit confused over the source of music and my doubts are
1> Are DAC are used to enhance the quality of sound or it is a must in CDP to convert digital signal to analog, before sending it to amp?
2> are all amp receives only analog signal? if i am playing music from ipod through amp then ipod is sending digital signal to amp or analog signal to amp?
3> which source of music is better : ipod, CDP/DAC, laptop with gud software?
4> how file format (mp3,FLACS...any other) plays a role in quality of sound?

Please suggest ur views. thnks in advance..

Sam

Sam,
Good questions.

Answers to your questions as per my understanding:

1. A DAC is used to convert digital music to analog before being fed to an amplifier/speaker. All music must be converted to analog before sending to the amplifier. If your music in mostly in CDs, then a CDP would be a good option. However, if you have ripped most of your music and have it stored on a PC/media, then you can use a DAC to enhance the sound quality. BTW a CDP is basically a transport (to read the CDs) + DAC, both built into the same box. Now, the problem is that if you use the speaker out of an iPod or a PC to play music, this has already been converted to analog using the internal DAC of the iPod/PC. Hence the quality has already been lost to some extent since iPod/PCs use low quality DACs. Thus you will need a soundcard (on your PC) to pass digital from PC to DAC. Alternately, you can use the USB connection of your PC/Laptop to connect to the DAC, and pass digital to the DAC.

2. As explained in (1) above, all music has to be converted to analog before being sent to the amplifier. Your iPod has a cheap built in DAC which converts the digital file to analog before sending the music to the headphone out socket.

3. iPod does not work as a good source since there are limited ways of bypassing the headphone out. Thus either a (1) CDP or a (2) laptop+DAC combo will give you better music into the amplifier. Which one of the two depends upon how your music is stored. If most of your music has already been ripped on to a PC/laptop, then investing in a DAC makes more sense. However, if like me, most of your music is still on CDs, then a CDP is a better option.

4. File format does have an impact on sound quality. The highest quality of music is produced by the raw file (called lossless file). When ripped, this can be stored as WMA, FLAC or MP3(in lossless). The moment you compress the file (called lossy) to save space, you lose quality. Hence the advice is to always store the file in lossless format.

Hope this clarifies some of your doubts.

Best,
APK

 

[elangoas]

Sam,
Good questions.

Answers to your questions as per my understanding:

1. A DAC is used to convert digital music to analog before being fed to an amplifier/speaker. All music must be converted to analog before sending to the amplifier. If your music in mostly in CDs, then a CDP would be a good option. However, if you have ripped most of your music and have it stored on a PC/media, then you can use a DAC to enhance the sound quality. BTW a CDP is basically a transport (to read the CDs) + DAC, both built into the same box. Now, the problem is that if you use the speaker out of an iPod or a PC to play music, this has already been converted to analog using the internal DAC of the iPod/PC. Hence the quality has already been lost to some extent since iPod/PCs use low quality DACs. Thus you will need a soundcard (on your PC) to pass digital from PC to DAC. Alternately, you can use the USB connection of your PC/Laptop to connect to the DAC, and pass digital to the DAC.

2. As explained in (1) above, all music has to be converted to analog before being sent to the amplifier. Your iPod has a cheap built in DAC which converts the digital file to analog before sending the music to the headphone out socket.

3. iPod does not work as a good source since there are limited ways of bypassing the headphone out. Thus either a (1) CDP or a (2) laptop+DAC combo will give you better music into the amplifier. Which one of the two depends upon how your music is stored. If most of your music has already been ripped on to a PC/laptop, then investing in a DAC makes more sense. However, if like me, most of your music is still on CDs, then a CDP is a better option.

4. File format does have an impact on sound quality. The highest quality of music is produced by the raw file (called lossless file). When ripped, this can be stored as WMA, FLAC or MP3(in lossless). The moment you compress the file (called lossy) to save space, you lose quality. Hence the advice is to always store the file in lossless format.

Hope this clarifies some of your doubts.

Best,
APK

Very well explained buddy..:clapping:

 

[sam_007]

Thanks APK, This is really helpful information that u shared with us.

Able to get a clear picture

As most of my music content is on my laptop, i will go with the 2nd option of getting a sound card for my lappy which will direct digital to DAC through the USB port.

Pls suggest some good sound card and DAC and where I can get those in chennai?

Reg file format(point 4.), I used to download mp3s only, from diff sites but not sure wheather those are lossless or not. How to find out a perticular file is lossless or not and from where we can get it(are those available in net?)?

Sam

 

[elangoas]

Thanks APK, This is really helpful information that u shared with us.

Able to get a clear picture

As most of my music content is on my laptop, i will go with the 2nd option of getting a sound card for my lappy which will direct digital to DAC through the USB port.

Pls suggest some good sound card and DAC and where I can get those in chennai?

Reg file format(point 4.), I used to download mp3s only, from diff sites but not sure wheather those are lossless or not. How to find out a perticular file is lossless or not and from where we can get it(are those available in net?)?

Sam

As apk mentioned earlier, MP3 is lossy file format bit rate can hover between 64 - 320 Kbps....

Where as FLAC/WAV are all lossless format (1.4 Mbps or 1411 Kbps)

320Kbps MP3 are good.. But FLAC / WAV are even good as it is soft copy of the CD....hyeah:

 

[apk]

As most of my music content is on my laptop, i will go with the 2nd option of getting a sound card for my lappy which will direct digital to DAC through the USB port.

Hi Sam,
There are a few ways to connect 'digital' from a PC/Laptop to the DAC
1. Using a good sound card, and utilizing the digital out into the DAC. Then DAC to amplifier
2. You can also use the analog out of the sound card (some sound card such as the Asux Xonar ST, Juli etc have good quality DACs built into the sound card) and connect directly from the sound card analogue out into the amplifier
3. You can connect the PC to the DAC using the USB of your PC. For this to work, the DAC should support USB input. Asynchronous USB input is preferred.

Now, if you have a laptop, options (1) and (2) are more or less useless since internal sound cards for laptops are not available. Hence if you are going to use the laptop as the source, then only option (3) applies to you.

Hope this clarifies.

Best,
APK

 

[alz_tcr]

Auditioned the Wharfedale 9.1 and Dali Concept6 2day, not too impressed with the Dali, but luved da Wharfs, Shortlisted a couple of floorstanders, here r the offers I got :
Dali Concept 6 - 38k
Wharfedale Diamond 9.5 - 36k
Tannoy Mercury V4- 32k
Boston Acoustics A360 - 23k
Boston Acoustics A250 - 18k
Mordaunt Short Carnival 8 - 21.5k

I didn't want to start a new thread 4 this since I think its related. So, wat r everyone's view on the above considering da price? How does da Tannoy compare with da Boston A360 & Wharf 9.5?

 

[milestoneseeker]

Pls suggest some good sound card and DAC and where I can get those in chennai?


Sam

no idea of the price of Asus Xonar XT but Dragonfly usb DAC is getting good reviews. Comes at 17-19k I believe.

sent from my SIII using tapatalk

 

[sam_007]

Thanks for all ur reply.

if I am going for "CDP-DAC-AMP-BS speakers" with budget 50000-55000, what should be my budget for CDP-DAC combination? and what brands will fit to it?

2. do I need a Pre-amp or Pass B1 to improve the sound quality? or this in case of Norge amp only? if it needed then what is the cost of pre-amp or pass b1?

3. what the output watt in amp signifies? does it means speaker's max watt should be greater than amp out watt?

Need ur valuable comments.

Sam

 

[mpw]

why cdp + dac ?.. the CDP will already bave a good DAC builtin.

Or maybe you want to go the laptop/ pc + dac route..

mpw

 

[prosenjit]

check hifi mart sale..a marantz cd player plus int amp mis on sale in 35k or like that......get that and get 15k or higher wharfedale diamond bookshelves......best possible solutiojn in 50k bracket............

 

[manoj.p]

Thanks for all ur reply.

if I am going for "CDP-DAC-AMP-BS speakers" with budget 50000-55000, what should be my budget for CDP-DAC combination? and what brands will fit to it?

2. do I need a Pre-amp or Pass B1 to improve the sound quality? or this in case of Norge amp only? if it needed then what is the cost of pre-amp or pass b1?

3. what the output watt in amp signifies? does it means speaker's max watt should be greater than amp out watt?

Need ur valuable comments.

Sam

Of all the components you have mentioned, biggest impact will be done by Speakers. So choose them wisely and select first. Amp and CDP will not make that huge difference if your speakers aren't great.

I would allocate a good budget for speakers, may be upto 35k. Then spend 15k on CDP + Amp. Getting an external DAC or pre-amp will reduce your budget for speakers too much. That will nullify any gains you would make in pre-amp anyways.

 

[apk]

why cdp + dac ?.. the CDP will already bave a good DAC builtin.

Or maybe you want to go the laptop/ pc + dac route..

mpw

+1 to that. I guess you are thinking of the laptop/pc + dac option.

If you use the CDP + DAC, then the CDP would only be used as a transport (ie. to read the CD) and the built in DAC in the CDP would be redundant.

 

[sam_007]

u r right Apk, I was thinking of laptop+dac option, but m not sure of the price of standalone dac(r those available in 10K?), n now open to cdp with builtin dac as well.
which one will be better irrespective of where my music content is stored in ?

if the built in dac in cdp are of gud quality, then suggest me some of these brands.

Sam

 

[babloo64]

If your Budget is 57 k then you can go for Yamaha AS 500--26800/= Approx and Sonodyne Sonus 2605 fs---29,500/=Approx.In AS 500 you can add active sub woofer latter also.

Cheers!!!!!

 

[sam_007]

Thanks Babloo,I can go upto 55K but apart from amp and speakers, I need a dedicated CDP which will cost me around 16K(thinking of marantz 6002) and combining all will not fit in my budget.

 

[milestoneseeker]

Thanks Babloo,I can go upto 55K but apart from amp and speakers, I need a dedicated CDP which will cost me around 16K(thinking of marantz 6002) and combining all will not fit in my budget.

Then let me quote what my good friend and fellow FM, shyamtanu, advised me once. "Buy a Panasonic DVD player for playing yours CDs".
Apparently, they have pretty good DACs so it may worthwhile to start with them. Allows you to save some cash upfront and invest in a "better" CDP down the line (like the current 6004 or anything else that you fancy).