Roksan Kandy LIII INTEGRATED Amplier

[miroflex]

Krishna,

Thank you very much for your update and your advice. Are you enjoying your present combination of Cambridge Audio Azur 650A and Wharfedale 9.5s? Would you recommend either or both of these products to others?

By the way, I see from the August issue of What Hi Fi that both the CA and the Roksan are well rated with the Kandy K2 amp getting the comment "The best all-rounder below a grand so far."

Regards.

 

[S.P.KRISHNA]

At the given price of 27.6K at which the 650A was purchased by me gives me an immence satisfaction not at this price bracket but also with its performance. The amp has very good detail, openness and very good highs and lows. Its mids are slightly not to the mark to that of a highend amp. Owever pairing with good speakers is essential. Wnarf 9.5s are not that suited. The best speakers to be paired are Wharf 10.5 or Dali Icon.

Regards

 

[miroflex]

I would suggest it for cambridge audio azur as it will be best for speakers that you have.

if go for Roksan Kandy than you will at least need Quad 22L speakers.

Hi Mitul,

I am following up your comment that one would need at least Quad 22Ls to be paired with it (L III).

I am considering buying a used Roksan Kandy LIII. Do you have actual listening experience of the combination (Roksan Kandy LIII and Quad 22L2s)? Would you personally recommend that I go for this combination or do you feel that some other speakers would sound better with the L III?

Regards.

 

[longshanks]

Audition before you buy, higher price does not guarantee better audio quality. A 50$ t.amp can sound better than a thousand dollar amp, you can never tell.

 

[Asit]

Hi miroflex,
I do not really know what to say here, because do not want to offend anybody. Some of the good used integrateds for you could be an Arcam A90, a Sugden or a Densen (or even a Marantz 15) or any amps like that. I'd stay away from the Roksans and the Cyruses. For some reason, they are considered premium brands here, probably because of their relatively higher price compared with similar brands. Sugden and Densen, even used, may be a bit costlier, but an Arcam A90 (or an less-expensive A70) may fit your bill. They will have a clean tone, they are musical and generally built very well. The pre-amp part of all Arcam integrateds is very good, the power section is not as good, but quite adequate. As longshanks said, it is better if you can hear some set-ups. I may very well be wrong in my evaluations.

Regards.

 

[abhijit15]

Hi asit
Perfect
Very true

 

[avidyarthy]

Audition before you buy, higher price does not guarantee better audio quality. A 50$ t.amp can sound better than a thousand dollar amp, you can never tell.

People using T amps caaaan tell so .......... hyeah:

 

[soundofmusic]

Hi Miroflex.

I agree with Asitji. I have been using the Arcam FMJ A18 for quite sometime in my lobby and have had the Roksan kandy LIII for a weeks time ( a year ago). I will never go for a Roksan kandy again. It is NOT having enough power to control the speakers, even though the amp is rated at 120 watts per channel. Try the Roksan before you buy and if you like it then its ok. I see that you are doing a lot of research before buying, but there are few products (and the place where you source that product ), in your wishlist which I will not even consider (but thats my opinion).

If your room is less then 200sq feet, go for a Stand mount speakers and a good stand. An amplifier of 50 odd watts ( read quality watts) will make you happy.My bed room is 16*16 and the Arcam FMJ 18 was more then sufficient to drive my Quad 22L ( now all the equipments are moved out of that room, My old wife is objecting all these things LOL )
If you are looking for a Integrated with the Phono, I think your choices are limited if you look for the latest ones. Go for a stand alone phono pre amp or the Vintage ( again be ready to take it to service occasionally or regularly---depends on the condition of the amp you buy)
All the best for your Hunt.

regards

 

[miroflex]

Hi miroflex,
Some of the good used integrateds for you could be an Arcam A90, a Sugden or a Densen (or even a Marantz 15) or any amps like that. I'd stay away from the Roksans and the Cyruses...

...an Arcam A90 (or an less-expensive A70) may fit your bill. They will have a clean tone, they are musical and generally built very well. The pre-amp part of all Arcam integrateds is very good, the power section is not as good, but quite adequate. As longshanks said, it is better if you can hear some set-ups. I may very well be wrong in my evaluations.

Regards.

Hi Asit,

Thank you very much for your very free and frank opinions which I value highly. It is always a delight to hear from you. I too have been considering buying an Arcam A70 or an FMJ 18 but have not been able to undertake the long distance travel involved in listening to them. They are in different areas of Southwestern India. Both are around 50 wrms per channel which may not be sufficient for driving Quad 22L2s, one of the speakers on my "may buy" list.

A Naim Nait 5i Version II, recommended for use with Quads although also only 50 wrms per channel, is available with the formidable Mr. Prakasam of Chintadripet in Chennai for the relatively high price of Rs. 55k. A review of his equipment in the neighbourhood of the Egmore Railway Station would be an interesting and informative experience which I look forward to. I am not sure whether he will be able to provide listening facilities.

I am attracted to the Roksan name because of the world wide reputation of their turntables and some of their rather high priced speakers, mostly book shelves I believe. It is rather like my fondness for all Nakamichi equipment after having owned and used their cassette decks. I do agree that one should not decide to buy an amplifier without listening to it through suitable speakers.

Regards.

P.S. I have also been considering buying a Cambridge Audio Azur 840A but was put off by the lack of a phono stage, a shortcoming which it shares with the Naim. This is surprising, considering that both are British amps where vinyl has never gone out of fashion. Even more surprising in the case of Naim, which made its name with vinyl playback.

 

[denom]

Had the opportunity to listen to an Arcam A65 last sunday & was truly surprised at its capabilities & sound. I had never heard any Arcam amp before so was totally unaware of what Arcam Amps are all about.

The A65 was paired with Klipsch RF62 Speakers in 'A' & a Pair of late '70s Akai 4 Way Speakers in "B" Mode. Source used was a Marantz CDP (Some Vintage Model) & Also a Pioneer DVD 600 Player for my MP3's.

The owner just asked me to sit & listen to the music being played & then comment about how it sounds. He dd not tell me which speakers were being played.
After the 1st song only I was impressed by the way the music was being played & decided to listen some more without asking any questions to the owner.
After a good 30 minutes, he asked me my opinion & I told him that I was liking the way the music was sounding. Then he told me to guess which speakers were being played, I guessed the Klipsch were in action, but the owner surprised me by saying that Both Klipsch & Akai's were being played in AB mode. I could not believe it & had a look at the Mode Selector on the amp & yes it was in AB mode! Another shock I got was when the owner told me that the Arcam A65 is rated @ a paltry 40W RMS
The impedance of both Pairs of Speakers was 8 Ohms so effectively the amp was playing @ 4 ohms with both pairs. I was afraid that the owner is playing with fire by overloading the Amp but he claimed that he was using the amp in this mode for over 6 months now with no issues faced so far.
The sound was so good & coupled to the fact that the volume pot was not beyond 10'oclock was truly surprising. I asked him to play only the Kilpsch to see what the difference was & yes the sound suddenly sounded much flatter by atleast 70%!!!
The simple matter of fact was that with the 2 pairs of speakers, the High's Mids & Low's were nicely separated & clear with a nice wide sound stage was created & clarity was really an eye opener for me. Moral of this story I guess is The SYNERGY of the whole set-up was good, the reason for which the strange pairing of amp/speaker pairs was working Truly an oddball pairing with strange bedfellowshyeah: but what the hell, its the final sound they reproduce that truly matters:licklips:

So, the most important lessons I learnt were:

1) Keep Open Mind & try Various Combinations, you never know what works with the other until & unless you pair them & listen.

2) Low wattage Amps such as Arcam can chew so called high wattage amps for breakfast/lunch & dinner. You need to follow point one to arrive at this conclusion.

3) Deep respect developed for Arcam

Sorry for long post but just wanted to share my experience. Hope the OP finds what he is wanting sound wise & price quotient wise

PS: The Owner & I shared similar tastes in music, hence the listening session was even more enjoyable:licklips::lol::yahoo::clapping:hyeah:

 

[Asit]

Had the opportunity to listen to an Arcam A65 last sunday & was truly surprised at its capabilities & sound. I had never heard any Arcam amp before so was totally unaware of what Arcam Amps are all about.

The A65 was paired with Klipsch RF62 Speakers in 'A' & a Pair of late '70s Akai 4 Way Speakers in "B" Mode. Source used was a Marantz CDP (Some Vintage Model) & Also a Pioneer DVD 600 Player for my MP3's.

The owner just asked me to sit & listen to the music being played & then comment about how it sounds. He dd not tell me which speakers were being played.
After the 1st song only I was impressed by the way the music was being played & decided to listen some more without asking any questions to the owner.
After a good 30 minutes, he asked me my opinion & I told him that I was liking the way the music was sounding. Then he told me to guess which speakers were being played, I guessed the Klipsch were in action, but the owner surprised me by saying that Both Klipsch & Akai's were being played in AB mode. I could not believe it & had a look at the Mode Selector on the amp & yes it was in AB mode! Another shock I got was when the owner told me that the Arcam A65 is rated @ a paltry 40W RMS
The impedance of both Pairs of Speakers was 8 Ohms so effectively the amp was playing @ 4 ohms with both pairs. I was afraid that the owner is playing with fire by overloading the Amp but he claimed that he was using the amp in this mode for over 6 months now with no issues faced so far.
The sound was so good & coupled to the fact that the volume pot was not beyond 10'oclock was truly surprising. I asked him to play only the Kilpsch to see what the difference was & yes the sound suddenly sounded much flatter by atleast 70%!!!
The simple matter of fact was that with the 2 pairs of speakers, the High's Mids & Low's were nicely separated & clear with a nice wide sound stage was created & clarity was really an eye opener for me. Moral of this story I guess is The SYNERGY of the whole set-up was good, the reason for which the strange pairing of amp/speaker pairs was working Truly an oddball pairing with strange bedfellowshyeah: but what the hell, its the final sound they reproduce that truly matters:licklips:

So, the most important lessons I learnt were:

1) Keep Open Mind & try Various Combinations, you never know what works with the other until & unless you pair them & listen.

2) Low wattage Amps such as Arcam can chew so called high wattage amps for breakfast/lunch & dinner. You need to follow point one to arrive at this conclusion.

3) Deep respect developed for Arcam

Sorry for long post but just wanted to share my experience. Hope the OP finds what he is wanting sound wise & price quotient wise

PS: The Owner & I shared similar tastes in music, hence the listening session was even more enjoyable:licklips::lol::yahoo::clapping:hyeah:

Hi denom,

Very nice observations there. Yes, I have also heard the Arcam A65. A nice little amp I felt, clean sounding and musical.

Yes, it is wrong to look at only the 40W@8 Ohms number. I have a 22 year old 60W amp that is still running in my son's room and will give ALL integrateds upto 1L a run for their money. It also has a very very decent phonostage (both MM and MC).

miroflex,

I do not think you will see a phonostage of any kind built into most modern integrated amps. Only in a reasonably old amp you can expect to find them. Among the modern integrateds, only Arcams (all of them?) have at least a MM phono stage included, as far as I know. Look for the specs of these amps and confirm.

Regards.

 

[miroflex]

miroflex,

I do not think you will see a phonostage of any kind built into most modern integrated amps. Only in a reasonably old amp you can expect to find them. Among the modern integrateds, only Arcams (all of them?) have at least a MM phono stage included, as far as I know. Look for the specs of these amps and confirm.

Regards.

Asit,

You are right about the Arcams. All the ones I've looked at have been equipped with MM inputs. In the Cambridge Audio range, only the lower priced Topaz SR10 is so equipped. All the Denons and Marantzes seem to have MM inputs. All NADs seem to lack this facility and look to the PP2/PP3 phono stages or to the rather expensive NAD C165 BEE pre amplifier for support.

The Roksan, all the Rotels and the Yamahas carry this useful feature.

In the premium range, only the Denon PMA-2010AE has MM/MC phono inputs.

Regards.

 

[miroflex]

Hi Denom,

Thanks a ton for a very detailed exposition of your recent listening experience with an Arcam A65 paired with different speakers. I agree with you that brands don't really matter and it is the synergy between the various components and the quality of sound that really counts.

Had I sufficient leisure and the requisite degree of patience and skill, I would have gone the DIY route as far as the pre amp, amp and speakers are concerned.

Even now I am shying away from splurging on speakers because DIY designs are floating in my mind. Unitary, rectangular enclosures, widely prevalent today are far from ideal from the sonic or acoustic point of view. They are compromises adopted to facilitate and economize on material and labour and can easily be bettered. The ideal enclosure would be spherical. Many of us have experimented, in earlier days, with earthen pots or 'matkas' and marvelled at the amazing sound they produced. Enclosing tweeters in suitable spherical enclosures is something I am actively considering. More on this later.

Regards.

 

[denom]

Hi Asit & Miroflex,

Thank you both for your kind words. I am always glad to share my experiences related to audio listening sessions on this lovely forum & appreciate the the amount of give & take we are able to partake for our mutual benefit.

Miroflex,

Your observations on the speaker enclosures is very precise. Most of the enclosures are with their share of flaws, due to which a lot of other tweaks have to be done to minimise their presence. Suggest you listen to open baffle speakers to get an idea of how these are nearly able to produce the almost natural / uncoloured sound that most of us are yearning for
Atleast I feel this way about open baffle speakers, yours & the others view may vary.

 

[hifipal4all]

Chota sa BREAK ..... before the interesting thread continues .....

My bed room is 16*16 and the Arcam FMJ 18 was more then sufficient to drive my Quad 22L ( now all the equipments are moved out of that room, My old wife is objecting all these things LOL )

Have you moved all these to your NEW wife's room? hyeah:

 

[heliumflight]

Hahahaa..That was hillarious Ramesh. We sometimes get so involved in audio that we forget wife's.

 

[santhosh]

Hehehe Ramesh.

Denom/Asitda: thanks for writing about Arcam, have never auditioned any Arcam product so far.

 

[abhijit15]

Recently I have auditioned Arcam FMJ A18 with Monitor Audio bx2 was sounding superb even better than my system

 

[soundofmusic]

Chota sa BREAK ..... before the interesting thread continues .....



Have you moved all these to your NEW wife's room? hyeah:

Hahaha Ramesh , Wish I had a new one:lol: , but you know that there is no use going for a new one at the age of 55. Please note that the New one I mentioned is about the speakers.

 

[abhijit15]

Ha......ha.....
Today I bought Arcam fmj A18 as pre for my rotel and marantz power amp and result is mind blowing