suggestion on bookshelf speaker and amplifier

vijwilso

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Hello experts
Need suggestion here for one of my friend in UK . He is non audiophile and this would be his first music system. I suggested the usual popular names and he completed the audition of many. Pls refer below for what he audioned so far and in the order of his preference.

Sonus faber, pmc and dynaudio are still in todo list for his audition.

Pls check and add any that you think worthy of auditions.

He is specific about bookshelf as the room is small.

Here is the order of his preference

1. Harbeth P3ESR/Spendor SP3/1R2 equally
2. KEF LS50
3. ProAC D1
4. B&W 685 s2
5. Naim Muso

Amplifiers
1. Devialet 200 it is too good but out of my reach
2. Moon 340i/Unico Nuovo (it is tube integrated amp)
3. Rega elicit r
4. Naim SN2
5. Roksan K3
6. Quad elite
7. Naim Nait 5si
 
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ROKSAN K3 vs PROAC D1 (my opinion)

Hello experts
Need suggestion here for one of my friend in UK . He is non audiophile and this would be his first music system. I suggested the usual popular names and he completed the audition of many. Pls refer below for what he audioned so far and in the order of his preference.

Sonus faber, pmc and dynaudio are still in todo list for his audition.

Pls check and add any that you think worthy of auditions.

He is specific about bookshelf as the room is small.

Here is the order of his preference

1. Harbeth P3ESR/Spendor SP3/1R2 equally
2. KEF LS50
3. ProAC D1
4. B&W 685 s2
5. Naim Muso

Amplifiers
1. Devialet 200 it is too good but out of my reach
2. Moon 340i/Unico Nuovo (it is tube integrated amp)
3. Rega elicit r
4. Naim SN2
5. Roksan K3
6. Quad elite
7. Naim Nait 5si
 
Thanks . I think i was not clear about the ask . He already auditioned the list above and before finalising on the topper in that list , he wanted double check if any potential contender is missed out . The budget is 3500-4000 UK pounds for both speaker and amplifier

His current topper is Harbeth/Spendor with the Unico Nuovo , though he liked it more with Devialet 200 , but devialet is out of budget .

I am not familiar with many names in the segment . My list is exhausted with the usual suspects and that is already covered in his audition ( except for PMC & SonusFAber)
 
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Hello,

Not from your listed items but give the Arcam A19 a look. Pretty fantastic amplifier, however careful matching of speakers.
Arcam normally go well with B&W, Focals and KEF's.
I use to run them with the Focal 806v but have them with the Dali 1 zensor at the moment.
If you need a listen let me know.

Regards,
Sanjay.
 
Hello
Sorry for the delayed post. I finally bought the system and details are given below

Spendor SP3/1R2
Unico Nuovo 95W RMS/ 8Ohm ( the reason I mentioned here is they have different output with the same model)
Audioquest Dragonfly V1.2
Mac i5 Laptop with VOX audio
 
The Spendors are beautiful speakers along with Unico would sound heavenly...However you need to invest in better DAC than the Dragonfly...Even a used Rega DAC on the used UK hifi forums can be had for around 200 GBP and will be any day better than the Dragonfly...
 
Agree with Panditji.

A better DAC commensurate with the rest of the chain will make a lot of difference.

Rgds
 
Absolutely. The source has to be in the same league as the rest of the chain. So also the cables.
 
I put cap on my budget. I rejected amp/speakers if it goes beyond my budget. My selection list was already posted by Vijay. I quite liked Moon 340i but the price was close to my overall budget. If anyone interested, try to audition the Moon 340i with PraAc speakers like D1 and D2. The dealer told me ProAc can go well with Moon amps. I wanted to audition Moon 340i paired with KEF LS50 and Harbeth P3ESR. problem is Moon is available with only selected dealers, same goes for Harbeth. so pairing these combination is too difficult. Initially I quite like KEF LS50 but it requires lot of power to drive. I tried three amps (Roksan K3, Naim Nait 5si, and Naim SN2). but none of them can drive the mighty LS50 to its potential. so I gave up LS50.

For some reason, Naim didn't impress me with any speaker combination. Same goes for Roksan K3. I never try to audition any music system before and most of the shops/places I auditioned so far gave me approximately 30mins to 1 hours max. I am not sure whether it is enough time to judge your dream system. I have to rely on my initial impact of the system by listening to same music with all the combination(speaker/amp). I try to listen the songs/music with low, mid and high volume.

I auditioned Spendor Sp3/1R2 with Unico Nuovo. I never heard Unico amplifier before and it was suggested by Mr Ajay Shirke who is the owner of Audio Lounge. I fell in love with the combination immediately. I auditioned the same combination twice with one week gap. I listened various combination of the music list starting with very 128Kbps quality Mp3 to 320Kbps, FLAC files, CD's. Listened songs, Instruments, Movie, you tube, spotify free edition. This one combination I can't say whether it is amp or speaker. It is just amazing. I demoed the system with few of my friends. They loved it.

Only two amp (Moon 340i, Unico Nuovo) impressed me a lot. Out of which I selected Unico Nuovo because of the price (1.7K) was with in my range. If i have enough budget, I will definitely go with Moon 340i as they are simply best.
 
I agree with you guys. I just started the recently. I already blown my budget for this year, probably I will wait for some more time to purchase proper DAC. I will take your inputs
 
Dear Sir, you are in London and can easily buy good used DACs there..I saw an M2Tech Evo for about 200 GBP which is a superb DAC at that price..as also a used Rega DAC which can be bought cheaper than the Dragonfly is used and should be available for around 200 GBP as well.
 
Wharfedale Linton Heritage Speakers in Walnut finish at a Special Offer Price. BUY now before the price increase.
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