Hi-Fi

Hi-Fi Separates

Over the last year or so, relaxing in the evening and listening to Hi-Fi music has become my favourite passtime at the end of the day. I have always loved music, but after a decade of only listening to music occasionally on headphones due to a young family, I am now delighted to have invested in a good quality system and set aside a special area to dedicated to listening. Hi-Fi specialist brands has now also become a real interest as i built my current system upgrading from 10 year old NAD separates (which actually remain my highest recommendation at the budget end of the market). My new system is probably classed as mid range and has been put together as follows :-

CD Player

Previous - NAD C 320 (£120) / Arcam CD 73 (£350)  New -  Arcam FMJ CD36 (£1400 - bought for £700) 

The source CD is for me one of the most important items in a system, as an amplifier and speakers can only really work with the detail they are given from the CD. So selection here is a key starting point. I listened to a few budget end products up to £650 from Marantz, Cambridge Audio, Roksan Kandy and Arcam before originally settling on the Arcam CD73. This is a beautifully made player and it sounded a much higher quality than all the other makes i tried. It looks superb with a neat green matrix display and with a slightly warmer and more natural sound than all the others. I kept this for a few months but then a bargain offer of the Arcam’s flagship FMJ range came up called the FMJ CD36 player. Previously retailing at £1400, the anticipation of the new CD37 stripped 50% of the price for a very short time which i had to snap up (to my wife’s dismay). It is a truly outstanding player, and its performance has more body and detail than anything else I have ever tried. It was simply a matter of the perfect time to buy. Apart from sounding smooth and full bodied, it looks great and also has a CD text option too. Its 2008 replacement is the CD37 which has won Hi-Choice CD player of the year gold award and also has SACD specific playback. I am delighted with this brand and the quality of its build.

Amplifier

Previous - NAD C302 (£120) / Arcam A70 (£300) New -  Arcam FMJ A32 (£1200 - bought for £700)

The amplifier is the broadcaster or the presenter of the music, able to add warmth or brightness and pronounce its mark on certain musical aspects such as midrange, treble or bass. Again I tried a number of brands such as Cambridge Audio, NAD and Marantz and for a while used a lovely NAD C320 which whilst at the budget end of the market is a great amplifier. However new affection for an Arcam CD73 player led me to the A70 Amplifier as i do like things to match well both in terms of specification but visually too. The upgrade was good becoming more detailed, warm and the timing and soundstage was great, although a tad bass light. However, once i upgraded the CD player i soon took another of Arcam’s FMJ model, the FMJ A32 amplifier new again marked down for a short time. This is a much more powerful amplifier at 105W per channel and is nothing short of excellent in sound presentation and detail and is packed with all the features you could need including a good headphone socket and even has digital tone controls if you want them. The sound improvement at this level of cost is quite significant with added bass, punch and detail. Matched up with the CD36 it is an amazingly good Hi-Fi, and was generally well regarded by the magazine reviewers. Again its 2008 replacement the FMJ A38 won the best amplifier gold award from Hi-Fi Choice and is well worth trying out.

Speakers

Previous - Cambridge Audio S30 (£120) / Epos M5 (£350)  New -  Neat Motive 3 (£700)

I have upgraded my speakers in stages too as my system upgraded, but also as a result of moving to a dedicated listening area which enabled me to use proper Soundstyle Z2 speaker stands, which are a vast improvement over shelves. My original budget Cambridge Audio S30’s were ok but a little muddy to listen to and the move to some Epos M5’s for £250 were in fact even better than I expected with a more open sound stage and beautiful vocals and mid-range presentation. This was probably my first introduction to a really decent speaker. I went through a number of demo’s including Proac, PMC and Spendor to find a perfect speaker match for the Arcam FMJ and finally settled on some Neat Motive 3 speakers which has the smoothest of vocals i could find at this price point. The presentation of the overall soundstage was one of the best, and the bass is superb being both punchy and clear and real depth for such a small speaker. The cabinet came in natural oak which pleased my wife. This was a star performer, recommended highly my What Hi-Fi and it finally rounded off and completed my search for the right system. The other speaker make that really impressed me was the PMC DB1i and i would have no hesitation in recommending either model.

Once these 3 key separates are in place you would think that the searching and improvement is over, but this is far from the truth as cables, interconnects and stands can all add or sometimes hinder the overall experience.

Cables

Previous - QED Silver Anniversary speaker cable (£5pm) / Chord Silverscreen cable (£6pm) New - Chord Epic Super Twin Bi-wire cable (£75pm) & Van Den Hul ‘D-102 III’ interconnect (£50)

It is a disputed area as to whether cables actually can make any real difference at all. Well I can easily confirm that the speaker cables at least certainly do. My original cables QED Silver Anniversary XT cables which were a mix of silver and copper combined and had great clarity but are rather lean on the bass. Chord Silverscreen however is mainly a copper cable and is excellent drawing everything together to produce a better overall sonic tone and quality. It worked perfectly with Arcam and is generally warm and smooth in style. However once again my hobby instinct led me to try more expensive cables until i tried a high range Chord Epic Twin bi-wire cable. Well not only is this more open and vibrant but if you want to hear what your mid range system is capable of then this speaker cable is certainly worth an upgrade if you dont need long runs of it. It is incredable what the combination of extra quality cable and bi-wiring to 2 sets of speaker terminals actually achieved. The system really started to sing and show its ability. Costly yes, but if you have spent a decent amount on the kit then why not hear it at its very best.

In comparative terms, the interconnect upgrade seemed to change much much less. I tried many cables from a £20 Cambridge Arctic up to £200 Piccolo and to be honest the effect of upgrading was very minimal indeed. I eventually settled on a decent mid range interconnect called Van Den Hul ‘D-102 III’, which i obtained for under £50 (retail is more like £120). I spent my cash on my highest recommendation which is the speaker cabling.

Summary

Hi-fi as a hobby is great fun, but can also be extremely dangerous for your wallet. However, I have found that your old items often has a decent market value on the likes of ebay so the upgrade cost is often much more affordable than it first seems. All my old items sold well. Looking back on the last few months, you should definitely plan your purchasing route, audition products if you can and narrow your search before you seriously consider buying. If you find a brand you like then this is a great starting point. Personally I like to match the CD and amplifier to ensure both sonic and visual compatibility, but this isn’t essential, but you will need to match carefully and this information is not always readily available. There are real bargains out there, second hand higher quality items may well be a better bet than a new lower budget item, but there is of course a risk here on the item condition. My own chosen route was to buy products that were just about to be replaced by a new improved version. I can live without the newest upgrade but I still bought new boxed items just at a much lower price than it was few weeks ago. It works for me but you have to be very lucky on the timing and availability and strike at the right moment. My personal favourite separates at the budget end up to £500 per item are still NAD. In the mid range bracket (£500 to £1000 per item) Arcam or Roksan Kandy. The next bracket to £2000 brings in the likes of Naim, Primare or Leema but i havent the budget to go there. I am certainly enjoying the quality level i have now, and looking back wish i had upgraded to mid range products many years ago.

Headphones

[Links Course Profiles] [Microsoft Courses] [APCD Courses] [Course of the Year] [Course Gallery] [My Designs] [Latest News] [Hi-Fi] [Albums] [Late 60's Albums] [Early 70's Albums] [Late 70's Albums] [Hybrid] [Doctor Who]