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Black Knight
01-01-2009, 12:18
I'm quite new to Hi-Fi and talk of anything more technical than this lead goes there leaves me confused.

I 'like' the sound I have but can't help feeling its at the bottom end of the
Hi-Fi ladder. I want to improve things but not sure where to go.

Budget is an issue, i'm on a tight one. I like to get the best value I can when making any purchase.


This is my current gear

Cambridge Audio 640C v2
Marantz PM 6002 Amp
Gotham GAC-1 interconnect (50cm)
Sound Organisation 3 tier rack
QED Silver anniversary XT speaker cables (2x2m)
QED Airloc plugs
Wharfdale Diamond 9.1 speakers
Altacama stands
Tacima 929 Mains conditioner
Grado SR80 headphones


I spend more time than ever listening with the headphones. I've neighbours and other tennants to consider. Additionally the system is in a poor location which prob doesn't help things when using the speakers.

Is there any obvious upgrade path?


Thanks

Rick.

John
01-01-2009, 12:46
Hi Rick
If you not able to listen to your system to much then is there a need to upgrade?
If the answer is there is no need, then think about the following:
A decent Heaphone amp
At some point a even better set of headphones but the SR80 are quite nice

Black Knight
01-01-2009, 15:30
Hi John,

Thanks for the advice. Fair point, I'll forget about speakers for now as they are used far less than the headphones.


Re the headphone amp - I asked about these at a dealer and was told you only need one if you don't have a port on your main amp.

How does having a headphone amp enhance things? Doesn't putting an additional box in have the potential to complicate things?

Good point re the headphones, I bought mine new but at the time I noticed used prices weren't much less. Grado and Sennheisser were highly reccomended to me and I liked them both. The former had better sound, the latter were more comfortable.
any other suggestions?

fraser.
01-01-2009, 16:11
That advice seems strange to me to be honest! :confused: The headphone output on many (most) amps i have come across simply don't sound very good- sometimes quite painful... They are an afterthought really, with very little energy or cost dedicated to them, at least on the ones i have tried.

You've got a nice CD player and headphones, through a decent headphone amp the sound will be very nice indeed- far better than what is available at the cost in a 'normal' system; as opposed to a headphone one if you see what i mean.

There's a huge range of headphone amps available new and used, especially if you consider the influx of chinese valve ones... haven't heard any of those though

Black Knight
01-01-2009, 16:28
Ok thanks.

As I'm using my headphones more and more i'll look at getting a dedicated amp, post that a new set of cans.

Quite tempted by this....
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/B-STOCK-NVA-AP10H-Headphone-Amplifier_W0QQitemZ220334553914QQihZ012QQcategoryZ 3280QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l 1262



Will have to find out if its trade in-able and the acual extent of the damage.

Primalsea
01-01-2009, 16:32
Hi John,
Re the headphone amp - I asked about these at a dealer and was told you only need one if you don't have a port on your main amp.

I would seriously consider not ever going to that dealer again IMHO.

Almost all headphone ports are taken from the speaker output via some resistors. This gives a fairly high output resistance that can make the bass a bit soggy.

A good headphone amp will have an output impedance lower than the 32 ohms of the headphones. In theory you should get much better bass among other things.

Spectral Morn
01-01-2009, 19:08
I would upgrade your Speaker cable to QED Xt 300. Its not as bright and forward as the Qed Silver Anniversary but it is better balanced in my opinion. So will sound a bit less detailed, but in my opinion it will give you a much better frequency balance with more weight and scale and richer tone (only a little warmer ). I would make links ( out of the Xt 300)to replace the copper links in the back of the speakers. I would not go bi-wire ( for the most part this is a waste of money. Only the cable companies benefit by selling you another run of cable, IMHO).

I would also look at changing the interconnect to a TCI viper with wbt plugs £80 or a Qed silver 4 s at £50.

Your Wharfedales are capable of quite a lot, if properly set up and will benefit from care and attention. Ken Kesseler once gave a rave review and said these would respond well to a very high end system. I think they have their limits but are excellent for not a lot of money.

The Grados are excellent headphones and need a much better headphone out put than your amp has. I would look at Musical Fidelity, Creek, Project or Graham Slee for a dedicated headphone amp.

Also I am not sure about your mains filter. Try listening without it and then with it. If it sounds worse with it, take the amp off and only use your CDP on it. Cheap filters are not that good IMHO, and amps usually suffer from dynamic compression when hooked up to cheap filters.

regards D S D L ----- Neil :)

John
01-01-2009, 19:20
Using a dedicated headphone amp will improve things a lot as you having a dedicated amp to power up the headphones so will enhance bass and improve the level of detail. A really good set of headphones and amp can give you a holographic soundstage few systems can match
Also it will not upset your neighbours!!!

Black Knight
01-01-2009, 21:23
Thanks all, certainly given me a few things to think about.

Ali Tait
02-01-2009, 11:59
Another one to consider is the World designs HD83 if you fancy trying valves.I have one and it's excellent.

muffinman
02-01-2009, 13:43
or a standac
kill 2 birds, so to speak