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View Full Version : Cheap kit for upgrades to replace Arcam and TDL ?



MikeMusic
16-01-2014, 15:29
Is it worth looking at upgrading this set up for not a lot or even cheaper ?

Arcam Alpha Amp with Kimber Classic mains cable

Arcam Alpha 1 CD (sat on top of the amp) with Kimber Classic mains cable

TDL RTL 2 speakers

TDL speaker cable I believe

Sat on a Sound Organisation stand I think with the Tivo, Freeview box, Sony cassette player not now used


This is the old dear's system which usually takes input from her Tivo, but is my 'breakfast system' for CD

istari_knight
16-01-2014, 15:45
My brothers RTL2's needed a recap last year... some of the crossover capacitors were up to 4 times out of spec. You could flog the power cables to subsidise the outlay on new caps [they don't make a jot of difference IME anyway...] They sounded really rather good afterwards... Well worth it IMO.

If your not confident doing it yourself Paul @ RFC does work like this at reasonable rates :thumbsup:

MikeMusic
17-01-2014, 08:22
My brothers RTL2's needed a recap last year... some of the crossover capacitors were up to 4 times out of spec. You could flog the power cables to subsidise the outlay on new caps [they don't make a jot of difference IME anyway...] They sounded really rather good afterwards... Well worth it IMO.

If your not confident doing it yourself Paul @ RFC does work like this at reasonable rates :thumbsup:

Hadn't thought of recapping the TDLs, They are a little bass boomy but as this is a area inhabited by 5 small dogs and any visitors I don't want to put anything too good in there. Being floorstanders is good too.
Was thinking more of the CD and amp which are quite well protected and wondering if Rega stuff out performed the Arcam by a lot for not much dough.
Is it easy to get into the TDLs ?

istari_knight
17-01-2014, 13:08
Personally I find Arcam a tad boring overall & with current prices Rega would be a fair bit more expensive [even for a brio+planet your looking at £300+ !] I'd be tempted to look at some Japanese offerings... The PMA700AE+DCD700AE are a lovely combo and punch well above their price range.

The crossovers are mounted on the inside of the connection panel which just unscrews. I think the values are 6uf for the tweeter & 10uf for the bass but you'll need to confirm. I used Jantzen crosscaps with very pleasing results :thumbsup:

MikeMusic
17-01-2014, 13:31
Thanks

I'll look at the TDLs when I have some time, currently in short supply
And a Denon might come up cheap so search on Ebay started !

hifi_dave
17-01-2014, 18:14
The Rega amp and CD player are a fair bit better than Arcam but does it really matter for a second system used at brekkie time ?

MikeMusic
18-01-2014, 10:55
The Rega amp and CD player are a fair bit better than Arcam but does it really matter for a second system used at brekkie time ?

Can be a bit longer sometimes.
After seeing what some kit costs and how good it is I wondered if I could upgrade the sound for essentially no money by selling the existing kit for around the same

hifi_dave
18-01-2014, 12:30
Can be a bit longer sometimes.
After seeing what some kit costs and how good it is I wondered if I could upgrade the sound for essentially no money by selling the existing kit for around the same
Unlikely, because old Arcam tends to sell very cheaply, so better gear, such as Creek, Rega etc, will be more expensive. An old Alpha amp and CD player together might only fetch £50 or so and you can't get much for that. On this very forum, I tried to sell a nice Marantz CD 845 and would have accepted £10 but no one was interested. I would prefer that to an Alpha CD player.

MikeMusic
18-01-2014, 13:18
Unlikely, because old Arcam tends to sell very cheaply, so better gear, such as Creek, Rega etc, will be more expensive. An old Alpha amp and CD player together might only fetch £50 or so and you can't get much for that. On this very forum, I tried to sell a nice Marantz CD 845 and would have accepted £10 but no one was interested. I would prefer that to an Alpha CD player.

Thanks Dave.
Sounds like a lost cause unless I see something dead cheap
I thought Arcam was good entry level hifi, perhaps a bit higher
I have a Marantz CD player that I think I tested against the Alpha One, I think I preferred the Alpha
Must check again
What brands go for peanuts that are worth having ?

hifi_dave
18-01-2014, 14:02
Well, that's the thing - Arcam goes for peanuts and is, therefore, the usual 'cheap as chips' recommendation.

Reffc
18-01-2014, 14:12
Personally, for the budget you have Mike, the single biggest improvement you can make sonically is the speakers. You can amp roll and CDP roll to your heart's content, but even CDPs up a notch from the Arcam won't sound a whole lot different tbh through older speakers that may need attention. I had a visitor today and we compared his 10 year old untouched speakers which he brought with him directly against ones with new (better) x-overs and the difference was anything but subtle. I started off with an Arcam Alpha CDP and its not bad at all. Its never going to set the world alight, but the only used player in that budget I'd look to replace it with would be a Rotel 965BX which even by today's standards is a cracking player for peanuts. You could be burning money by stumbling from one budget player and amp to another. Concentrate on the speakers as there are two options: Buy used and buy cheap but some stonking bargains are out there for under £100, or have the ones you already have looked at and fettled. Either way, you should see a bigger bang for buck than keeping the ones you have and spending on sideways moves for amps/CDPs. At this end of the budget, your speakers make the biggest difference, by far.

MikeMusic
18-01-2014, 14:31
Well, that's the thing - Arcam goes for peanuts and is, therefore, the usual 'cheap as chips' recommendation.
Right. Thanks Dave

MikeMusic
18-01-2014, 14:35
Personally, for the budget you have Mike, the single biggest improvement you can make sonically is the speakers. You can amp roll and CDP roll to your heart's content, but even CDPs up a notch from the Arcam won't sound a whole lot different tbh through older speakers that may need attention. I had a visitor today and we compared his 10 year old untouched speakers which he brought with him directly against ones with new (better) x-overs and the difference was anything but subtle. I started off with an Arcam Alpha CDP and its not bad at all. Its never going to set the world alight, but the only used player in that budget I'd look to replace it with would be a Rotel 965BX which even by today's standards is a cracking player for peanuts. You could be burning money by stumbling from one budget player and amp to another. Concentrate on the speakers as there are two options: Buy used and buy cheap but some stonking bargains are out there for under £100, or have the ones you already have looked at and fettled. Either way, you should see a bigger bang for buck than keeping the ones you have and spending on sideways moves for amps/CDPs. At this end of the budget, your speakers make the biggest difference, by far.
Thanks Paul
What sort of age would you consider/guess speakers need fettling ?
I haven't forgotten my Isobarik crossovers paying you a visit

Reffc
18-01-2014, 15:06
Hi Mike

there's two reasons you might want to look at speakers of a certain age. First because of the use of electrolytics that often need replacing, and secondly, because the components used may have been of a shocking quality and maybe (as I recently have found with one set) only generically matched to drivers taking no account of the impedance rise in the woofer when selecting inductors and caps. In the case of a pair I currently have, the actual crossover is way above intended as the components are miles out and this leant and edge to the upper midrange (unsurprisingly) as the woofer was being run well into cone break-up area. This from a well known, established and respected loudspeaker manufacturer.

|'d say speakers of 15 years or older probably benefit from at least a recap with something decent, but sometimes they're fine up to 20 or 30 years old depending on the design implementation and the components used.

MikeMusic
18-01-2014, 15:34
Hi Mike

there's two reasons you might want to look at speakers of a certain age. First because of the use of electrolytics that often need replacing, and secondly, because the components used may have been of a shocking quality and maybe (as I recently have found with one set) only generically matched to drivers taking no account of the impedance rise in the woofer when selecting inductors and caps. In the case of a pair I currently have, the actual crossover is way above intended as the components are miles out and this leant and edge to the upper midrange (unsurprisingly) as the woofer was being run well into cone break-up area. This from a well known, established and respected loudspeaker manufacturer.

|'d say speakers of 15 years or older probably benefit from at least a recap with something decent, but sometimes they're fine up to 20 or 30 years old depending on the design implementation and the components used.

Thanks Paul
You are educating me nicely. Some shocking and disappointing news there
Wish you were a lot closer

Reminds me I need to take pics of my Iso xovers for you to look over.
Also need to make the time tomorrow to do it. Note made (again). Fingers crossed.

If you ever come near us, Junction 10 and 11 M25 not far please pop in to look over my various sets of speakers !