Complete speaker system. Considering Monitor Audio RX-6 or B&W 684. DAC and Amp?

so what do you already have? 

honestly with that budget id be looking at way better speakers.  also have you heard them both?  just they should be rather different and its not 2 id put together, plus since they are so different it would greatly affect what amp would suit.

oh and id say worry least about a DAC, speaker and amp are more important imo.

I wouldn't buy a speaker & amp without 1st auditioning them together. Get this basic integration seriously wrong and nothing you do with the source can fix it.  Start by visiting a good dealer willing to demo a system if possible.

Amp wattage is one stat but efficiency and how loud u need the speakers to go w.r.t your listening position is important as well. Recommended/suggested amp wattage is just a rough guide and peeps have done floor standers with tiny T-Amps actually but i would also consider features/upgrade room perhaps? Do u want Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio for surround/movies and HDMI in/out for example? Good points by earlier posters as well : concentrate on speakers and listen and judge yourself 1st before splashing the cash

I've been auditioning the B&W 683's and I love them, great sound in the 600 line. As far as power goes, you will be fine with low power... i've been using a NAD C340 which is a fairly old amplifier at this point and puts out 50 Wrms/Channel and volume is not even close to an issue with the 683's...if the 684's are similar then you don't need to go looking for an amp with much more than that. I would look in the 50Wpc range and get something good. You will be satisfied

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Originally Posted by Keepvogel 

 

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Thanks for your reactions!

 

What I have is basically nothing, at least speaker wise. Upstairs are a pair of celestion Ditton 110's, powered by a NAD 3120. Both are 20 years old or so, not handled with as much care as they should have been through the years (Also on the back of the speakers it says they need 70W a piece, but the NAD 3120 apperently only delivers 25 a channel). Source is either a marantz cd player, or a logitech squeezebox (Flac). Problem is that they're my parents speakers and i can't simply take off wth them ;P. Besides, I don't like the sound very much.

Besides that I've got a AKG702 with the E7 + E9 combo. And that's it :P. I think it's possible to get the analog signal unamped out of my combo, and into an amp, but if there is a noticeable difference in DACs slightly more expensive I might just like to go with that. This will be my first (own) speaker system, so I want to make it last as long as possible before i get bad urges to buy more shiny things with more shiny specs.

 

I'll try to make an appointment to listen to both setups. As I live in Amsterdam, that should not be too difficult. Btw, 2500 was my absolute max. andI'd prefer to stay under that if at all possible, but what speakers would you be thinking about?
 

Oh, and I'd really be getting them for listening to music, so stuff like surround sound etc. aren't high on my list ^^.

 

 

 

ahh, right so you have a reasonable DAC already so scratch that off your list.  with a  budget of 2500 euro id say put about 500 to an amp and 2000 to speakers. (yes i know the speakers will outclass the amp but so what, it just means amp is your obvious upgrade path)

since you like the akg702 (not heard but know of it) i suspect you will like a brighter speaker.  MA stuff is pretty crispy, b&w is the opposite.  if you get the chance demo some Neat Acoustics stuff, they do a fantastic top end.

€2500? How big is your room. With that budget you could get something awesome like

XTZ 99.38s speakers- €1700

XTZ Class A 100 D3 amp - €700

Under budget, and these are speakers that are sold directly so perform significantly above their price bracket. XTZ are a Swedish company so not too far from you either. They use the same tweeter, for instance, as the Monitor Audio Platinum speakers. You'd need a decent sized room though since that is a lot of speaker! The obvious upgrade in future would only be for a better DAC then, since the amp is made for the speakers and the speakers themselves are high-end, with their Divine series (€4900 I think) being the best things they sell.

I think matching amp to speaker by wattage is a little like fixing a blind date based on age....things like incompatible impedance load or sound signature can throw a curve ball.  

Since you live in a city, it should be easy to visit dealers to listen to many systems before narrowing down your choices. 

Do try out systems with Naim electronics and also Harbeth speakers. They offer sound signature that is unique and keep their value very well as they have a cult following. 

In my opinion, the wattage on amplifier is pretty misleading.

If it says that the required wattage is 40-125watt for you speakers, I would try any amp in that range.

I've heard several amps, and many amp with lower wattage went to higher volume, had more life in the music (organic feel), and had WAY better dynamic than higher wattage. So you really have to listen to amps with your speakers to see what fits you better, and what matches your speakers better, you can't simply blindly buy a combo solely on the power of your amp. I think synergy in speakers/amp is more important than with heaphones/amp.

As for the DAC, again I would try with and without one so you know how much it makes a difference for you in the music.  For me, it didn't make that much of a difference, so I prefered spending more on my speakers and way less on the source. (My source is worth 15% of my speakers).

With 2500$, I would probably spend 400$ for the source (Bitfrost or rega P3), 1300$ on the speakers and 800$ on the amp.
 

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Originally Posted by Keepvogel 

Ok, so i'm sort of maybe possibly considering to buy myself a speaker set.

 

So i think i have narrowed down my speakers to a choice between two: the B&W 684's, or the Monitor Audio RX 6. One of these. What I am still in the dark about, is how strong an amplifier I need. The RX 6 has a recommended amp strength of 40-125W. Does that mean that if I buy an amp with exactly 40W per channel, I'm good? Or do I need something stronger?

 

As I have most of my music on my computer in digital form I also need a DAC. Now I've heard that DAC become very expensive very fast as you go up in quality. So what kind of DAC would you guys recommend?

I listen to all kinds of music, form dubstep to classical to rock. Everything. It might be useful to mention that i enjoy my AKG702 immensely, and that my budget would, at the very most, be around 2500 euro's.

 

Let me know what you think :P.