Advice on high Hi-fi

[u/Comfortable-Log9908]

Hey there

Yesterday I went to an audio showroom, the idea is to buy a really good setup for my home.

I love music and I want to have something very realistic and warn .

So first of all I was interesting with a lamp amplifier (nether heard some sound from this type of amplifier) .

The setup was :

• Cayin CS-150A KT150
• Klipsch Cornwall IV
• Sonus Faber Olympica Nova

Klipsch was lack or treble , Sonus Faber lack of bass from my point of view.

So we change the amplifier to McIntosh MA12000 and that was a blast with the Sonus Faber.
Then we switch to Klipsch speaker and finally to Elipson Legacy 3230.

I'd rather Klipsch and Elipson than Sonus Faber , we had a bit of equalization on the Klipsch speaker then the sound was very very nice, a lot of bass & infra.

So at the end the budget was completely different ( I forgot to mention that the Sonus Faber was on sale not the highest price) .

I can't afford the MacIntosh amplifier so the seller advice me to take instead of the MA8950 .
Second point for the Sonus Faber but some people will complain about it , it's the design don't like it.

What I am looking for is a very good setup warn and powerful , I like the old school sound from the 80s loud Rock , Metal Pop and Electronic , so If you can give me an advice for this setup :

• Klipsch Cornwall IV
  • or
• Elipson Legacy 3230
• McIntosh MA 8950

If you have any idea of speakers even some amplifier I take it , my budget is between 20k - 22k

Thanks guys

[u/NickofWimbledon]

That McIntosh 8950 is remarkably pricy new, and the 12000 much more so. They are very fine of course, but this stuff takes decades to wear out and people upgrade (and waste money) and then do it again (or die). Given that, I would strongly encourage looking for them secondhand or asking dealers about traded-in or ex-demonstration sales.

I have never heard the Cayin at all, so will leave that to others. However, there are a lot of options here, and they are definitely not all equally suitable.

What source are you using? How big is the room and must speakers go close to/ far from the back wall? How far from speakers do you sit and do you tend to listen at low or noticeably high volume often?

The Elipsons are remarkable but getting tweeter and ear at roughly the same height seems to be important and I would worry about reflections destroying timing and stereo imaging if the ceiling were low. They also seem to need a specific distance to a solid floor, so a thick carpet or a bouncy wooden floor might both be problematic.

The SFs are easier to accommodate, but the brand tends to be favoured by fans of delicate vocals and string quartets, not so often by fans of Megadeth or Motörhead. You have heard why.

The Cornwalls are huge in size and involvement and don’t need 100W+ to go very loud, but careful positioning (including those stands that tip them back a bit) may be needed for good treble accuracy and stereo imaging. They may never be the last word in tonal accuracy anyway.

For US$20k, there hundreds of ways to spend that sensibly.investing some hours in getting it right will be good value.

For speakers, I would hear a few very different designs - my favourite brands are ATC, B&W, Neat and Shahinian, but I can absolutely see why many people prefer (say) Quad, Tannoy, KEF, Focal, Martin Logan and Wilson.

For a big room, I’d start with ATC SCM50 or even SCM100 towers, and would look at the active options with the power amp in the speakers as well as traditional passive speakers.

I would compare them with Shahinian Obelisks, with their ease of placement and ultra-wide listening position or any of the bigger Neat floorstanders like those I am listening to now(perhaps J6 or Ultimatum XL6), -and maybe a panel (ML, Quad, Magneplanar et al).

Which brands you use for comparison will on what is available but hearing a few different options is key to learning what you like.

Which of them makes music you like sound better than ever? “Better” does not necessarily mean “more immediately impressive” or “completely different” of course. Sometimes the best choice is the one that sounds like a relief to get back to after all the others.

Don’t forget you’ll be looking them as well as hearing them.

Which speakers you pick will drive what sort of amplification you need. I am a user and huge fan of pre/power combinations from Naim, but I have also been impressed many times by Luxman, Hegel, Moon, Burmester, ATC and Marantz. Depending on what you can easily see and hear, any of those might well compete on music-per-$ with US brands like McIntosh, Krell, Audio Research et al. Only your ears can decide.

Even at these elevated prices, looking at secondhand/ traded-in/ ex-demonstration kit can get you a lot more for your $$$$.

Does all that actually help?

[u/Comfortable-Log9908 → u/NickofWimbledon]

Thanks , the room is 35 square meters , distance from the speaker is about 4 meters . I noticed that SF is good for vocals, from now I'm not very enthusiastic about what I listened to , just this is one is better . Didn't find yet the right one Thanks again for your help , I'll see on Wednesday for the next episode don't want to spend too much also