Need speakers recommendation for my system (in Jakarta, Indonesia)
You should check out the Spendor D7. https://store.acousticsounds.com/d/94324/Spendor-Spendor_D7_Stereo_Speakers-Speakers Or the D9. https://store.acousticsounds.com/d/117355/Spendor-Spendor_D9_Stereo_Speakers-Speakers |
@jadislover While upgrading your speakers are great idea but I must say that you will have to upgrade your digital front end source component (Rega Apollo CD player). I suggest you upgrade your CD player or get a digital streamer/DAC or standalone DAC. There are countless options out there though I'm not sure about their availabilities in your country. Rega Apollo CD player is great for the money and is suitable for a budget setup and system. If you could upgrade your analog front end (turntable) that would help too. While your Rega Planar 6 is decent there are plenty of room for improvement. You could upgrade the tonearm, cartridge and get a good quality phonostage preamp for your turntable. If you have really good speakers and amp but if your front end source components ate not up to par the overall end results would be awful. This is where the signal begins and everything else like the amplifier or pre/power amp will further amplify that signal. What's lost early in the chain cannot be restored downstream. Especially very good high end speakers are usually very revealing and will reveal the weaknesses of your upstream electronics eg your front end source components, preamp , etc etc. |
@caphill actually I did own a DAC chord qutest with a marantz ki pearl lite as the cd transport. We did A/B testing with friends and all agreed the rega apollo CDP provides better staging and warmth compared to the chord setup. The chord was incredibly detailed but it sounded a bit like headfones (artificial enhancement). as for the planar 6 eventually I will replace the phonostage (am using the cheapest rega phono) so can use MC cartridge. My motto in this hobby is continuous improvement, ie making one upgrade at a time to incrementally improve the SQ. right now I feel that the bottleneck is with the speakers thus why I want to go one (or two) levels higher than my focals. Whats the fun in changing everything at the same time? 😁 |
@jadislover Don’t get me wrong.....Rega makes very musical gears at affordable price points. If you want to stick with using CD player at least you should upgrade to Rega Saturn-R CD player currently retails for $3k here in the US. I know it’s 3x as much as the Apollo but the Saturn-R is a step up sonically from the Apollo. If you could swing for $10k or $11k for the Rega Isis CD player that would be even better if you have the budget for that. Last year I went to listen to the Rega Isis Valve CD player paired with the Rega Osiris integrated amp ($10k) on the Focal Sopra 2 and they sounded fabulous together. I’ve also heard this same Rega combo on different speakers : PMC, Vienna Acoustics Mozart Grand and they performed marvelous. Rega makes really good integrated amps as well as turntables especially for the money. In regards to a Chord Qutest DAC, I’ve never heard the Qutest but I have heard the Chord Dave DAC ($10k) paired with some Naim streamer in all Naim setup using Naim preamp and power amp on some higher end PMC speakers (can’t remember the model). They were awesome. Chord Dave DAC is very good but pricey very musical & fluid imo and sonically will be a huge step up from the Qutest DAC. Also your Marantz CD transport isn’t very good imo. Transport is very important. You need to get a very good quality CD transport if you want to stick with playing CD. Bad transport has lots of jitter. Jitter is the biggest enemy in digital audio front end source. It has significant negative impact on SQ no matter how good your DAC is. I advise you to get better transport and get a good quality digital interconnect. Great transport will make huge difference in SQ, musicality, tonal accuracy, presentation, etc etc. You should also consider getting a good quality digital streamer/music streamer/network audio player such as Naim DS or Linn DS or Lumin, etc so you can download high resolution PCM or DSD materials and so you aren’t limited to CD quality (16/44.1). All music streamers/network audio players come with a built-in Tidal streaming app and are usually Roon ready. Tidal Hifi is a lossless (CD quality 16/44.1) music streaming service it uses FLAC compression algorithm whereas Spotify Premium uses MP3 compression and is lossy. Tidal Hifi is way better than Spotify Premium. Don’t know if you have access to Tidal music streaming service in Indonesia. Recently Tidal has released Tidal Master that enables us to stream hi-rez materials using MQA algorithm. But your DAC has to be able to decode and support MQA. I’m sure you’ve heard of MQA before? Regarding speaker upgrade, I will add DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O 96 to your list. They will pair well with your Jadis integrated amp. The Vienna, Harbeth, Spendor & ProAc are awesome too. |
@caphill Yes definitely I think Rega makes best "bang for buck" products. Definitely the next step up for me in terms of CDP is probably the rega saturn. I got my Rega Apollo CDP for $500 as NOS.. was basically a steal at that price and it performs beautifully for my current needs. Yep the marantz gear I pretty much shelving or trying to sell... not a big fan and the sound is more "sharp" compared to the Rega. Unfortunately we don't have Tidal here (unless if I use VPN but not looking into that as well). I would like to keep it CD and LP at first because I use streaming (spotify) mostly only my cheap active speakers (google home). My 2.0 setup is now exclusively for CD and LP. Eventually I will upgrade my transports, but of course my budget is limited so the next big ticket item that I have are speakers. I really enjoy making incremental improvements instead of shelling big bucks to overhaul everything. Thus why I am ok with buying used gear (bought my jadis pretty much new at a good used price as well). Thanks for your advice, will check out the DeVore as well. |
Sounds like a plan! However by acquiring one of a digital streamer/music streamer/network audio player such as the Lumin, Aurender, Aurallic, Linn DS, Naim DS, DCS, Esoteric, etc you have access to high resolution materials so you aren’t limited to standard CD resolution and you don’t have to stream Tidal or Spotify. Some streamers have DAC some don’t. The standalone streamer (no DAC) can be connected to a DAC, even the ones that have built-in DAC you can bypass their built-in DAC and use them as digital transport to a standalone DAC. Those high resolution PCM or DSD are way better than lower resolution CD quality. No comparison. Don’t know if you have SACD collections. Marantz Reference series line makes pretty impressive CD/SACD players but they are much more expensive than regular Marantz series like the one you have. Marantz SA10 CD/SACD player from its Reference series line is pretty impressive but it retails for $7k here. Esoteric and DCS also make phenomenal CD/SACD players and transports but are at different price points and are priced much higher than the Marantz SA10 Reference series. |
Why not have a listen to the Yamaha NS 5000. They are made in Indonesia. I am trying to listen to them in USA but not yet available. I heard the Magico A3 and it is pretty good. I was about to buy them but I found out the Yamaha NS 5000 Is available in Canada so I am expecting them to arrive to the USA. If not, I will listen to them in Toronto where my parents live. I am not going to buy the A3 until I hear the NS 5000. |
@jadislover, I think you are taking the right approach to an upgrade. Speakers first. No doubt they will reveal the shortcomings of your system, but you're intending to make other upgrades, so you'll eventually fix these weak links. Since your sources are CD and vinyl, get the best quality components you can afford. In my case, I have thousands of CDs and records combined and I enjoy playing and collecting physical media. Now that my sources are set, I've expanded into streaming. For me it's an additional source, not a replacement. IMO, matching speakers to your amp should be the starting point to your upgrade. Just my 2 cents. |
There's a company in India called Rethm that builds highly regarded speakers. https://www.atelier13-usa.com/rethm-c6bo |
Dear jadislover, As you have a Jadis amp, I recommend ProAC for your consideration also, given the brand’s synergy with tube amplification. I haven’t listened much to the newer Response DT8 or D30S, but my Response D30Rs have served me very, very well for almost five years. Your room is not too large, so perhaps even the Response D20Rs will work for you. To me, ProAC speakers do not deliver the strongest bass, but do deliver it with consummate accuracy. The integration between the tweeters is wonderful, and so mids and highs also come across superbly. With proper source equipment, vocals and acoustic instruments are resolved precisely and with immaculate timing. On the more digital side (so to speak), electronic sounds are also represented unerringly. All the best in your search, and happy listening. |
@yyzsantabarbara Just checked the yamaha is 20k dollars.. out of my price range. Thks for the recommendation though @lowrider57 yes thats the plan to keep the amp and get a speaker that can be driven by the amp.. and doesnt require me to upgrade everything else. Right now I am not focusing on streaming coz the quality difference vs cd is just too vast imo. Hmmm dont think we have that Indian brand here.. also i am considering warranty claim issues as well @obergaiman thanks for the advice. Will check out the proacs as well |
