Recently I bought Musical Fidelity E20 and Musical Fidelity E30 pre & power amp that are connected to Monitor Audio RS6 speakers. Although the Musical Fidelity Elektra is an old model I managed to get them brand new from a HiFi shop for a very good price. My only problem is the cd player. At the moment I am using a standard cd player Technics SLPG5 and I would like to upgrade it. Although the Pre-and power amp are an old model they sound great with the MArs6 especially where the treble and mid range are concerned. The bass is not as deep as I would like it to be. Since I am on a very tight budget my options are to go either for Cambridge Audio 640Cv2 or another player in this range. The guy who sold me the amp offered me the Musical Fidelity E60 for a very good price that is also brand new. Can someone help me please? My target is to keep same highs and mids and improve the bass.
|
 |
 crikey Tough call that! I would hazard a guess the Cambridge is the better player, but thats all it is, a guess ~ sorry
|
|
Hi Jonathon, I owned the CA 640c v2 for around 12 months. It is a very good player in its price range, detailed lean and open sounding machine. However on some music I found it a bit cold and digital sounding like Jazz and classical. Try the new Marantz cd6002 or Rotel 06 a bit warmer and rounder sound. With those amps and speakers you would need a good cd player so you can get the best out of your system - your system is only as good as your weakest link. The next price bracket you could try a consonance cd120 linear (I bought) which is superior to these machines - natural musical sound. The Rega Apollo or Creek Evo are nice too. The next price up the Naim cd5i or Cyrus or CA 840c. Some shops may let you borrow over a weekend to try on your system. Cheers, Steve.
|
|
The problem is the price bracket and the limitations in my country. If I will go for the lectra E60 it will cost me around 150GBP although an old model it is brand new from the box. My other options are Cambridge Audio, Nad and Marantz, all a lot expensive!!!
|
|
The problem is the price bracket and the limitations in my country. If I will go for the lectra E60 it will cost me around 150GBP although an old model it is brand new from the box. My other options are Cambridge Audio, Nad and Marantz, all a lot expensive!!! May as well go for the musical fidelity then. They certainly dont make 'rubbish' anyways.
|
|
Dear All, First of all I would like to thank everyone for your replys to my query. I would appreciate if there is someone who has the Musical Fidelity Elektra E60 and can give me some feedback or at least a review about the item. Thanks Again Jonathan Galea
|
|
Ive just found this John (i also got caught on a 'dodgy' page looking for it!) quote ~ "I have heard that this range got pretty slated when it was released. I bought an E10 integrated and E60 cd player on e-bay for less than £100 the pair. They are not that great sounding, but for the price who's complaining, and they do look good with the shiny piano black fascias. Are they generally regarded as being rubbish, and did the higher end of the range get better reviews?" (There was no more, no one replied) I would suggest NOT bying the musical fidelity then!
|
| Edited: 05/10/08 10:31 |
Hi Rick, Thanks for your interest and help. I managed to find that review too. The only thing that keeps me from deciding against Musical Fidelity E60 cd player is that in the case of this person it might be that his amp is not up to the task. As I said I have the E20 and E30 pre and power amp that deliver very clean sound. May be someone who has my same amplifier can help me with this. thanks Jonathan Galea
|
|
Jonathan, You may struggle a little. Not too many E60 around any more for many people to compare it and generally, I think most owners will have upgraded rather than have moved to something cheaper. It was made during Musical Fidelity's unfashionable period. I heard the whole system at the time - nice sound - it was later discounted in Richers. As I remember, the DAC in the CD player was a Yamaha unit and that is about all I can remember. CD players have come on quite a lot since then and you may also want to think about what happens when it breaks ie. is it possible to get a replacement drive - a phone call to Musical Fidelity should yield an answer. Of the whole setup, the amps are probably the better purchase as that technology (class a/b amps) hasn't moved forward that much and with amps, getting replacement parts is a much easier job.
|
|
Hi Harnett, Thanks for your reply. So what you are saying is that the pre and power amp bargain was a good choice from my side but on the other hand I need to look somewhere else for a cd player? If the answer is yes what is the best cd player I can go for amangst this choice: Cambridge Audio 640Cv2, Marantz Cd 6002, Nad C525BEE or the NAD C541i. I know that there are better choices but in Malta they stock only these brands apart from being low on budget. One last thing before I conclude is that the dealer who has the E60 is willing to offer me 2 years warranty as he did with the E20 and E30 amp. He stocks also NAD so if something goes wrong with the E60 he can offer me an NAD of the same price range instead.
|
|
Jonathan, (Chris is fine by the way!) Yes, I'm saying that if you got a set of NOS (or even close) Musical Fidelity Pre/Power of that vintage, you probably got something quite nice for less than it should have cost you. They would have been pretty expensive. If you got a 2 year warranty, that makes it all the better. Any of those CD choices would be good but the caveat that I have to give you is that very few people will have a/b compared any of them with the MF E60. There are some very good classic CD players but they tend to be based on 1541 chips (for instance Revox, Marantz CD94 etc.) so if it were my money, I might look elsewhere although I appreciate that it would be nice to have a matching stack. If I could also add a suggestion for you, have you heard of the Beresford DAC? Several people who have tried the Cambridge 640 have preferred the Beresford. There's a link here; Beresford. You would use this with your current CD player. It also has the advantage that you can use it with other digital sources. I've tried it myself and think it sounds roughly like a modern £500 CD player although it errs on the polite side - it's also slightly cheaper than any of the options you mention. Here's a review; Whathifi Beresford Review. You can also get it sale or return for if you don't like it. Bear in mind that the difference between digital sources is less than between amplifiers and speakers. Hope this helps and please let us know how you get on.
|
| Edited: 06/10/08 00:12 |
Hi Jonathon, You could also try the new cambridge audio dacmagic for 200 pounds, its just come out - some people are raving about it. It won a group test for DACs in what hifi. Cheers, Steve.
|
|
That's probably a better idea if you can afford it. Similar to a Cambridge 740c but with additional inputs and outputs.
|
|
Hi all, Thanks for your help. So what you are suggesting is that I keep the Technics SLPG5 cd player and go for a DAC converter, either the Beresford DAC or the Cambridge Audio Magic DAC? Chris can you explain what exactly do you mean when you said "Bear in mind that the difference between digital sources is less than between amplifiers and speakers"? Thanks Again Jonathan
|
|
Hi Johnathan, You could probably take your cd player into the shop and try it with the DAC to see what difference it makes. I think Chris means you will have bigger sound difference between speakers and amplifiers than let say a digital source like a cd player - correct me if Im wrong Chris. I would agree but cd players can make a noticable difference from my experience especially if your system is quite good - I would suspect your musical fidelity would be good at revealing differences between different digital sources. Cheers, Steve.
|
|
Judging from the quality of your amplification and speakers, id be looking at better sources myself. Ive upgraded my cd players with improvements everytime. I currently use an arcam cd32 (have an 83 sat on my wardrobe doing nothing which would probably blow away ALL those that have been mentioned upto now)
|
|
Jonathan, As Steve mentions, what I mean is that the difference between a £100 cd player and a £500 cd player is less than between a £100 pair of speakers and a £500 pair of speakers for instance. There definitely is a difference but you have to spend incrementally more. There definitely would be benefit in upgrading the Technics in some way but you might not find it to be as big a change as when you upgraded your amp. Yes, if I were you I would particularly look at adding the Cambridge DAC to your current Technics SLPG5 cd player. It also has a USB socket to allow you to plug your computer in to it (so you can listen to your itunes library etc.) and you might find that your Satellite box (if you have one) can be plugged in to it too if that has a digital connection. I think you would also enjoy the Beresford but it isn't as flexible (albeit much cheaper if you're saving funds) and doesn't have USB. Despite it's price, the Beresford IMO is an excellent source. Compared to a Cambridge 840c or a Meridian 566.20, the Beresford clearly isn't as good but the difference isn't night and day. I was reading a comparative review between the Beresford and the Cambridge Dacmagic; the reviewer thought the Cambridge was slightly better - just enough to justify the extra money. As I mentioned, I think the real advantage of the Cambridge Dacmagic is the additional USB imput. DACs have been coming back in to fashion recently because a significant number of people are abandoning CD for computer audio. A laptop and a DAC also sounds pretty good for instance.
|
| Edited: 07/10/08 18:19 |
