First bookshelves with amp recommendation

[ubitoo]

Hi Everyone! Been reader for a while now and really appreciate the information FMs put here. Thank you so much!

I am looking for first bookshelves to use almost exclusively for music. They will be placed in 12x23 ft (wxh) area with typical listening distance being 5-8ft. Listening would be any of rock, metal, ambient, EDM and some Bollywood.

Source will be Apple Music/Saavn. (I know this will be frowned upon by FMs but sourcing physical copies of music I have is going to be very expensive hobby.)

Currently own a Marshall Stanmore, so that is going to be kind of my reference for next purchase. It is an active (in-built class D amp) single unit speaker. Play it mostly over blue-tooth via mobile and it does sound pretty good (sometimes really good with some rock records), but it does not handle electronic genres very well and also feels a bit underwhelming at times (could this be a source problem?).

About 2-3 years ago, I auditioned few speakers in 20-40K range, cannot remember exact models but there were Jamo, Dali, B&W, KEF and Wharf. In hindsight, I feel they do not stand-up to the Stanmore, at least, in terms of sound clarity and quality. (Note: Never did side by side comparison plus memory of sound can be poor.)

Given the above context, what are my options and budget range that I must be prepared for. Also, will appreciate any comparison of Stanmore with other equipment if any fellow FMs have had chance.

 

[Kumar442244]

Hello ubitoo,

Welcome to the forum.

This is exactly how I started my hi-fi journey. Only difference is that I used marshal Acton and still have it hooked to my secondary TV. Must say it outperform Bose and others in the same segment by far.

Coming to Hi fidelity speakers, I started with dali zensor 3 with marantz avr and it is way way above Marshall. Actually, there is no comparison. And then moved to dedicated stereo setup with NAD integrated amp. This is when I realized that this combination's worst performance can outperform Acton's best performance by miles. Or any bt speaker for that matter.

Since u have already auditioned good speakers, I would recommend audition dali z3 again with an integrated amp , m sure u will notice difference by many folds.

Plz mention your budget of the entire stereo setup so that members can suggest.

 

[ubitoo]

Thanks Kumar!

It was coming across the Acton playing in a clothing showroom that introduced me to Marshall and I ended up buying the Stanmore which has more presence and punch to it compared to the Acton.

The Dali I listened to was not from Zensor line - it was more of entry level, so good to hear about your positive experience with Zensor 3. Will look forward to checking it out.

As for budget, I am not really sure, but if I have to put a number then about 50-60K overall, which I think would be a stretch to accommodate a good pair of speakers along with a decent amplifier.

Alternatively, I could wait for a bit to get the right equipment.

 

[ubitoo]

Couple of things that I do not like about the Stanmore (and looking to avoid in future equipment)

- Its sensitivity to placement. While I expect there will be noticeable variation in any speaker depending upon the placement, these can go from providing a concert like experience to something really really poor with only a little change in its placement.

- The low-end/bass quickly tapers off as you move away from the speaker (though this could be because of its power limitations rather than design)

 

[JayaRaa]

Couple of things that I do not like about the Stanmore (and looking to avoid in future equipment)

- Its sensitivity to placement. While I expect there will be noticeable variation in any speaker depending upon the placement, these can go from providing a concert like experience to something really really poor with only a little change in its placement.

- The low-end/bass quickly tapers off as you move away from the speaker (though this could be because of its power limitations rather than design)

Based on your observations stated above, your best bet is to stay away from going the separates route altogether as they will definitely open a larger can of worms than that you are experiencing with your bluetooth speaker at the moment. More often than not, this hobby can be a very frustrating experience but once got right can be extremely satisfying as well. The magic word here is patience, without which you will most certainly be agitated and wonder why you got into this in the first place.
Start with auditioning various speakers, amplifiers, sources available for demo at various dealers in your city/vicinity and then decide based on what you like/can afford whether you want to go ahead in this direction or not. This is my humble advise to you.

 

[Kumar442244]

Thanks Kumar!

It was coming across the Acton playing in a clothing showroom that introduced me to Marshall and I ended up buying the Stanmore which has more presence and punch to it compared to the Acton.

The Dali I listened to was not from Zensor line - it was more of entry level, so good to hear about your positive experience with Zensor 3. Will look forward to checking it out.

As for budget, I am not really sure, but if I have to put a number then about 50-60K overall, which I think would be a stretch to accommodate a good pair of speakers along with a decent amplifier.

Alternatively, I could wait for a bit to get the right equipment.

Dali zensors are the entry level offerings from dali. They have recently come up with pico series. M not sure about the dali Spector series though.
Having said that, I would recommend u to listen as many speakers as u can and as jayaraa mentioned, pick the one u like.

At a budget of 50-60k, u can actually get a very good stereo setup.

Some of the options are:-
- zensor 3 with marantz pm6006 ~65k
- Boston acoustic a26.
- Polk rti a3
- Yamaha a-s200 amp
- NAD C326BEE with dali. This might not fit in 50-60 k budget but I can personally vouch for this combination.

Go out in the market and audition. U will see a lot of spectrum and options.

Happy hunting.

 

[ubitoo]

Based on your observations stated above, your best bet is to stay away from going the separates route altogether as they will definitely open a larger can of worms than that you are experiencing with your bluetooth speaker at the moment.

By separates do you mean a separate speaker and amp. as against an active speaker?

 

[reachkalyan.kr]

By separates do you mean a separate speaker and amp. as against an active speaker?

Separates mean everything separate IMO.
it seperate everything like Source >Pre >Power >and last one is speaker.
Basic idea about Separates
May be DAC insertion might happen in between Source and pre .
P.S :The Marshall Stanmore, the one you are using with mobile bluetooth option is one box solution including source.
ATB.
Happy Hunting