Matching with Audiolab 6000a

[chander]

Hi,

Before I begin I want to thank everybody for the time and effort you will dedicate to help out a fellow member. It is heartily appreciated. I thank in advance, as I am sharing here, more than my requirement, which may be perceived as irrelevant, and if it is indeed irrelevant, I apologize in advance too. I feel I need to vent it out, as I am being forced by circumstances, to change things unwillingly, and just a medium to let it out to perhaps a few fellow members who have gone thru my situation in the past and perhaps are sympathetic, thanks for your patience.

I am in the market to overhaul my entire music setup (both my 5.1 setup in room 1 and my Stereo listening setup in room 2), as I just moved houses and rooms are now smaller, the decision is primarily a 'need', rather than a 'want'. Regardless, I am moving to a Sound bar system, as the 'Media Room' is now half the size and my full setup is just too much for that, it is a literal overkill - both in terms of output and in terms of space it acquires physically. And with no room to store - things have to 'GO' and trust me I have tried all options to do it otherwise *Sigh*.

Regardless, I would without taking more of your time and sparing you my irrelevant rant, come to the question which is regarding the stereo setup in room 2.

I have settled on AudioLab 6000a for which Mr. Anil from HifiMart has been very helpful. My decision is kind of 'etched in stone' for the amp due to the features that the amp provides, along with the generally or perhaps unanimously favorable reviews online, the price and 'the looks' as that effects the other parties involved in the decision making.

What I am looking for is advice on which bookshelves - strictly bookshelves without the stands (again out of my hands) - can I match with this AMP for a beautiful high fidelity experience. I have considered Q acoustics Concept 20 (pretty much settled on these), Monitor Audio Bronze 2, KEF Q350 (though AudioMAXX), Dynaudio Emit 20 (max that my budget allows) as I am not sure when I will be able to sell all the stuff that is being replaced so wee bit tight on the budget too.

Any of the members here - have any experience with these speakers with this AMP? Reason I ask is I have never heard any of these other the the Concept 20s. I am coming from the enbees in the golden past to almost exclusively Wharfies - various wharfies. I currently have a set of Diamond 8.4s as a part of my 5.1 setup and a pair of Tannoy Mercury M-5s as my stereo which is being run by a humble vintage amp - extremely under-powered. My third set is a Mission LX-2 with another vintage - non-recapped Sansui AU 217 MKII (Which luckily is in my office) with a Schiit Modi 2 Multibit attached to a dedicated ipad and most of my listening is on Audeze LCD 1 headphones.

I very rarely listen to new age music, no EDM, no hip hop, no electronica, no dance house, no rap, extremely little of the 90s pop you get the gist, not because I have anything against it, I just do not have the intelligence to understand it. I am primarily a rock, blues, soul, funk, jazz, orchestra, acoustics, classical kind of person. My sources are Amazon Music, primephonic and Quboz HD/master - with a FiiO M11 for now. Where Amazon Music keeps all my playlists, primephonic for all the classical - and Quboz is when the bandwidth allows.

I really like wharfedale sound with marantz as I think that is what my ears are most used to - not my favorite, but most accustomed sound for me. I do like the tannoys for my stereo, for back ground it does a pretty decent job as it keeps its composure even at low volumes and doesn't really sacrifice much in terms of fidelity - you can hear it all even when it is running at 25% of the under-powered amp volume. Typical brit sound - a little more relaxing than my wharfies. I had the pleasure to hear the Concept 20s with a vintage tube amp in my friend's house in HK, many months back and it was incredible - perhaps a lot to do with the AMP and hence I am confused.

Now I want to take the next step and get into higher fidelity speakers and I believe the Audiolab is a pretty transparent and capable AMP, so suggestions are requested on a pair of beautiful speakers to match to take my Hi-res music to step 2 - strictly bookshelves again please. I will be adding a sub with an RCA input eventually - phase 2 to complement these speakers. I want to move on from that wharfedale sound, if you know what I mean towards the clearer, more musical reproduction.

Please let me know what you feel as I hope you understand a little on the sound I like?

Thank you a ton!

 

[mpw]

better will be to go to a local dealer in NCR with your amp and try out for yourself

you might like something else totally..

any advise given by forum members will be subjective and may be at variance with what your ears need.

so get out there and do the hard yards ..

the results will be worth it.

 

[chander]

Thanks @mpw, extremely useful and practical advise.

In the past I have been the guy, scraping slippers on tarmac, stumbling shop to shop, welcomed by a few and loathed by many, to find the perfect match. However, my experience in shops has almost always, for understandable or unknown reasons (the un-affordable electronics, the acoustically treated trial rooms, the cables, too many choices, sales pitch influence, trying to be too critical and pressure of making a decision blah blah...??) has been somewhat drastically different from when it comes back to my house - lets blame the acoustically inconsiderate architecture and furniture preference. On the other hand, a bit of reading around and suggestions made by others have always been more helpful for me in comparison, equally confusing, but definitely less pressure. Perhaps I am extremely impressionable and have no music preference of my own and the bias generally works for me, perhaps I am just lazy.

Regardless, I am in GOA, and with the current environment, it is close to impossible, to travel about with an AMP and GOA has no dealer shops that I am aware of, to test the models mentioned above and as of today I am without a music system so itching to buy one. Feel a bit too hipster, roaming about the house with my Audeze's.

I do understand, that perceived music is extremely subjective, the Japanese expat I bought the Tannoy's from hated them extremely - and sold them to me for close to nothing. He was a bad sales man, kept cribbing about how they are 's**t' almost perpetually - but I took the plunge regardless, cause they were cheap, and perhaps my most premium speakers at that point, based on 10 odd consumer review I found online. However, it turned out to be a very good buy for me and served my purpose perfectly, the continuous low volume background music -in my room with no perceived loss of quality, fidelity or dynamics, was what I was looking for. Reading or working without disturbing the other occupants of the room, without losing most of the details. Now these guys are huge, and space is at a premium. Moreover - I think I am looking to go into the new territory of stereo sound, that I have only experienced in other people's houses .

I do understand that any and all suggestions or experience will be coated with personal preferences, but I still would like to know of your opinions, perhaps to make things easier for me to zero in on. It has 'mostly' worked for me.

Thank you again!

 

[firearm12]

I domt know what bookshelves will be the best for you but bookshelves without stands is not good thing. They perform at less than 50 percent of themselves without stands.

 

[Hiten]

I am primarily a rock, blues, soul, funk, jazz, orchestra, acoustics, classical kind of person.

Chander
except from rock I dont think you will have much trouble pairing the speakers with the amp. Otherwise I would recommend large speakers for rock. Audiolab looks like a very well made amp. Concept 20s I had some links of measurements and they measured quite well. and well appreciated online. But no longer have them. See if you can carry the amp to some members in your area and have a listen to different speakers.
Regards

 

[chander]

Thanks @firearm12 for your two cents.

Thanks@Hiten for the recommendation. I Understand the reason why, provided my choice of tunes, you would suggest the floor standers, but sadly, that is completely out of question - space and consent constraints. I am like I said earlier, pretty sold on the QA C20s, but as my budget was a little flexible for speakers (breaking all my piggy banks), I was wondering if any of the others, specially Dynaudio Emit M20s (being the highest possible range) will be perhaps a better fit, in terms of sound quality, dynamics and accuracy compared to the Concepts 20s. Also because I heard the Dynaudios in question, are beasts to drive, provided their 4 ohms impedance and whether or not the Audiolab will be adept at driving them efficiently. Hence I was out here to seek advice and learn from other's experiences.

I like everyone else is trying to get the best bang for their buck, when crudely put. So maximizing the possibility of better sound with the constraints and budget I have. 65K for speakers being TOPS.

My options are pretty limited and extremely inflexible. Not because I am, but the circumstances are.

 

[firearm12]

Dynaudio m20 are 4 ohm 86db. Be careful with those specs. Once upon a time i bought dali mentor menuets 4 ohm 86db. My marantz amp was 70w 8ohm and was not able to drive. I had to upgrade to naim xs2 to drive my speakers.

 

[chander]

Thanks @firearm12 this is useful information! I will keep that in mind.

 

[chander]

Anyone else with their inputs or experience on this topic? Any other suggestions in terms of the bookshelves that will pair beautifully with the Audiolab 6000a?

 

[chander]

For what it's worth - I have got myself a pair of Qacoustics concept 20s after a lot of back and forth. Anil from HifiMart was extremely patient and helpful. The speakers have arrived, but the work is not allowing me to really play with them. Can't wait for the weekend.

Thanks again all, I am glad to be a part of this forum.

 

[fLUX]

Did you get them along with the dedicated stands or just the speakers ?

 

[chander]

@fLUX just got the speakers - I have been assigned a small shelf to put the speakers on The stands were not an option, also the stands are ridiculously expensive. I will perhaps add some sound absorbing base foam eventually if I see the speakers resonating the cabinet, but this is my option for now.

 

[fLUX]

Aah ok, I really want to hear them out on the dedicated stands. While they are ridiculously expensive I have seen almost every review mentioning that these enhance the sonic performance of the speaker with a distinguishable difference which is really intruiging

 

[chander]

If I could have the stands I would have invested in the EVO 4.2 instead. The sound I am used to (wharfedales) + an apparently "revelation" of a ribbon tweeter. Whatever that means.

 

[jenson]

Congrats!