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Firstly, thanks to all those who came up with hints and thoughts on my earlier threads on this. I know a few folks had asked for an update on how I got on with this, so here goes....!
First off, the Marantz M-CR603.
Lovely little box of tricks and really easy to understand/navigate the menus and remote. All plugged in and turned on very easily.
Monitor Audio BX1s - Lovely....truly lovely to look at. The detail on the packaging was a thing of wonder in itself! Silica pouch on the connectors to make sure they stayed perfect, etc. The speaker covers attach with a lovely magnet system. Neat and tidy.
All in all, if we're going on appearances - Very impressed.
But, on to the sounds....And, to give you a cheap laugh, here's the initial playlist that's gone through it!
Elgar's Nimrod (Solti with the London Phil, in case you're wondering)
Welcome to the Jungle. Guns and 'fin' Roses!
Black out in the Red Room - Love/Hate
We have all the time in the world - Satchmo
Ar Lan y Mor - Bryn Terfel, from the We'll Keep a Welcome CD
Who? Where? Why? - Jesus Jones
Pscyho Killer - Talking Heads, from Stop Making Sense
Rime of the Ancient Mariner - Iron Maiden, from Live After Death
YYZ - Rush
The reason for listing the above is more to give an idea of what I've put it through and to give you an idea of sound quality etc. All played from CD so far.
The biggest highlight so far has been how wonderfully it copes with the quiet stuff (Terfel and the interlude of Rime, for example). Amazing clarity of sound, even at a low volume you can really pick out every tone and note.
Turning it up a notch, and taking on some riffing cock-rock (Love/Hate) there's plenty of bass drum power behind it all, and plenty of oomph on the geeeetars!
Criticisms? Well, the only slight issue is the need to either run a wired interwebular connection or buy an adaptor (Wired in at present, going to try interweb radios and streaming from my hard drive/MP3 play later). Also, am pondering what to rest the speakers on. They're going to be on some pretty sturdy shelves, so wondering what would work as insulation below them (On a couple of old copies of MBA at the moment!)
So, build quality? Top notch.
Usability? So far, very very impressed.
Sound quality - Again, impressed. Am looking forward to trying the speakers in a few more places to see how I can get the best out of them.
So, feel free to flame away, or to ask any questions regarding the stereo! 😉
*edit - Conqueror seems to have resurrected an earlier thread while I was typing this one! Psychic....! *
The Marantz M-CR603 is a great little system (I need to sort out speaker placement).
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Enjoy.
What years are the Warre's? Oh, and I that's not homemade Sloe in the right hand gin bottle, shocking. 😉
Music taste? Get with the bloody 21st Century mate! 😉
Does the Marantz display track info from what it's playing on the iPod?
1996 for the Warre's. The homemade Sloe is just below in the cupboard, that's 2005. 😀
Dez, no it doesn't.Does the Marantz display track info from what it's playing on the iPod?
For speaker isolation the accepted solution is either squash balls sliced in half, and a half section positioned upside down under each corner, or a blob of blu-tac under each corner. Blu-tac's the cheapest and easiest, and has the benefit of holding the speakers really firmly in position, so if you knock one it'll stay in place. It's what I used under my big Trio speakers on Foundation stands, and I could pick up both to position them. You have to hold the cabinet and twist to break the bond. Great stuff, blu-tac. You just need a blob about the size of a large pea under each corner, or one under the front corners, and one at the back midway across, sort of a tripod arrangement.
Squash balls? Nice idea, and I happen to have a few oldish ones about. Double Yellow or Yellow, though? 😉
Got my Tannoy Mercury M1s on Auralex MOPADs which I got free with a pair of studio monitors a while ago. Wouldn't pay £30 for them but they are blahdy brilliant, sure the same could be acheived with some offcuts of foam.
Sounds good all round, top work.
Tell you what though, you get a system like that that really shows you the detail in tracks, and perhaps a decent said of earphones/ headphones for when you're out and about, and you'll want to re-rip all your digital music to something less compressed, or even lossless.
Nicko, about half of my music collection is in CD form, the rest is in a pretty good format for sound.
For a man of precise word and thought, isn't it shocking to have written:
?[b]Pscyho[/b] Killer - Talking Heads, from Stop Making Sense
Are you running out of juice, Captain?
I can only apologise.
😳
He's not on form tonight. He wrote this in another thread:
May not have gone down too well my clients!
😐
Flashy; you disappoint.
It's been a long day......
😳
With the Count on squash balls, believe mine were white spots. Now sitting on stands in the current house which just have little rubber dots between stand and speaker.
Dad found that Art of Noise covers most of the sound frequencies and should be suitably 'retro' for you coming from his collection.
Blu-tack is the best option really, i've got a set of Dreamcatchers sitting on a unit with blu tack and it works quite well.
Art of Noise as a test piece?
Epic!
Ear, Flashy; now you know that I, much like your good self in fact, am a mayn of excellent taste and sophistication and that. So, the advice I must give you, for your New Type Thing, is....
....Put a Donk on it! 😀
Captain.. keen to know how the media streaming goes.. how you find the display and navigation etc
how you find the display and navigation etc
Muchos simple. In fact, really, really simple. Very impressed with that.
Streaming? Well, I haven't hooked it up to the interwebs as yet, but will let you know once I do.
Overall, very pleased so far.
Have you managed to deafen yourself to some thumping tracks across the network yet?
Not yet, no! Am going to get a NetGear WNCE2001 router and try that, but not been able to find the time to get one yet! Not likely for a couple of weeks, as work is taking me off to warmer climes next week.
I remain very pleased with the whole set up though. Had a little go at some Mike Oldfield earlier on (Yes it was the one with the bells!). Beautiful sound clarity.
Fine choice on the Nimrod.
Speaker isolation: a couple of granite "worktop savers" from Sainsbury's under each speaker, separate one from the other with some separation cones - this sort of thing:
https://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=VBCONE
Finally, don't forget to clean the tops of the speakers with isotonic sea water to improve the treble levitation...
Finally, don't forget to clean the tops of the speakers with isotonic sea water to improve the treble levitation...
DAMN!
I used Venezualan beaver's urine. I heard that was good for this sort of thing. No wonder....
'Captain do you need software for the streaming?
will it connect to any NAS?