Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Opinions wanted on upgrade

Hey Guy's

Within the last year l have been slowly upgrading my 2 channel system. My first upgrade was a NAD C370 integrated amp and about two months ago l purchased a set of Axiom m60ti's. Here's my problem, l want to upgrade my source which is currently a Nakamichi mb4s cdp to either a NAD C541i or a Cambridge D500se, but l am wondering if the upgrade is going to provide substantial sonic improvements, anything l have read about upgrading the source suggests subtle improvements. Would the money spent be worth the upgrade?

Any input would be appreciated.

Al

This question is always dependant on the individual and the only way to find a proper answer is to borrow/audition the components in your own home. Many audio shops will allow you to take home components with a temporary charge to your mastercard/visa.
Don't do any auditioning in the store. Don't even talk to any salesmen if you can avoid it and try not to ask other people what sounds good. This will essentially allow you to avoid any opinion altering jargon these info sources will feed you and hence influencing your decision before you've even heard the item. Then just test them out the components at home.

About the only question i would ask other people is 'what brands are decent to buy in xx price range'. I don't think very many people here would tell you to buy the Apex dvd players or Connatoreeno receivers but instead may say Toshibas and Denons are pretty good, etc.

Personally i found it virtually impossible to hear much of a difference between the dvd players i was looking at (doubling as my cd player as well) while out shopping last year.
I brought home a Panasonic and a Hitachi and tested them against an old Technics and Denon. I hooked up 2 dvd players to the cd in and dvd in on my receiver. Then i copied out a second cd of my audio test material, popped the 2 cds into both dvd players and then let them play.
I would use my remote to switch back and forth between the 2 players while listening to the same songs.
I started switching so often, with my eyes closed, that i forgot which player i was listening to. Eventually i just tried to pick the one i thought sounded the best.

That's partly how i ended up deciding which player to buy. Ultimately though it was the dvd player options that were the biggest influence, not any perceived difference in sound quality and hence not any 'upgrade' in sound.

Hi
I got a Cambridge D500SE after reading rave reviews of this modestly priced and very handsome unit. It was a staggering disappointment. My 8 year old JVC 5 disc changer (garage sale value of $5) sounded better. The D500SE made loose, blowsy bass, congested mids and uninspiring highs. I ended up with an Ah! Njoe Tjoeb and love it, but spent a few more dollars than I wanted. Just a word of caution about the Cambridge unit.

I agree with chesseroo

I use a JVC dvd player, hooked through fiber optic to a Denon receiver. The Denon does all the decoding. I doubt a 2000$ player hooked through an optical connection would send a light signal with crisper highs, smoother midrange, and more authoritative bass.

If you want to use a seperate CD player using the players' internal decoder, then you have to audition.

I would recommend NAD. They make some very good equipment. As for the Cambridge, I can't say for sure. I doubt my audition sounded as terrible as that, but it was so long ago I won't make a judgement call.

good luck!

Sorry to hear you're experience with the D500SE was less than satisfactory, 2x6spds. I have had one since August, and am happy to report it sounds fantastic in my system. I find the bass deep and tight, with clear, accurate and revealing mids and highs heard through my M60's. Of course, as has been noted in many previous posts, some CD's sound better than others, depending on how they were mixed/engineered/ recorded.

Was wondering if you allowed for the initial 36 hour "burn-in" Cambridge recommends, before you did any critical listening? What gear were you playing it through (I noticed in your earlier post you have quite the "audio arsenal")? Maybe you had the bad luck of listening to a unit that was defective?

Cheers.

Burn in? Did the latice structure of the semiconductors need time to stabilize beyond the hundreds of steps in the manufacturing process and the thousands of hours of burn in at the assembly site?

Hi Joe
Yes, I let it play for a week before I sat down and gave it a serious listen. Now, it is possible there was something wrong with the D500SE I had and it is also true that maybe there was bad system synergy between the ASL 5 watt per channel amp and the Cambridge. Dunno, sure was pretty though. Loved the blue lights!

Just "quoting" what the manufacturer recommends in their product manual, Semi. Not looking to open up the whole "burn-in/break-in" debate, yet once again.

Cheers.

Those blue lights are cool, aren't they!

Ok, i've sat around reading about enough of this stuff.

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it is also true that maybe there was bad system synergy between...???

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Any reasonable individual should realize that talking about ghosts and monsters in the closet is about on the same level as such jargon.

Come on guys. Lets be realistic.
If the receiver sounded bad, assuming it was definitely the receiver causing the problem which is a huge assumption (as opposed to the problem being the room, your mood when listening, the wind on your windows, your seat location two inches to left of centre that day, etc), then lets not try to get too crazy about the five or more adjectives actually used to describe it eh?
If the receiver was actually malfunctioning you would hear distortion, no sound from various channels, perhaps crackling, etc.
I highly DOUBT it would sound like the description of someone with an intestinal problem and stomach flu.

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eg. "loose, blowsy bass, congested mids..."

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