NAD, Cambridge Audio or Marantz ?

[pEtRa]

Hi,

BUDGET: 50k

MUSIC: Rock, 80's and 90's.

Amplifiers I am considering; NAD 325BEE; CA Azur 340ASE; PM4001.
CD Players; NAD 525 BEE; CA Azur 340C; 5002.
Speakers; Wharfedale diamond 9.5; mission 33i or any good floor speakers.

Please suggest amp+cd player+speaker combination that is best for musicality, rhythm, warmness, timing, good bass, and nontiring.

Thanx a TON.

 

[cranky]

I'll not wait for others to jump in.

Basically, listen to them. Nobody has your ears.

That said, I've heard all the above amps, and the NAD is slightly dark and smooth, the Cambridge pretty neutral, and the Marantz warm and slightly coloured.

Will you hear the same things? I don't know. What do the above words mean? Pretty much nothing, if you ask me.

Why are you so keen on floorstanders? Do you have a large room for them? If you're keen due to bass extension offered by floorstanders, get a good pair of bookshelves and a sub. I see you've mentioned entry-level speakers. Upgrade to the next tier and do yourself a favour.

Remember speakers need to be at a distance from walls to sound their best.

About sources, not going to comment as I haven't auditioned one in a long time. However NAD has a very nice stereo receiver that works as an expandable source with SPDIF out and some 25 watts per channel.

For your kind of music it's probably not necessary to have a very accurate system - a lively and punchy combination may be better. As it is the material is not really audiophile quality, so don't sweat it. It's more important to have fun listening than getting into micro-detailing and ambience and all the fancy audiophile buzzwords.

I would lean towards the Marantz amp paired with the PSB Image bookshelves. If you can stretch the speaker budget to about 45K, the Polk Reference series bookshelves are a very good buy. The Marantz works well with those too, but maybe the NAD would be better as those speakers are 4 ohms.

Have fun choosing and listening.