Primare and Gold Signature speakers - a good combo?
 

I am looking to buy home cinema equipment which must double as a good music
hi-fi system. It's for a dedicated cinema room which will be part of a new
home extension being built over the next couple of months.

I am seriously considering Primare SP31/A30.5/A32 processor/amps and a 7.1
Monitor Audio Gold Signature speaker system with GS60s as the front
floorstanders and GS10/GS-FX/GS-LCR/GSW-12 for the rest. Does anyone have
any experience of running this combination please? I have had a good day's
demo but would like to know if I am missing a trick. I've not managed many
demo's yet but have dismissed Arcam but I'm still considering Naim + PMC
speakers. I also wonder about Dali.

There seems to be a dearth of good dealers in the Milton Keynes area if
anyone can recommend someone.

Decisions on a projector and DVD player will be taken later.

Many thanks.

Primare and Gold Signature speakers - a good combo?
 

In article ,
Steve Goodwin wrote:
I am looking to buy home cinema equipment which must double as a good
music hi-fi system. It's for a dedicated cinema room which will be part
of a new home extension being built over the next couple of months.

I am seriously considering Primare SP31/A30.5/A32 processor/amps and a 7.1
Monitor Audio Gold Signature speaker system with GS60s as the front
floorstanders and GS10/GS-FX/GS-LCR/GSW-12 for the rest.

Concentrate on decent main speakers and simply switch off the surround
when using it as a Hi-Fi.

--
*Many hamsters only blink one eye at a time *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Primare and Gold Signature speakers - a good combo?
 

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:

Steve Goodwin wrote:

I am looking to buy home cinema equipment which must double as a good
music hi-fi system. It's for a dedicated cinema room which will be part
of a new home extension being built over the next couple of months.

I am seriously considering Primare SP31/A30.5/A32 processor/amps and a 7.1
Monitor Audio Gold Signature speaker system with GS60s as the front
floorstanders and GS10/GS-FX/GS-LCR/GSW-12 for the rest.

Concentrate on decent main speakers and simply switch off the surround
when using it as a Hi-Fi.

Excellent advice.

Graham

Primare and Gold Signature speakers - a good combo?
 

Bob Latham wrote:
In article ,
Eeyore wrote:

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:

Concentrate on decent main speakers and simply switch off the surround
when using it as a Hi-Fi.

Excellent advice.

Following on from this would you subscribe to this thinking?

1) All competent amplifiers operating within their design limits sound the
same.

2) Because of 1 above, unless you wish to drive very hard loads or play
very loud there is no point in spending more than budget say £250 UKP
for an amplifier.

Just curious.


Bob.


I would say that is pretty good, apart from number 2. You can play very,
very, very loudly for £250. The 2400W Behringer EP2500 can be had for
£253. You'll need a preamp, though.

d

Primare and Gold Signature speakers - a good combo?
 

In article , Bob Latham
wrote:
In article , Eeyore
wrote:

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:

Concentrate on decent main speakers and simply switch off the
surround when using it as a Hi-Fi.

Excellent advice.

Following on from this would you subscribe to this thinking?

1) All competent amplifiers operating within their design limits sound
the same.

You'd need to define "competent" and perhaps also include a qualifier
regarding appropriate conditions of use. That done, probable answer based
on assessable evidence from suitable experiments tends to be return "true".

This isn't a "subscribe to thinking" opinion, just a statement based on
the actual results from every comparison I have read about or done that
meets the appropriate conditions. :-)


2) Because of 1 above, unless you wish to drive very hard loads or play
very loud there is no point in spending more than budget say £250 UKP
for an amplifier.

Can't comment as I don't know what specific amplifiers you have in mind,
nor the relevant conditions of use, etc.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Change 'noise' to 'jcgl' if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

Primare and Gold Signature speakers - a good combo?
 

"Bob Latham" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Steve Goodwin wrote:

but have dismissed Arcam

May I ask why?

I've had a couple of demos of Arcam equipment and prefer the Primare. The
demo's were not back to back so I appreciate the decision is speculative.

Primare and Gold Signature speakers - a good combo?
 

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Steve Goodwin wrote:
I am looking to buy home cinema equipment which must double as a good
music hi-fi system. It's for a dedicated cinema room which will be part
of a new home extension being built over the next couple of months.

I am seriously considering Primare SP31/A30.5/A32 processor/amps and a
7.1
Monitor Audio Gold Signature speaker system with GS60s as the front
floorstanders and GS10/GS-FX/GS-LCR/GSW-12 for the rest.

Concentrate on decent main speakers and simply switch off the surround
when using it as a Hi-Fi.

I believe that the GS60s can be considered "decent" but haven't managed to
find any critique from owners. I had a good couple of hours demo of the
GS60s in stereo mode before switching to 7.1.

Primare and Gold Signature speakers - a good combo?
 

"Don Pearce" wrote in message
news:6eOdne7qqc4lwbnVnZ2dnUVZ8qOknZ2d@plusnet...
Bob Latham wrote:
In article ,
Eeyore wrote:

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:

Concentrate on decent main speakers and simply switch off the surround
when using it as a Hi-Fi.

Excellent advice.

Following on from this would you subscribe to this thinking?

1) All competent amplifiers operating within their design limits sound
the
same.

2) Because of 1 above, unless you wish to drive very hard loads or play
very loud there is no point in spending more than budget say £250 UKP
for an amplifier.

Just curious.


Bob.


I would say that is pretty good, apart from number 2. You can play very,
very, very loudly for £250. The 2400W Behringer EP2500 can be had for
£253. You'll need a preamp, though.

I thought the point of a good amp was that you could play very quietly?
Surely the Primare A32 at £3k would be in a different league to one costing
£250?

Equally curious ...

Primare and Gold Signature speakers - a good combo?
 

"Steve Goodwin" wrote in message
...


I thought the point of a good amp was that you could play very quietly?

Wherever did you get that notion from?

Surely the Primare A32 at £3k would be in a different league to one
costing £250?

It's a lot more expensive, I'll give you that. Would it sound any better?
likely not. £250 amplifiers (used within their ratings) are as close to
audibly transparent as makes very little difference.

David.

Primare and Gold Signature speakers - a good combo?
 

"David Looser" wrote in message
...
"Steve Goodwin" wrote in message
...


I thought the point of a good amp was that you could play very quietly?

Wherever did you get that notion from?

Surely the Primare A32 at £3k would be in a different league to one
costing £250?

It's a lot more expensive, I'll give you that. Would it sound any better?
likely not. £250 amplifiers (used within their ratings) are as close to
audibly transparent as makes very little difference.

David.

I would say £250 amplifiers (used within their ratings) are as close to
audibly transparent as makes NO difference. There are things you get with
more expensive stuff, and it's mostly subjective:-

1) It could be considered better looking
2) By being expensive it's likely to be more exclusive
3) It gives you better bragging rights

It is further possible that the more expensive stuff is better made and
therefore lasts longer, and will take abuse better, but as to sound quality,
a modern 100 watt amp is a 100watt amp is a 100.......etc etc.

S.


--
http://audiopages.googlepages.com

Primare and Gold Signature speakers - a good combo?
 

On Fri, 9 May 2008 18:14:43 +0100, "Steve Goodwin"
wrote:


"Don Pearce" wrote in message
news:6eOdne7qqc4lwbnVnZ2dnUVZ8qOknZ2d@plusnet.. .
Bob Latham wrote:
In article ,
Eeyore wrote:

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:

Concentrate on decent main speakers and simply switch off the surround
when using it as a Hi-Fi.

Excellent advice.

Following on from this would you subscribe to this thinking?

1) All competent amplifiers operating within their design limits sound
the
same.

2) Because of 1 above, unless you wish to drive very hard loads or play
very loud there is no point in spending more than budget say £250 UKP
for an amplifier.

Just curious.


Bob.


I would say that is pretty good, apart from number 2. You can play very,
very, very loudly for £250. The 2400W Behringer EP2500 can be had for
£253. You'll need a preamp, though.

I thought the point of a good amp was that you could play very quietly?
Surely the Primare A32 at £3k would be in a different league to one costing
£250?

Equally curious ...


Huh? You can play any am,p quietly; you just turn the volume down. It
is the loud bit that separates the men from the boys.

d

--
Pearce Consulting
http://www.pearce.uk.com

Primare and Gold Signature speakers - a good combo?
 

Don Pearce wrote:
Bob Latham wrote:
In article ,
Eeyore wrote:

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:

Concentrate on decent main speakers and simply switch off the surround
when using it as a Hi-Fi.

Excellent advice.

Following on from this would you subscribe to this thinking?

1) All competent amplifiers operating within their design limits sound
the
same.

2) Because of 1 above, unless you wish to drive very hard loads or play
very loud there is no point in spending more than budget say £250 UKP
for an amplifier.

Just curious.


Bob.


I would say that is pretty good, apart from number 2. You can play very,
very, very loudly for £250. The 2400W Behringer EP2500 can be had for
£253. You'll need a preamp, though.

d

I think a problem is that the design limits are very rarely
known/published, and selected specifications that are published are of
limited use. In addition, it's seldom known whether design parameters
translate into real world use (manufacturing anomalies and age for example).

I've had several 'named' amplifiers that sound different to my mind.

FWIW I can't tell the difference between the power amp stages of a
Behringer A500 and a Cambridge Azur AV amp.

Rob

Primare and Gold Signature speakers - a good combo?
 

Don Pearce wrote:

Huh? You can play any am,p quietly; you just turn the volume down. It
is the loud bit that separates the men from the boys.

d

Well, you might worry about things like noise, crossover distortion for
class B and inaccuracies in channel balance at low volumes for a macho amp.
Maybe the ability to play quietly separates the ummmm... nightingales
from seagulls?
There must be a better analogy somewhere.
Roger tThorpe

Primare and Gold Signature speakers - a good combo?
 

Roger Thorpe wrote:
Don Pearce wrote:

Huh? You can play any am,p quietly; you just turn the volume down. It
is the loud bit that separates the men from the boys.

d

Well, you might worry about things like noise, crossover distortion for
class B and inaccuracies in channel balance at low volumes for a macho amp.
Maybe the ability to play quietly separates the ummmm... nightingales
from seagulls?
There must be a better analogy somewhere.
Roger tThorpe

The state of the art in amplifiers has reached a stage where these
things should be history, although there are obviously amps where they
aren't. These won't be found at the cheaper end though, but mostly among
the boutique "high end" efforts.

Many low to mid range amps these day will use one of the integrated amp
chips that really perform quite brilliantly. Integrating a power amp
really is a smart thing to do because most of the residual problems with
them stem from temperature gradients between the output devices and the
drive. In a single chip these are essentially eliminated, so the amp is
always performing as it was designed. For the rest of the circuit, in a
chip it costs nothing extra to current mirro the input stage, buffer the
voltage amplifier stage and generally do all the good things that push
up the cost of a discrete amplifier.

d