I had the oppurtunity to audition some audio components from the following makers in different combinations.

Amplifiers: NAD, Rotel, Cambridge Audio, Musical Fidelity
Speakers: B&W, PSB, Monitor Audio

I went for a NAD and Monitor Audio combination. But my 2 cents for you is that B&W speakers do sound very bright (thats why I avoided them). I am also very sure of this as I tried auditioning them at three different dealerships. please look into changing the speakers. To my knowledge Musical Fidelity A5s are very good.

floydianpsyche June 13, 2008 14:28

Jungsan,

Thought I would post this here instead of on your current cable thread.

If you look at my system I am using Synergistic Research Kaladiscope Phase I Interconnects between my DAC MF Trivista and MF A308 Integrated and SR Signature 10 speaker cables to my B&W N803.

I am very pleased with the combination.

As far as your system I am glad you are happy with it. Look into some room treatments and post some more pics.

artizen65 December 27, 2005 21:57

Maatt,
hmmm..... I thought the bass control of the A5 was descent.. (I know it's not the top notch...)

Give it some time... I let mine break'n for a while too- though-my entire system was brandnew then so I wouldn't know which one was the most *harsh* in the the chain...but my system did sound better after a month or so..

anyhoo
good luck with you, too :-)

jungsan June 20, 2005 19:31

I just boxed up my A5 Amp & CD Player, as they are not what I expected. Where is the bass? I'm using B&W 804's and the amp sounded a bit harsh. I use to listen to music in an other room to get away from the horrid noise. There was no weight behind the music at low levels. It just didn't seem like there was 250w of power at hand. I did try to like the A5 but it was never going to happen. My old Arcam alpha 9 did a much better job. I'm sure the A5 gear sounds great with the right speaker, but the 804's are not a match. Give them a good listen with the 803'D before buying. The 803'D might work as the 804's are a lot more fussy. Best of luck.

maatt June 20, 2005 12:15

Soundright,
I'm glad to hear you are enjoying the 703s as much (or more?!) as I do :)

jungsan June 02, 2005 15:42

I have the 703's with a HTM7 center, all powerered with a classe CAV-180 5 channel (330watt) multichannel amp. I was disappointed with the 703s at first, and wanted to return them. Far too bassy and too bright top end. Nice mid-range, but so what? I upgraded my cables, found the best position for the speakers, and ran them for 50 hours to open them up. Wow! What a difference. I listened to the 803 and 804's with a rotel 1080 amp, and my setup sounds better. Hell, my 703's sound better than they did when I listened to them with a Rotel-1080 at the dealer. Now I guess the 803-804s may sound better with my classe amp, but for a rock 'n roll guy, I love turning my sub way low, and driving the 703's base speaker. For the price and for rock 'n roll - The 703s beat the 704s and with a quality classe amp, beat the 803/804s.

soundsright May 20, 2005 00:35

System edited: system edited, added signal cable and PS audio components For those who hate 703s, give them at least a month to break in I had a difficult time convincing myself from returning them for first couple of weeks One day, they just opened up. the "bright" highs became much more sweeter and the lows become a lot more extended BTW, I heard 803Ds this week. I'm going for it by the end of the year. These guys are in a totally different league... other than the price, of course

jungsan January 30, 2005 00:14

Thanks all for your input

Distortion,
I think you are absolutely right about the interconnects, at lest on the part that using the cheap ones would be a shame...
my generic cheapos makes the system hum....

I just received them yesterday.
and WOW they sound really good
it sounds a little bright and revealing as others have pointed out and I think my cheap interconnects are somewhat very responsible and I'll see how it changes as they all go through the break-in period

I changed the cheapest interconnects with slightly less cheapo one and it's already better.. ha ... ;-)

I'll try the signalcable
thanks
I'll update pics when I finish cleaning up the boxes
happy holidays ~!

jungsan December 18, 2004 18:28

Wow your wife let you buy this!sounds like you found the right girl!!

raytheprinter December 11, 2004 06:33

That system looks wonderful. I think you'll be suitably impressed when everything arrives. About the interconnects. If I may suggest, www.signalcable.com. The "analog two" ICs have performed well in my system. I had to spend nearly 6 times more to achieve a minor improvement. At around 50 bucks, they are solid performers. Also, A'gon member "drubrew" of Moon Audio, makes some fine sounding cables too. www.moon-audio.com It would be a real shame to hold back that system with generic cables.

distortion December 11, 2004 03:24