Sounds like you did well - your cards stayed glued in wallet :) While some here seem to recommend spending much more on the speakers than the amp, I am more for a balanced approach. My system has a £2k amp with £2k speakers, which works well.
I would suggest the £500 Arcam amp would be great for you if you're going to upgrade within a year or two, but matching that with £150 speakers is bizarre, IMO. I think they were guided more by what they had in stock than by your needs - understandable enough. (Although why have £150 speakers if your cheapest amp is £500? Odd.) The fact that you preferred the cheaper speakers is interesting. I generally hold that speakers have the most character of all components, and you need to find a character that you like, and base the rest of the system around it. If you liked the presentation of the KEFs above speakers four times their price, I'd be suggesting some more expensive KEFs to try. Anyway, keep listening. Given that you are at the low end budget for specialist shops, I'd continue to head there weekdays - they are unlikely to let you have as long to try things out if you're there on a Saturday afternoon. But a good place will recognise that happy customers talk about their experiences and come back when they have more cash! Adam -- adamslim SB3 into Derek Shek d2, Shanling CDT-100, Rotel RT-990BX, Esoteric Audio Research 859, Living Voice Auditorium IIs, Nordost cables ------------------------------------------------------------------------ adamslim's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=7355 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=30074 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
