[slusketass]

I'm trying to build up a little system that shall feed my living room with beautiful sound...but it is not easy to choose in the hifi jungle!

My current components that I want to keep are a set of B&W CM-1 speakers and an old Denon DVD-1600 dvd player that I will use as a transport. Also, I am going to play music from a WD HD Live via the optical audio out.

I have an 2 gen. Sonic Impact, and though the little thing has a nice sound, it by no means have the power (imho) to drive the speakers (low efficiency speakers at 84 dB). At the moment I feed it by using the pre out on an old NAD 3120 (yeah, the one from the early 80's!). That gives me the advantages of the NADs several inputs, and, at least some of, the sound from the t-amp.

As you can probably imagine, I'm not particularly satisfied with this system. It basically lacks everything that I want from in my audio experience. As is also probably clear, my budget is not exactly unlimited. With that in mind, I have boiled my current thoughts down to a few set ups, that I think should make a huge impact to my living room, and that will cost around 1000-1200$.

The first is to buy a decent DAC. My choice so far (based on reviews, and listening to the Cambridge 740 cd player, which I think contains the same circuitry) is the Cambridge DAC magic. As I understand, this DAC gives a lot of bang to the buck.

I have listened to the Cambridge 740 amp as well, and while I thought it sounded good with the cm-1's, I think there is room for improvement. In that regard, since I already have and enjoy the t-amp sound, I have landed on one of the Virtue amps, either the 2.two or the three. Those should have plenty of power to drive my cm1's, with the nice feature of price. Obviously, I have not heard these Virtue amps, but they have recieved pretty good reviews.

My second choice at the moment, is to buy the Peachtree Audio Nova at 1200 bucks. The total cost is about 150$ cheaper with the DACmagic and virtue 2.two, and only 50$ cheaper with the virtue three. There might be a lot of other options that would give me better result, at the same price, but I do not know what they might be.

I appreciate comments on my different choices, and, of course, other options that might be a better mach with my speakers. Obviously, I could sell my speakers and switch them for an easier load, but I really enjoy the sound of these small cm1's.

Any suggestions?

[S Clark]

Sounds like you have done your homework pretty well.  Virtue and Cambridge make nice stuff and the price is right.  Do it. 

[Mr Peabody]

Have you looked at www.emotiva.com ?  The  ERC-1 CD player for $399.00, may still be on sale at $320.00, is a very good player for the money.  It's on the other end of warm but it has a lot of air between instruments and a large sound stage, a true taste of the high end on a budget.  I also hear their amps are as good and even better than Rotel or Adcom.

I hear good things about the Grand Fidelity DAC for around the same price as the Magic.  Friends who have used the Magic say it is definitely not in the same league with the 740.

If used is a consideration Adcom separates are very inexpensive and good performers in a mid-fi range.  The gfa-545 or 5400 are 125x2, the gfa 555 or 5500 are 200x2 all into 8 ohms.  I've driven Dynaudio Audience 60's with both the 5400 & 5500 with good results.  I like the 5500 real well, powerful, nice dark background.  It would rock the B&W's.  You can find them under $500.00.