A photo of your Squeezebox setup (please)

[Bob in St. Louis]

No Sir, the photo is just fine.
But a big "yes" on the DC cable.

[Alco]

This is not my own setup, but one I was listening to yesterday, at a HiFi-show. Speakers were the B&W Nautilus 804.


A nice, sober system consisting of a SB Classic + Naim SuperNait amp, with built in DAC.

[adm]

The old but much loved A-400 has been replaced by new but even more much loved (already) Naim Nait XS.

[scaler]

To save on space, thinking about a Meridian F80 which has a digital input for the SB3. Anyone have any ideas on how they compare to your standard 2 speaker / amp set up?

Cheers

S

SB3
Beresford DAC
QED Cables
Cyrus 6vs2
Monitor Audio SilverRS1
Apollo Stands

[chn68b]

To save on space, thinking about a Meridian F80 which has a digital input for the SB3. Anyone have any ideas on how they compare to your standard 2 speaker / amp set up?

Cheers

S

SB3
Beresford DAC
QED Cables
Cyrus 6vs2
Monitor Audio SilverRS1
Apollo Stands

I listened to the Meridian F80 at the Bristol Sound 7 Vision show this year and was dissapointed. I have a Roberts MP23 which is a similar size but now around £200 and doesn't sound too different to the Meridian at over £1500. Yes the Meridian may sound a touch better, has its own sub and more power, but is it £1300 better? I don't think so.

I now have the SB plugged into a pair of Meridian M30's and compared to the Roberts there is more depth and ease with reproduction. You'll definitely lose a lot going for an all in one solution, though saying that, the F80 is probably the best option but I would definitely recommend listening to one before making your purchase. The Bose Wave is another solution which splits opinions and is again a lot cheaper, but the advantage is that they offer a free trial (30 day I think) so nothing to lose. In fact, I'd go for their trial first in your own home and compare it to your existing system as a guide.

[Richie]

I now have the SB plugged into a pair of Meridian M30's and compared to the Roberts there is more depth and ease with reproduction. You'll definitely lose a lot going for an all in one solution, though saying that, the F80 is probably the best option but I would definitely recommend listening to one before making your purchase. The Bose Wave is another solution which splits opinions and is again a lot cheaper, but the advantage is that they offer a free trial (30 day I think) so nothing to lose. In fact, I'd go for their trial first in your own home and compare it to your existing system as a guide.

I've got a Wave Radio and I have to say my Boom is much much better. The Wave is very boomy whereas the Boom sounds much more controlled.

Richard

[chn68b]

I've got a Wave Radio and I have to say my Boom is much much better. The Wave is very boomy whereas the Boom sounds much more controlled.

Richard

Highlighting the fact that more money isn't necessarily better, especially with an all in one solution, its down to personal taste and the type of music you listen too.

Regardless of this though, I don't think you'll find an all in one system that compares well with a cheapish amp and decent speaker setup.

[scaler]

I'm going to audition the F80 out of general interest but, as you say, it appears an awful lot of money for what may be only slightly better than a boom or similar. I have to say I have my reservations that it would compete with even the realtively modest system I have - but you don't know til you try.

I suppose another option could be some of the active speakers around presently - ae22, dynaudio etc. Not sure this is really space saving though - cyrus/beresford/sb3/bookshelves is about as sff as you can go I think. Find a more compact stand/rack and the other half may let it in to the living room :-).

[Alco]

Early this week I got me a Cambridge DACmagic, to improve the performance of my Squeezebox Classic.
Boy o boy,...and how it does! For the money the SB3 doesn't sound too bad, but this little DAC turnes it into a serious, highly musical and enjoyable combo!

The biggest improvement was that soundstage gained more depth/sense of space.
Mids are open/transparent and voices and instruments are now sounding more natural. Bass is well defined and tight.
I'm very pleased with the results. In fact,...I'm so thrilled by the performance of this SB3+DACmagic combo that I decided to sell my Naim CD5i !
(that's now collecting more dust, and costs allmost twice the price of the SB3/DAC!)

Here's a current picture of my little system:



(from top to bottom: Naim Nait-5i, SB Classic, DACmagic, old CD-storage unit to fill up the bottom gap, and to hide some cables)



That's all folks,

regards,
Alco

[lowfi]

I like your speakers stands!

Do they come with the speakers? Or are they sold separately also?