Thanks to Tyrone and Noel of Audio Amplified, Elmo of What Hifi and to John of Hifi Lounge for helping me complete my new hifi audio set-up.
Intergrated Amp: Cayin A50T (Stock tubes)
Cd Player: Cayin CD50T (Stock tubes)
Interconnects: XLO Pro 150
Speaker Wires: NAIM bi-wire cables
Speakers: Castle Richmond 3i
As of today I am on my 25hour break-in period and as is I am already enjoying the set-up. The Cayin int amp and a the CD player are a very good match. Not only that they are of the same size for good aestethics, the combination provides very good soundstage and detail considering my 14 sqm. room. Also, the Castle Richmond 3i bookshelf, IMO, is the right size for my room. The overall combination fills up my room with the volume set only up to 8:30.
Prior to deciding into purchasing the abovementioned set-up, I went thru a lot of auditioning between tubes and SS set-ups and have concluded (with my own ears) that tubes still provide better musicality than SS, of course, in this price range. I was originally planning just to purchase a hi-fi integrated amp and with several tests and comparison, I ended up with the A50T and the CD50T combo as they performed very well than with a A50T/SS-CD combo. Auditions were both made at Audio Amplified's shop and at home (thanks to Tyrone, Noel, Elmo and John) as they permitted me to borrow their demo units so that I can actually test the whole system. The tube set-up was also compared with Rotel and Arcam SS amps/cdplayers and still the Cayin tube set-up prevailed.
The interconnects and the speaker cables have also helped to bring out the best of the A50T/CD50T combination. I may still be trying out other cables to see if there will be further improvement on the sound output. Bi-wiring the Richmonds also is a must to get the best out of these speakers. The highs and the lows are more detailed when biwired. The Richmonds being smaller than the B&W 303 (which i use for HT) produces clear highs and tight bass without the need for a sub unit. At this point, the Richmods were also not completely broken-in and yet it is delivering very good highs and lows. At first, I was scouting for floorstanders as I was not happy with the bass that my B&W is producing. The Richmond bookshelf has given me the bass that I want as it sounds like a floorstander IMO.
Being a newbie in hifi, I am very much satisfied with my tube set-up.
In the future, I may be lookiing into upgrading the tubes to mundorf but as off now, I will settle for the stock units.
After the break-in period, I will be providing my review on the above set-up.
