Am pretty new to this forum and hoping you can help me. Apologies in advance for the length and my naivety.
What started out as a quest to find some speakers to go with my modest Denon PMA 250SE and my Technics 1200 turntable (plus Spotify/iTunes via iPhone/iPad) has taken a significant turn and I'm not exactly what my next move should be. Hoping for some sage advice.
Let me start from the beginning for context:
When I was about 12 or 13, my best friend's mum got remarried to quite a wealthy gentleman. He moved a short distance away to a nicer part of town and I would visit him from time to time, as young kids do to try to keep friendships going. We used to hang out downstairs in his step-dad's den and play all kinds of music on vinyl. I had absolutely no idea of hifi brands but one piece of equipment just managed to stick out in my head because of its amazing green/blue glow. Now I don't know if it was an amp or a pre-amp or an integrated amp but I do remember that my friend told me it was a McIntosh and that it was pretty high end stuff. And was it ever! The music was so clean and clear and thumping and completely changed my perception of music. It sowed a tiny seed in me.
Now I've owned quite a lot of mid-level audio equipment in my life since and nothing came close to replicating that sound, some 30 years ago.
Fast forward to about three years ago (or so) when I wanted to find a fairly decent set of equipment to play through my TV: movies and playstation games. I purchased a Denon AVR 1713 as well as a package of Boston A250 floor standing speakers, A225C Centre, A23 Surround speakers and an ASW250 sub. It works just fine for the purpose for which it was originally purchased.
Then, one day I went to a pub that was playing old vinyl albums on a Technics 1200 and boy did that sound great. It took me right back to those days with my friend in his dad's den playing Rolling Stones and The Clash albums. The hunt was on for a turntable and I managed to find a good deal on a Technics SL 1200 MK2.
Now, I hadn't realised that my Denon AVR amp has no phono input (and obviously no preamp) - so that led me to purchase a Cambridge 651P preamp to connect to an empty input on my home theatre amp. Upon connecting it I couldn't help but notice that my vinyl (and other music) just didn't sound that great through it. This was when I came to understand the benefit of an integrated amp after hearing how amazing music could sound when played through the right equipment.
After doing a little bit of research and scouring Gumtree, I found an inexpensive integrated amp in the Denon PMA 250SE - and this helped a great deal!! So much greater clarity, punchiness and brightness with the music I was playing through it. However, my issue was (is) that I had to disconnect my Boston A250's each time I wanted to play something and then hook them up again when I wanted to watch TV. What a pain!!
So, a few weeks back I decided to keep an eye out for some nice speakers to go with my Denon. A friend from work is a big fan of B&Ws and so I was focused on this brand. I missed out on a few opportunities but have kept looking. Scouring eBay and Gumtree and searching through a number of hifi websites.
Then I saw it.
A McIntosh MA5200 demo model (significantly discounted as it was the last one). I checked around online and read any reviews I could find. It seemed amazing! Even with the discount it was still a lot more than I was planning to spend on speakers but impulsively I sent a quick enquiry to the shop asking for a further discount. To my surprise, my phone rang and it was the shop. After a bit more negotiating I decided to bite the bullet and as I type this now the MA 5200 is on its way to me.
So again I find myself still looking for those speakers, but this time not for my Denon PSA 250SE but now for a McIntosh MA 5200!
I have heard that McIntosh sounds quite good with B&W speakers but any help/advice/recommendations you may have would be greatly appreciated!!
Thanks in advance for your views and apologies again for the long-windedness of my post!
Neal