Jonathan Craddock
Hi-Fi (June 2009)
Current Hi-Fi setup in the corner of our living room is fairly simple, although maybe not entirely traditional. This was mainly on the grounds of how much a decent CD player costs and I liked the flexibility of streaming audio from our home network. The inclusion of a DAC between the player and the amp seemed like a good compromise.
Amp is a Cambridge Audio 840A v2. We'd decided to go with the "Incognito" multiroom system, and this was the best amp in the range. The only input (at the moment!) is from another Cambridge Audio product, the DACMagic - upscaling Digital to Analogue converter. And, the only input to this (at the moment!!) is a Logitech Squeezebox Duet; the handheld controller is in its charging cradle on the right.
The Logitech Squeezecenter software is currently running on my main Windows workstation, but ultimately will be moved to an Ubuntu server I have in the loft. The upshot of this is that lossless FLAC files are streamed to the Squeezebox over our CAT5e structured cabling, passed to the DACMagic over a fiberoptic cable, and then to the amp via Cambridge Audio's Azur Reference Interconnects. Speakers are a pair of KEF Q55.2.
The result is not at all bad, and integrates seamlessly with flush ceiling speakers in our dining room. Next step, I think, might be to upgrade the speaker cable, which hasn't changed since I upgraded the amp from a Marantz PM32.
UPDATE:
Music server is now an Ubuntu 10 based file server in the attic. I did also upgrade the speaker cable, so we're now bi-wired with two runs of 315 strand copper cable. Rest of the setup is the same and, a year on, still very happy with it. :-)
Hi-Fi (June 2009)
Current Hi-Fi setup in the corner of our living room is fairly simple, although maybe not entirely traditional. This was mainly on the grounds of how much a decent CD player costs and I liked the flexibility of streaming audio from our home network. The inclusion of a DAC between the player and the amp seemed like a good compromise.
Amp is a Cambridge Audio 840A v2. We'd decided to go with the "Incognito" multiroom system, and this was the best amp in the range. The only input (at the moment!) is from another Cambridge Audio product, the DACMagic - upscaling Digital to Analogue converter. And, the only input to this (at the moment!!) is a Logitech Squeezebox Duet; the handheld controller is in its charging cradle on the right.
The Logitech Squeezecenter software is currently running on my main Windows workstation, but ultimately will be moved to an Ubuntu server I have in the loft. The upshot of this is that lossless FLAC files are streamed to the Squeezebox over our CAT5e structured cabling, passed to the DACMagic over a fiberoptic cable, and then to the amp via Cambridge Audio's Azur Reference Interconnects. Speakers are a pair of KEF Q55.2.
The result is not at all bad, and integrates seamlessly with flush ceiling speakers in our dining room. Next step, I think, might be to upgrade the speaker cable, which hasn't changed since I upgraded the amp from a Marantz PM32.
UPDATE:
Music server is now an Ubuntu 10 based file server in the attic. I did also upgrade the speaker cable, so we're now bi-wired with two runs of 315 strand copper cable. Rest of the setup is the same and, a year on, still very happy with it. :-)