Any Creek 5350 SE owners out there???

Hello, A friend of mine is giving me a Creek 5350SE integrated amp. What CD player would be a good match with this amp (around the $1500 range)? I have been considering the Ah! Njoe Tjoeb 4000 or the Music Hall MMF CD25 (modified by "underwoodwally"). For speakers I would like some fairly full range floorstanders (budget is about $3k). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Michael
P.S. What speakers/Cd player are you using? Are you pleased with your system?

Hey #9... Your friend is GIVING you this integrated amp? I am not even going to ask.

Alright... I do not own the 53 series product. I am a 4330 mkII cd/integrated owner. I would just like to offer the standard response... make sure to test the two components together... consider what kind of sound you want (for classical or rock or pop etc)... make sure to match with speakers...

All great advice, but I'm sure you know that already.

A friend of mine sells the entire Creek range, and I would say if you could afford the CD 53, it is a perfect sonic match. I have heard these two operate together, and it is beautiful. Another option (depending on availability) is the Vecteur line of CD players. These French made CD players are exceptional... if you can find a dealer that has them. I live in Canada, so I don't know any US distributors.

As for speakers, I don't think that you could go wrong with Audio Note speakers... I have never heard a bad word about them. That would be my first recommendation. you might want to check out Epos accoustics, since Michael Creek has both companies under his thumb.

After nearly 200 hours of exhaustive research and listening by a very precise kind of guy (me) I put together the following with mind blowing sound price/performance.

Creek 5350 SE
Triangle Celius Loudspeakers
Rega Planet CD Player (the new silver one, not the old black one) - almost went Creek CD Player but again, price/performance
Audioquest interconnects (with the little battery packs on them)

Had I wanted to include a SACD player, that would have been the Marantz SA8260.

Absolutely astounding sound quality and performance for about $6K. Threw in the latest White Stripes album tonight. Incredible. At least for me. It might really suck for you. Audio's funny like that isn't it. ;)

Man I wish I better friends - or at least some with deep pockets. That is some kind of nice present and the Creeks are in general excellent amplifiers.

There are so many good products and when it comes to speakers I nor anyone can tell you what you should buy. We can all tell you how much we like are own choices and what we compared them to but that hardly means that if you were with me on all my auditions on the same day that you would not have went with say the reference 3a MM De Capo where I went with the Audio Note K/Spe.

The 5350 is rated at around 75 watts into 8ohms the provide the 150Watt 4ohm number which makes them look better - I find that a bit strange. 75 watts will drive most speaker well.

Finding a speaker is a fun time. Audio Note also does not fit the bill because they are standmounts. Though the J and E standmounts will produce more bass than most any any foorstander - and the K will give a great many a good run. Floorstanders are basically standmounts with their own stand(usually cheap wood instead of MDF or steal)...so consider that standmounts generally sound a lot better than floorstanders in most any given price range.

There are other things you need to look at when choosing speakers. How important are looks? Do you want a fashion statement or sonics? What kind of positioning can you accept? While a good speaker should play everything well - many don't and since you'll listen to many that don't what music is critical? Do you want home theater? Do you ever plan to buy low powered tube amplifiers? Are you sure --- if a possibility you need to look at impedence range and sensitivity of the speaker(I assume this because you are looking at a tube cd player). Many speakers don't like tubes.

Do not buy unless you can audition first. I can suggest Audio Note another guy can suggest Triangle but if it ain't in your area then what is?

You have a solid budget for speakers - an excellent one in fact and I would not spend a dime until you hear one you really like that is more or less truthful to the recording.

My preference is for higher sensitivity more dynamic speakers because I have my on tubes - that is why I chose The AN K - in your budget I would have looked at the AN J spe. Their speakers have greatly improved their finishes since the older models http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazin...udspeakers.htm

I chose Audio Note for high sensitivity and easy impedence load(this is more important than sensitivity for tube amps) and great bass and dynamics - and the fact that they are upgradeable.

There are, however, many other very good speakers with great reputations and many I like a great deal so I don't want to just tout what I chose - they are from:
Dynaudio, Gershman Acoustics, B&W, PMC, JM Labs, Reference 3a, some Martin Logans(but more than 3k ones).

Basically only the Reference 3a MM De Capo from that list is tube friendly.

The list is too long to fully list. There are some I will like and you won't and others we'll both like and some we'll both loathe. But I am not the one listening you are.

I realize you're not running a tube amp - but a tube friendly amp will run well with anything - and you never know - if you want to try tubes and trade your Creek you may not because if you own the Danes or Gershmans you'd also have to trade those.

You can also get further advice of higher end brands from http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/speakers/bbs.html

Creek 5350SE
Denon DVD-2900 (Level-1 mod. by Parts ConneXion plus clock)
PS Audio P500 Power Plant
B&W N805
Vandersteen 2Wq subwoofers (PS Audio Plus speaker cables)
PS Audio Statement interconnects
PS Audio Statement power chords
PS Audio Power Port
Audioquest CV-6 DBS speaker cables
Shun Mook Diamond Resonators
ASC tube traps (various)

The modified Denon DVD-2900 is a gem at about $2,500. I had a Musical Fidelity A3 24 DAC for Redbook playback, and the modified Denon far exceeds it in every aspect (the unit also plays SACD's and DVD-A's incredibly well). For less money, I would highly recommend the following:

Music Hall CD-25 player (modified by Underwood Hifi, if possible)
Musical Fidelity A3 CD player, A3.2 CD player or A3 24 DAC.
Creek CD50mkII or used CD53

Of course, these are only units with which I am familiar; naturally, there are many others to consider. Regardless, the Creek 5350SE is an extremely gratifying amp.

Me too, we all wish we had friends like yours. If you look at my profile you will see I am a Krell & Dynaudio guy, so I am used to and enjoy a fast and dynamic sound. I am a fan of Creek and Arcam because they deliver that type of sound, just without the brute force and finnesse of Krell. For this reason I personally would stay away from components that will degrade that presentation, unless you wanted to melow the amp down. For instance, I would choose an Arcam or Creek cd player over something like Rega or Rotel, the latter sounding more laid back and rolled off. I also find the Arcam or Creek would give you way more information from the disc or at least let you hear more of the detail. With speakers, Dynaudio is a great match for the British integrateds, but there are also several ways to go there, just like I was saying with a cd player, if you want to maintain Creek's integrity try to listen for those that reflect your amps ability rather than damping it down. You may like B&W, but I find they are laid back and not the value of Dynaudio. Brands like Sonus Faber, Acoustic Energy or even Thiele would be good to evaluate. I personally try to steer people away from Klipsch and Vandersteen, very different types of speakers from each other, but both are terrible. You may even want to try an electrostat like Martin Logan or a planar like Magnepan. I like ML much better but the Maggie's are cheaper. Creek would not have any problem driving a Martin Logan.

That's my take on it, I just think the best synergy comes from components.with simular sonic signatures. I would hate to see a good amp like the 5350 be held back by components that intentionally go for a "warm" sound.