German Car Zone

Mmm. I don't even know any manufacturer which is even remotely close to B&O when it comes to their combination of performance, style and quality.

^^You are right about quality. B&O really is extremely well made. Although I have to admit that my old portable B&O had a plastic stand which didn't last too long in my crazy house ...but other than that, I have no complaints.

Concerning Denon, in High-end fidelity they are not really good, their core market is more the Home-Cinema than the pure sound.

There are a lot of very good audio makers, each with a particular sound. Generally the British are more on a soft, pure sound, a bit lacking dynamism sometimes.

You also have the choice between lots of technology, like tubes electronics for a fabulous, analogic sound or the transistor technology with more dynamism but much less purity and emotion generally (not always the case however, see the Laverdin IT)).

If you want high quality electronics with a very good price/sound ratio, look at Nad, Cambridge Audio, Advance Acoustic, Vincent or Rotel for instance. It will sound much better than B&O and cost 4 times less...

Concerning the speaker, it is very hard to say something, you have to listen to see what you like. B&W, Klipsch, Cabasse, JBL, JMLab, Quadral, Triangle...lots of brands with very different sound and emotion...

But what a pleasure to listen to your favourite CD, and the instruments and singer are in your room!!!

^^I listen to a lot of music ....but my favourite music is probably 20th century "classical" music. I love Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Berg, Debussy, Ravel, Messiaen, etc. -- and even Glass and Schnittke.

I really like the Scottish hi-fi company Linn ....do you have any opinions about them ....I have only heard the sound a couple of times ....I was really impressed.

My favourite music is the pre-romantic and romantic classical music, and especially the Chamber Music from Schubert and Beethoven. The Lieder from Schubert sang by Fisher-Dieskau and the Piano Sonatas of Beethoven (Ciccolini or Kempff) are always near me...

I also appreciate Prokofiev a lot but he is the only "modern" composer I really like.

Concerning Linn...I never really listened to a Linn, it is a little bit above my price-range...

But they have a very very good reputation, especially for classical/jazz.

^^I love Schubert and Beethoven too. J.S. Bach, Cherubini, Mozart, Liszt, César Franck, Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Ralph Vaughn Williams, Shostakovich, are also favourites.

Actually, I have so many favourite composers I would never be able to list them all.

Vangelis addict here.

^^He he ....he is quite a clever composer. I like the music he did for Blade Runner.

Yeah me too, and I am only beginning to discover the classical music...I discovered it 4 years ago, it was the 9th of Beethoven, and then the Italian of Mendelssohn...Since then I can't stop listening to classical music and buying new CDs...
Grieg is also beautiful, I also absolutely love the Violin Concerto of Bruch or the Octuor of Gade...

So much treasures to discover...

^^ you have good taste Raoul.

I love Prokofiev ....his music is really funny sometimes. He was an enfant terrible. Anyone who thinks classical music is always sedate and boring should listen to his 2nd piano concerto ....it is totally hysterical and really in your face ...more like a rock concert.