Had an interesting series of emails back and forth over the past week from a guy with a complex, but not unusual problem. He has a decent hifi system built up over 10 years plus. Arcam cd, Naim amplifier, Castle speakers, Rega turntable, and over the past 2-3 years he has also been using an ipod through the system and also burning some of his downloaded music on to cd, which his Arcam plays. Not all cd players do. 

The Naim and Castle are both old, replace? Servicing the Rega or buy a new one? He has around 80 lps and over 150 cds built up over the years and also 40/50 albums on itunes.

He realises that the ipod/MP3 quality is not as good as proper cds, noticeably so, and wants to update and improve his system to make it easier to use. 

Where to start, let's sort the turntable first. A 20 year old Rega Planar 3 will still sound good after a good service and a new cartridge. Many old cartridges have worn out stylii and the rubber suspension is dozed so best just replace the cartridge. A Rega Bias £69 or Elys £119 will be miles better than the old one. New belt, I'll check the oil/pulley and fit the cartridge, total £ 100 to £ 150 and off you go. The new option is still a Rega... RP3/Elys is great value for £ 549, but unless you particularly want a new one save your money for the rest of the system.

Speakers next. Old Castles were great, but not by today 's standards. This man had small floorstanders that were £ 500-600 15 years ago. The straight replacement is a Kef R500 at £ 1499, or go for a smaller speaker on a stand for £ 1000-1200, or an upgrade to £ 2-2500

The reason for taking the speakers before the amplifier/streaming solution is simple. Once I know what speakers you like then there is a smaller choice of matching electronics. This makes sense as speakers are easily narrowed down by looks, finish, and where they have to sit before you even lis ten to them!

Still to do the listening on this but from the measurements and finishes the Kef R500 at £ 1499 look favourite.

The next decision is for cd vs streaming, or both. While £ 1650 gets you the good one box solution of a Naim UnitiLite there may be room in the budget to go a level better. The UnitiLite has a cd player, amplifier, and streamer all in one slim box. 

But moving up to a Linn Sneaky DSM (£1750) or Majik DSM (£2965) raises the performance another level, as would a Naim SuperUniti (£ 3350). Neither of these has a CD player, so you can then keep the existing Arcam one as cds give way to streaming from a hard drive. We can rip 150cds onto a drive and you have your music collection all ready to go.

A curve ball was then thrown into this by a question about blu ray through the system, and also Spotify. After some explaining what Airplay is the result is a dem coming up next week of Majik DSM with R 500s which will have no problem coping with Sky, X-box, PS3, Spotify, and even YouTube

The demonstration is booked for late next week, more to follow after the dem to see what the solution is