I have a Denon DCD-835 CD player, a NAD C320 amp and Wharfedale Diamond speakers. I tried out various combinations in the shop, and this sounded best to me in my price range (about £600). At some point, when I have more money, I might upgrade, but this suits me very well now.
Buy a copy of What Hifi magazine, look at the reviews, see what’s listed in the back as being in your price range, make a shortlist and go to a good hifi shop with a couple of your favourite cds.
Good player, great amp, but… don’t you think the Wharfedales sound a tad blurry and “dark” compared to B&W’s or4 JBL’s, for example?
I tried B&Ws alongside the Wharfedales (8.2s, btw), and the Wharfedales sounded a lot better to me.
Any of this useful so far, Lobsang?
Erm, no.
(well, there have been some useful posts that answered the OP, but I switched off after people stated including 5 figure numbers in thier posts. I haven’t even seen half the posts in this thread. I saw a few at the end and at the beginning which were usefull)
It is only a matter of time until I buy something that I hope the shop-staff are trustworthy when they tell me is decent.
Today I bought a handheld TV to keep me happy.
Tansu’s advice is most useful - I am not being sarcastic when I say that I didn’t think of looking in Hi-Fi magazines.
While it’s a little out of date, The Master has a thing or two to say about high-end speakers.
Having worked as a mastering engineer in Nashville, I have had a chance to listen to lots of different combinations of amps and speakers. My current system consists of:
Magnepan 1.6 Ribbon speakers
Aragon 125 watt non-current limiting amp (250 in a 4ohm load)
Sonic Frontiers Tube pre-amp
Pioneer Elite PD-65 CD player
Completely wired with Transparent interconnects, power, and speaker cable
A few points:
Because of the load and low efficiency of the Magnepan’s I choose a non current limiting amp so it can draw all the juice it needs from the wall outlet to keep up with the demands placed on it by the system.
The Pioneer Elite is a nice piece because of the stable platter transport and solid construction. It also sounds great. I bought a Meridian CD player and returned it because it did not sound as good as the PD-65 (surprised me).
Anyway, I pretty happy with this system. It is very open and airy. You can tell how tall the vocalist is. In short you can tell the female crickets from the male crickets. I plan to add power conditioning at some point in the future.
GEEEEEKS!!! Your’e all GEEEEEEEEEEEEKS!!!
If you can’t what you’re looking for on the isle o’ Man, and you’re contemplating a trip to the mainland, may I recommend Practical Hi-fi. I got my stuff from them, and their staff were very friendly and helpful. They’ve got stores in Lancaster, Preston, Warrington, Manchester and Carlisle. They do internet mail order (www.practicalhi-fi.co.uk) but I reckon that it’s vitally important to listen to different components before you buy.
Lobsang - I’d recommend checking out www.richersounds.co.uk (or even better, if you’re on the mainland, get to one of their stores. I got an ex-demo Cambridge Audio A500 amp for about 1/2 shelf price earlier this year). They should be able to recommend a set-up within your budget that will blow away any piece of Bose nastiness.
There’s a store finder thingy on their site.
Lobsang –
I’d exercise caution with richer sounds. Yes, they have stereo gear at absolutely silly prices and the staff are very helpful, but every time I’ve gone into one of their shops having seen an unbelievable bargain on their website or in one of their catalogues, it turns out its not in stock and they can’t (won’t?) order one for you. They will have something broadly similar in stock, but it won’t be what you’re after. This has happened to me sufficient times that I think it’s a ploy to get you to buy what they want to sell to you. However for commodity items – batteries, speaker cable, blank mini-discs etc. they cannot be beaten for price in the UK.
In reference to an earlier post about Rotel and B&W – I suspect the reason they go so well together is no accident. B&W distributes and may even own Rotel, so the amps might well be optimised to their speakers.
My advice to you, Lobsang, is to find your local hi-fi specialist, ring them up, tell them what cash you have to spend and ask for them to set you up with an audition. Any decent retailer will certainly oblige – if they don’t they are not a good place to buy from anyway. When you go to the audition they will expect you to take some music with you to play through their gear. Take the sort of music you will play on the system - different stereos handle different types of music very differently- and it is wise to pick something you are very familiar with.
When you go to an audition for the first time it might be daunting, if so take a friend. However, I’ve never met a hi-fi shop employee yet who wants to blind you with jargon or make you feel uncomfortable or stupid. That just alienates the punter. The worst you can generally expect is for someone to play your music through a gorgeous system for long enough for you to fall in love and then tell you how much it actually costs.
I have bought stuff from sevenoaks (http://www.sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk/contentframeset/main.html), and found them very helpful and professional – this may vary from store to store though, as it is a franchise business. I bought my main stereo here: http://www.hifilondon.co.uk and they were superb. I spent an entire afternoon listening undisturbed to about 12 different setups, with no hard sell at all. I was only disturbed in their listening room by a guy popping in every half hour to see if I wanted anything else hooked up.
The advantage of all this hassle is that you will get a stereo that sounds like you want it to – different components DO sound different – you might like a warm sound or a clinically detailed sound. components also sound different depending on which speakers they are driving. This is not a justification from a stereo snob. My other half swore she didn’t care what I bought and that she’d never hear the difference. She did.
If you buy a system off the shelf, you will have no idea whether it’s any good. It will not be possible to upgrade it, should you want to, and the chances are that it will break beyond economic repair far quicker than a separates system.
I have never regretted a penny I have spent on my hi-fi gear, expensive though it seemed at the time.
Hey Lobsang,
What is your realistic budjet for your system and how much can you spend? It is possible to put together a nice system but you have to be committed to doing it.
So how much can you spend?
What type of music do you listen to?
Do you want to a multi-channel system or a good two channel system?
How much space do you have for loudspeakers?
Do you like lot’s of low end?
Do you like detail and a sense of space in the image?
Do you like your image to play in front of or behind the speakers?
If you answer these I could give some recommendations. While I do have one of those 5 figure systems I started with a 3 figure system as a little guy living in my parents house and built from there.
What part of the world to you hil from?
£500, Allkinds, Either, Not much, You mean bass? no, yes, huh? Isle of Man (UK).
I recently bought a dolby 5.1 system for my PC as a kind of compromise. (I don’t have the plug space or physical space for a seperate music system)
For speakers:
Look at Mission. I still own a set that I bought in 1985. Technically these are bookself speakers and could live on a bookshelf or on stands. They come in prices that should fit your budjet.
For Amp/Pre-Amp:
I would go with an Integrated Amp of some sort. Musical Fidelity or Rotel should also be in your budjet.
CD/DVD Player:
If you have something that you find acceptable then use that and spendthe cash on the speakers and in integrated amp. Otherwise also look at stuff from Rotel and Musical Fidelity. If you want, look for a pre owned Pioneer PD-65. It’s a tank but for what you can buy it for on the pre-owned market it really can not be beat. Hi-end for little money.
Cables:
This is a silly area of hi-fi that makes a difference. Since you most likly do not have long runs consider some Kimber Kable by the foot and have the dealer putthe ends on it you need. It is worth a few extra bucks. I went stupid on this but built it up over the years.
The key is to buy a system you can grow with and be happy with and one that suits the music you like to listen to. Also, be sure to go with a good hi-fi dealer. They have a range of prices and will work with you in your budjet. Also, remember to be loyal to your dealer and they will help you when it’s time for your system to grow up. It has taken me many years to get my stereo sounding the way I want. Just look at it as a work in progress.
I have some $5.00 headphones that plug into my computer…
I make up for it by seeing lots and lots of live music.