I've got £1000 to spend on hi-fi kit. Want separates. Happy with current Sony CD player. Don't want MP3, minidisc, etc. Mostly listen to rock and blues type stuff, little bit of classical. Not interested in volume, prefer quality.

Therefore need:
cassette player. Need to record tapes for use in the car, and so my son can listen to story tapes some borrowed from the library, and to record 'The Archers'. Top quality not required so £100 - £150.

Allow £50 - £100 for speaker stands and cables (interconnects?).

That leaves £800 to buy:
amplifier
tuner don't need DAB as only listen for background noise.
speakers not required to connect to TV, PS2 etc. Mission M74, B&W DM602 ?

Is it best to spend about £250 on each item, or should more be spent on one or the other? Any recommendations? Any good independent review type websites?

 

personally, i would probably spend about £300 on the cd player, and the same on the amp. that leaves £200 for speakers. many people will disagree, but i have alwasy found that a relatively cheap pair of speakers will sound better when driven by a decent amp. a more epxensive pair of speakers will not really show their potential when used with lesser source and amplification. FWIW my cd amd amp cost more than double what i spent on speakers.

 

in that price range i would be looking at nad and rotel amps and cdps. also maybe a marantz cdp.

 

www.hifichoice.co.uk has a lot of good and recent reviews. For the cassette player I'd recommend Richer Sounds, they usually have some quite pricey players knocked down to £150-ish.

What size is the room you will be putting the kit into? That may have an impact on whether you go for floorstanding or bookshelf speakers.

Try and audition a few amp/speaker set-ups until you get the sound you like. You could even go down the eBay hifi route -- lots of bargains there, especially on older Mission amps which sound great with Mission speakers .... very punchy and ideal for your type of music.

Don't rush into it is the basic advice ... take your time until you get the balance you like.

 

Agree with PC, the old adage of crap in crap out still holds true.

 

if you can get hold of a s/h cyrus II amp, that'll do you proud. i used to have one and they can certainly show more modern designs a thing or two.

 

£1,000?

I could do you about four metres of speaker cable. Any good?

 

show off

at least you could throw in a some earth cable and a 10ft copper rod.

 

Nice Arcam CD player about 200 notes. I can highly recommend Acoustic energy Aegis Evo(hate that word) 3 floorstanders. About 350 iirc. Spend as much as you can on the amp.

 

Thought about TEAC 300/500 system, or Denon stuff?


Just because they all look alike, doesn't mean they aren't seperates, and you get to control them all with one touch.

Sound excellent too, and if you search the web, you can get amazing deals.

Alcazar

 

Thanks for the advice so far. Just to re-iterate: LOL @ taking my time. I have been looking on and off for two years now . The failure of the cassette deck has forced the issue now.

So the consensus seems to be to spend a bit more on the amp. Say £350 amp / £250 speakers / £200 tuner ?

Consistent looks not that important as will be in a smoked glass fronted cabinet. Any more review site suggestions?

 

Sorry - didn't read the original post properly.

For a tuner, you won't do better than a denon TU 260, provided you're happy without DAB. only £130, and a great bit of kit. As for amps - i've always liked nads. you could look at the new C352, at £350. That leaves you a decent amount for speakers.

 

for that money,you could do a lot worse than looking at the Denon separates "lifestyle" systems,they really are superb

 

(Get a secondhand cassette deck off Ebay......they are virtually giving them away.Secondly cassette's only have a limited time left anyway.)

The general rule is spend most on the source components,what cd player have you got.If its not that good,then however much you spend would be a waste.
My advice is this.

300 cd player
300 amp
250 speakers
100 tuner
50 secondhand cassette player off ebay/av forum classified ads.

Thats the sort of ratio.
However,you say you want to keep your cd player so its

400 amp
350 speakers
100 tuner
100 cables and stands
50 cassette deck s/hand.

 

I got a Denon DRM-540 single cassette deck for sale.

I actually have two as I thought I would tape-tape. Never did and hence cassette 2 has hardly ever seen any action! It just sits on the Atacama stand getting dusty.

Its not particulalry new in terms of how long I have had it but still it is a decent player. I'd take £65 + c/p for it if you are interested.

Sorry about the hi-jack! I'll try and add something helpful to make up: -

Don't skimp on interconnects and cables. You wont wont need the 4m for £1000 at this level but go for something reasonable, think about bi wiring the speaker cable. Any decent hi-fi shop should help you out with making the right choice.

Amp: NAD get well reviewed in this price range for rock/blues. Personally I thought it had great depth and some great rock boom but lacked definition compared to others. Ended up with another Marantz myself. Roksan was nice but up a price level.

Speakers: As someone already said. If you dont have an amp to do them justice then its pointless spending loads on them. Try out as many speaker+amp combos as your hi-fi shop will let you.

You will be buying very low quality kit if you get spkr stands+cables+interconnects for £100. Have a look at the British made Atacama stuff for stands and racks. Well priced for what you get compared to many others.

Cheers and happy shopping

M

PS As already said, no need to rush into something!

 

Bolox - have a look at www.richersounds.co.uk - spend £350 and pocket the rest for mods!

 

there are many that would say that is rubbish,the quality of 50 quids worth of cable will sound no different than spending hundreds.I just dont think with a £1000 budget should get stressed about £40 cable,£30 stands and £15 x2 interconnects,perfectly fine

at a recent (ish) HiFi show they had some £30,000 cable on show,so another bloke apparently set his rig up with a lawn mower extension from B&Q,and he claimed it was £60,000

he had 2 orders,alledgedly

seriously,QED SA 2x2mtr run is only £40,and with matching interconnects and s/h stands he would not tell the difference with gear costing much more.
Save your money for a decent CDP,£400 ish,maybe a Marantz 7200 and some standmounts (great choice in this bracket).There are Dynaudio Audience 52s on Ebay for £250.With a grand you can get a great set-up,providing you dont fall for the great cable myth and fritter your money away

 

I've always worked on the 10% rule. Whatever your budget, allow 10% for cables and interconnects. I agree that spending hundreds of pounds on cables is a little over the top, but equally, spending a grand on decent kit and using the crappy leads provided with most equipment is a waste. Good cables can make the world of difference. As with all purchases, there is no substitute for going to a good HiFi shop with a listening room and finding out what is best for you.

I did this a couple of years ago - spent ages looking at kit, read all the magazines - thought I knew what I wanted and then went to the shop. After hearing it, I bought totally different stuff!

Chris

 

you only think they do....... 10% seems reasonable though

there is a long standing bet on the web from a guy who offers £1000 for anyone who can tell the difference between cables,be it 30k of Gardas or a couple of quid from Comet

sorry,but cables just don't make the world of difference,unless you spend lots of money and you will convince yourself they have (i have cable at £150 p/mtr,so i am on dodgy ground )