£300 budget setup

[admin_exported]

Hello, new to this forum but being researching and looking at this website for a while. Looking at the highly rated speakers and subs on this site and others, decided about 300 is my budget as it seems you can get a decent sound for this money. I however need all equipment, starting from scratch. All i have is a PC which i will use to play the music out of. Soooooo given that i have come to ask for opinions on the following as a kinda shootout.

Wharfedale sw150 subwoofer + 9.1 diamonds + £80ish second hand amp

Moniter audio bronze MX2 + £80ish second hand amp

Audio engine a5+

Looking at several amps atm but have not got one yet so you can imagaine any amp you might realistically be able to get secondhand for that money for the time being. Btw I would say the genre i listen to most was DnB but not a one genre guy here, cba to go into all the music i listen too anyway.

Any suggestions?

 

[jakesaunders27]

Hi

Have you considered interconnects and speaker cable in your budget?

Jake

 

[the record spot]

Depends what you want, but shop around and you'll get the Onkyo I use for £250, then either go to Gumtree, or Ebay and pick up some decent used speakers for £50 or less. Spend £5 on 10m of 322-strand OFC cable (don't knock it, it's good stuff) and then go to Amazon and get a Fisual coax or optical cable for about £3. The Onkyo has four digital inputs at the back.

You can use the Onkyo as a source as well as an amp (hardwire it to your network, install the latest Firmware upgrade and you can use Spotify while it also has DLNA connectivity) - you'll spend a tad over your £300 budget, but you'll have a strong foundation for a good setup.

 

[Anonymous]

No Jake i did not consider that tbh. How expensive can that stuff be without considering its contribution to the overall performance. Also I am not sure spending 5/6 of my budget on a new amp and then 1/6 on some used speakers is the best distribution of my money?

 

[the record spot]

Fine, up your budget by £50 and get some used Mission 751s for £100, then buy the Onkyo. Make sure its the mesh dome tweeter originals and not the bland Freedom model and you're away. Nothing to touch them at the price. £350, job done.

EDIT: And forget the budget distribution at your price range; you're looking for bargains not the traditional 30% here, 50% there thing.

You're looking at biggest bang for buck and at your budget, secondhand speakers are going to reap rewards buying new won't deliver. Hence, £50 would get you some good boxes if you shop around, £100 will get you some great ones. The Missions are but one example, but tough to beat for the price.

Another regular on here (Chebby) got some Mordaunt Short speakers, pretty much as new, for about £30 a while back. Don't recall the model number precisely, but they were good boxes and a steal for the price.

 

[Anonymous]

"You're looking at biggest bang for buck and at your budget, secondhand speakers are going to reap rewards buying new won't deliver"

I thought that would hold true and would be curious to find out how much you think you would have to spend on a new set of speakers to buy better than the Mission 751's?.

Also, does this rule of second hand stuff not apply so much to amps? I see the amp that you reccommend at least has features which an old amp could not possibly provide but how does it compare to a amp you could pick up for 250 second hand sound wise?

 

[Anonymous]

I just happen to be browsing and came across this and it fits in with what i have just purchased i did have a teac cr-h255 mini hifi all in one and i know from previous experience that sepaerates sound better so i have just purchased ..
Denon pma-255 amplifier £50,00
Denon dcd-615 cd player £35.00
Denon tu-260l tuner £10.00 from ebay and they all work and sound as good as new in fact the tuner was new old stock and had never been out of the box . i do however have my tannoy mercury f2 speakers which i have had since new becuase i love the sound and i have just ordered complete new set of interconnects all cambridge audio for £80 which put my total for the whole system £175.00 i know its not the best kit in the world and maybe one day ill be able to buy a nice roksan setup but for now it will do me just fine . :dance: