600-700 € Budget Hi-Fi Set

[Lycus]

Hello

I've been reading around a lot lately to find myself a good price/value Hi-Fi system. I think I now understand enough to have an idea what I really need, sadly the amounts of different components confuse the hell out of me. Even though some pieces look better than others on paper, I'm affraid that "on paper" specs aren't that important. That's why I'm looking for help ^^

What I'm looking for:

- A decent pair of stereo speakers to place in a room (5m x 4,5m) and later on probably in a much larger room (when we move; 13 m x 5 m). That's a huge difference in space volume and I'm well aware of that, but in the short run (next 2-3 years) 5 m x 4m would be the room.

- I would be using the Hi-Fi set mostly for listening to music and watching series on TV. I rather have music sounding good than the series, that's why I chose a Hi-Fi set over a Surround system

- A reciever/amp: I don't really care which amp/reciever, as long as it has HDMI & maybe DLNA if that is possible. But I rather have a reciever with better sound than a reciever with DLNA and a lot worse sound. HDMI inputs: 2-3 would be enough. It does not have to be able to power surround, 2 speakers would be all.

- Two speakers for listening to music. I do have the room for floor standing speakers and would prefer them. Sadly at this budget I think I could get a -lot- better price/value if I go for bookshelves. So bookshelves will do unless you can get pretty much the same quality in a floor stander, in that case I would prefer a floor stander.

- The budget for both the Reciever/amp & 2 speakers would be around 600-700 €. I can buy my components everywhere but I live in Belgium-EU so I would prefer to be able to buy the components within the EU.

TL;DR:

- Room volume : 5 m x 4 m (and in future perhaps 13 m x 5 m)

- A pair of speakers for music (bookshelve speakers or floor standers, no real preference)

- A amp/reciever with preferably 3 HDMI slots but 2 would do if that makes it any easier. AV Reciever is a big plus, just to make my life easier.

- Priority: alternative-rock / pop / classical / electronic music. I listen to pretty much everything except metal. Also for watching series/movies but this is NOT the priority. I rather have music sounding great.

- Total budget: 600 - 700 € (I live in EU - Belgium)

What I have considered so far after my own research:

Recievers: I have no clue whatsoever. I'm really in the dark here. Perhaps the Yamaha RX-V375?

Speakers : BX2s, Q Acoustics i2020, Dali Zensor 1 and the floorstander Yamaha NS-555.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Audiofoolius]

Hello fellow countryman! :wave:

With this kind of budget I believe it would be wiser to buy second hand. Especially for speakers you can gain a lot of quality if you do that.

If you want HDMI inputs/outputs you'd have to buy an AV amp or surround receiver. This site has the best prices and the most brands in the Benelux imo: http://hificorner.nl

I would spend about €400 on the amp and the rest on (second hand) speakers if I were you. It's very important to have a good amp to build your set around. The Yamaha RX-V375 is not good enough imo. Not enough power. The Denon AVR-X2000 has a lot of bang for the buck imo. At the shop I mentioned earlier they are priced very competitevely.

 

[Lycus]

Hello fellow countryman! :wave:

With this kind of budget I believe it would be wiser to buy second hand. Especially for speakers you can gain a lot of quality if you do that.

If you want HDMI inputs/outputs you'd have to buy an AV amp or surround receiver. This site has the best prices and the most brands in the Benelux imo: http://hificorner.nl

I would spend about €400 on the amp and the rest on (second hand) speakers if I were you. It's very important to have a good amp to build your set around. The Yamaha RX-V375 is not good enough imo. Not enough power. The Denon AVR-X2000 has a lot of bang for the buck imo. At the shop I mentioned earlier they are priced very competitevely.

Alright! Thanks!

Any idea what I should be looking for as 2nd hand speakers?

 

[Audiofoolius]

Speakers are a very personal preference. And there is a lot of choice nowadays.

I actually have a spare pair of B&W 685 speakers that I haven't used for the better part of a year since I made an upgrade to the KEF LS 50. I don't know where you're from in Belgium but I would gladly let you use them for a while to see if they are your cup of tea. But then you'd need to have an amp and source to hook them up to of course. :doh:

 

[Lycus]

Speakers are a very personal preference. And there is a lot of choice nowadays.

I actually have a spare pair of B&W 685 speakers that I haven't used for the better part of a year since I made an upgrade to the KEF LS 50. I don't know where you're from in Belgium but I would gladly let you use them for a while to see if they are your cup of tea. But then you'd need to have an amp and source to hook them up to of course. :doh:

Thanks for the offer! But I don't have an amp/reciever at the moment so that won't help much yet ;-).

I'm doubting a bit beteen B&W 685 s2 & KEF LS 50's at the moment, what made you change from B&W to KEF?

 

[Audiofoolius]

Upgrade-itis. :rofl:

I heard/read a lot of buzz about the KEF LS 50 and got a bit excited. Generally there wasn't much wrong with the sound of the B&W 685, but I wanted a little more neutrality and I also felt that my set (Naim components) deserved an even better pair of speakers to get the most out of them.

And now I have the feeling that my speakers deserve even better amplification to hear them at their best. It's a dangerous hobby!