A new System

[admin_exported]

Hi all. I need a complete new system. I've always bought systems off the shelf. This time I've decided to go with a system of separates. I initially wanted to have surround sound in the living room, but after talking to Mrs. Boss and mulling over other things I've decided to forego the surround sound system. What I am looking for is this: A budget of £2500 What separates do I need I intend to plug the system into the TV, and based on what HI FI reviews, I am getting a Panasonic TX37LZD700 (Separate budget)

I want to be able to plug my lap top into the system What speakers do I need What is the story about cables? In an ordinary 4 bed semi-D, do they make that much difference? What else do I need? I normally listen to blues / rock if that makes any differenceI posted before, and after getting a response from “ifitsoundsgoodlistentoit”, had a good re-think of my needs. No bad thing there

 

[fatboyslimfast]

Firstly, if you are considering using your laptop, then I would invest in at least a decent USB sound card (keeps the analogue signals away from all that nasty digital stuff inside the laptop), and preferably the USB card with an external DAC such as the Beresford. The laptop will just plug into any amp you buy - with a set of 3.5mm - phono leads - but the difference in sound quality will be huge.

As for the rest, £2.5k is a nice budget to have. Did you want a CD player, or are you going to look at using a DVD for both? Also, what sort of size is your lounge (as this will make a difference as to what speakers to go for).

Finally, for gawd's sake don't start the cable thing again. The last time someone posted a "do cables make a difference" there was nearly fisticuffs...

. Suffice to say that reasonable speaker cables (~£5 per metre) and interconnects (or phono leads as I prefer to call them ~£20-30) will make a big difference to the free rubbish that comes with any system. But as to spending any more, well I think we just ought to say that it's down to personal preference and hearing...

 

[Anonymous]

• 
  I want to be able to use a lap top because I have put all my albums on an external hard drive, and I want to use that a lot.
• 
  the room measures 30 ft - 11 ft - 8 ft
• 
  Ideally I don't want big speakers but ones that will complement the system and not be too obvious.
• 
  I was under the impression that the combined CD / DVD player was for surround sound systems (showing lack of knowledge here) which is not what I want am looking for. However I will gladly take all advice.

Thanks

Ronan

 

[Anonymous]

Ahh nothing beats a proper hifi.
With that budget set your sights on Creek, Naim, Arcam maybe, Musical Fidelity, get a good proper amp-preamp combo or a cracking good integrated and then go speaker hunting. I always feel it prudent to buy the source first, then try the loudspeakers out with it. IMO

As for DAC's, I don't know a thing.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="fr0g"]
Then maybe a Squeezebox here - which will be able to stream wirelessly or wired from your PC
THEN maybe a NAS drive (such as the QNAP-101 (I have just bought one and it works a treat) will allow you to send your ripped albums to the squeezebox without having to turn on your PC
THEN maybe a nice external DAC - although you will probably need a good one for further improvement.

[/quote]

If you want to play HDD stored music this should work really well. I have the QNAP TS-109 (very similar to the TS-101) and it really is a great piece of kit at a very reasonable price ... you could probably have the QNAP enclosure and a 750gb HDD for around £250. The Squeezebox would then be able to access the music directly from the HDD. The QNAP also offers upgradability as you can attach an additional external drive to it.

I would recommend this over a laptop solution because as fr0g has already mentioned you don't need to have the laptop on to listen to music and there is nothing worse than a loud laptop fan churning away in the background (the QNAP is very quiet as the only noise it produces is the HDD spinning inside ... the box itself is made from some sort of metal and acts like a heatsink stopping the drive from overheating). Also, the storage room that the QNAP will give you will enable you to rip your music in a lossless fashion as laptop drives are typically too small to enable you to do this with a decent sized music collection.

The QNAP can also perform a variety of other functions including streaming of video to compatibile devices (for example a 360 or PS3).

I may sound like a sales rep for this product but its the best thing I've bought in the last two years, but in BBC style "other makes of NAS devices are also available ".

Then this would leave you with a dilema of a decent amp and speakers for around £2k or perhaps allocating your remaining budget:

- Benchmark DAC - £600 in total (in addition to the £100 budgeted for a lower quality DAC)

- Integrated amp - £500-£600 (Roksan? or something similar)

- Speakers - £900 to £1,000

And hopefully a dealer would chuck in some decent speaker cables and inter connects for free.

I wasn't sure whether you wanted to include a CD/DVD player in your CD system, so obviously that would impact the allocation of the budget. If you didn't want a CD player a PS3 may be a good idea ... not sure how it compares to other Blu-ray players but I heard it upscales DVDs pretty well (all of those cell processors must be doing some good). If you plan to listen to more CD music vs computer stored music I would suggest ditching an expensive DAC in favour of a decent CD player or a DVD player with decent CD capabilities. If that makes sense ....

 

[Anonymous]

I am thinking of a "DV7001 Universal Disc Player" and someone at work has suggested a "Onkyo TX-SR805". I didn't want to say so.......but why would I need this??. Please suggest cheaper just as good cheaper alternatives

Grimaldi : I've searched for the QNAP TS-109 and that is something that I very well just might get. Good one.

 

[Anonymous]

This is just to bump this up to the top again. Here is what I am thinking of so far

[*]
DV7001 Universal Disc Player
[*]
Do I need an "Onkyo" anything?
[*]
Marantz PM6002 as amp
[*]
What else do I need?
[*]
I don't know where to start with sprekers

Thanks

Ronan

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Ronan"]

This is just to bump this up to the top again. Here is what I am thinking of so far

[*]
DV7001 Universal Disc Player
[*]
Do I need an "Onkyo" anything?
[*]
Marantz PM6002 as amp
[*]
What else do I need?
[*]
I don't know where to start with sprekers

Thanks

Ronan

[/quote]

Dude, spent some time searching this forum. There is a wealth of knowledge to be had which will probably answer all your questions... or at the very least enable you to ask more specific questions.

Good luck!