advice for beginner

[pete.g]

Having spent a few years (and lots of cash) building up my home cinema my attention is now turning once again to HiFi

I am looking for a decent entry to midrange set up (cdp, amp and bookshelf speakers) I would look to add a turntable at a later stage.

have been looking at Nad and Marantz so far - budget of approx 800 - 1000

Any sugestions welcome

Cheers

 

[shooter]

Marantz is a great entry system with the CD6003 and PM6003 amp partner with Wharfdale Diamond 10.1 for a nice sounding system. Add some Chord cable's to finish.

 

[plastic penguin]

pete.g:

Having spent a few years (and lots of cash) building up my home cinema my attention is now turning once again to HiFi

I am looking for a decent entry to midrange set up (cdp, amp and bookshelf speakers) I would look to add a turntable at a later stage.

have been looking at Nad and Marantz so far - budget of approx 800 - 1000

Any sugestions welcome

Cheers

Assuming your max budget is for amp/CDP and speakers, I would, without any hesitation, go with Arcam DIVA range. They all have a wonderful built-in phono stage and if you wish to upgrade at a later date, their power amps are amongst the best at the price.

The best match for Arcam is Monitor Audio or B&W. Get it right and Arcam, in my view, are unbeatable at the price.

 

[d_a_n1979]

What kind of music do you generally listen to Pete? Also; are you after standmount or floorstanding speakers, or either?

IMO the NAD C326BEE amp, NAD C545BEE CDP and B&W 685 or Dali Lektor 2 speakers would be well worth demoing. If you're after floorstanding speakers then use the above amp/CDP but take a look at the Acoustic Energy Neo 3 speakers or the Q Acoustic 2050 speakers.

Another idea could be to go 2nd hand via eBay and the likes. Better seperates can be bought usually for similar prices to new seperates.

A NAD C352 or Arcam DiVa A85 integrated amp would go very well with a NAD C542 CDP or an Arcam CD72 CDP and possibly Monitor Audio BR5 speakers.

There's so many choices...

 

[scene]

The A85 is a great AMP (see my signature - I've had one from new

). Shame you can only get them secondhand these days. The Phono stage was an optional extra - I had one fitted - so not all A85s come with them and I'm not sure if you can still get Arcam to fit them any more - so be careful if you're particularly interested in that.

The option to add a P85 or P90 power amp to the set up is particularly attractive - I'm saving pennies and watching the auctions for one.

MAs and Arcams go together very well (again see my sig.)...