Advice on building a new system - Ebay or Richer Sounds ? ? ?

[northernsoul]

[size=3 face=Calibri>Ok after many years of changing, swapping, selling and generally becoming an obsessive fool with regards to Hi-Fi I am in a position to once again try and build a system that will have my toes tapping.

[size=3 face=Calibri>I guess the 2 most important factors are my budget and the room that it will be situated in.Ok after many years of changing, swapping, selling and generally becoming an obsessive fool with regards to Hi-Fi I am in a position to once again try and build a system that will have my toes tapping.[/size=3 face=Calibri>I guess the 2 most important factors are my budget and the room that it will be situated in.I guess the 2 most important factors are my budget and the room that it will be situated in.The music I listen to would include Dire Straits, George Michael, Neil Diamond and various other middle of the road artists!

In terms of what to buy I am torn between going down the 2nd hand market via ebay or the RS route and look at the current deal they have on pairing the 650 series electronics with the MS Mezzo 2’s ( I plan to go and listen to the system on Saturday).The music I listen to would include Dire Straits, George Michael, Neil Diamond and various other middle of the road artists![/size=3 face=Calibri>I guess the 2 most important factors are my budget and the room that it will be situated in.The music I listen to would include Dire Straits, George Michael, Neil Diamond and various other middle of the road artists!

In terms of what to buy I am torn between going down the 2nd hand market via ebay or the RS route and look at the current deal they have on pairing the 650 series electronics with the MS Mezzo 2’s ( I plan to go and listen to the system on Saturday).

 

[d_a_n1979]

IMO I'd be going down the eBay route; you'll get more 'bang for your buck' via the 2nd hand seperates route than you will brand new

For your budget and taste in music I'd be looking at:

Amps:

Arcam DiVA A85
Arcam Alpha 9 or 10
NAD C355BEE / C326BEE
Creek Evo
Musical Fidelity XA1
Cyrus 6vs2/8vs2

CDP:

Arcam DiVA CD72 or CD73
Arcam Alpha 9
NAD C542 / C545BEE
Musical Fidelity XRay
Cyrus 6CD SE

Speakers

B&W 685's
Monitor Audio RS1's
Arcaydis DM1's (brand new)
Dali Lektor 2's (brand new)

Dont forget that youll need to budget for speaker cable, interconnects and speaker stands as well. The likes of the QED Silver Anniversary/Chord Carnival Silverscreen speaker cables would be more than fine; the Chord Crimson or Atlas Equator or even the Blak Rhodium Prelude interconnects would suit very well and stands such as the Atacama Nexus 6i's or the Soundstyle Z2's would be spot on

 

[John Duncan]

Whilst I agree that you can get an awful lot of stereo for your money on the 'Bay, the 800 quid that Richer are asking for the Cambridge and Mezzo combo is very tempting - the prices they've gone for on eBay recently are more expensive for second hand than you're paying for that system new with warranty...

 

[Anonymous]

Have to agree with John here, although ebay seems like a better bargain, hi-fi stuff can be trashed (especially speakers) and you could inherit some worn out gear with little or no come-back. Richer Sounds are a great place to start the ball rolling and offer some great deals with warrenty and technical support which I have always found very helpful...impo by the way !!!

 

[northernsoul]

Thanks John,

Going to listen to the CA and Mezzo combo on Saturday and it is indeed as you say very tempting.

Thanks for the 2nd hand advice dan, I was thinking along the lines of the Arcam A75 with corresponding CD and partnering with a pair of RS1's - I like the styling of the electtronics and the speakers and having previously owned an alpha 9 I do like the Arcam sound. I would go again with an Alpha 9 but find the styling a little dated for my tastes.

 

[d_a_n1979]

The DiVA A85 amp would be the one to go for; it'd do VERY well with the CD72 or CD73 and some M/A RS1 speakers

I agree with what Johns said as buying new gives you the safety etc but if you make sure that the eBayer is a good one with good feedback and you can see plenty of pictures then it's sometimes worth the risk!

The A85 with the CD72 IMO is hell of a better combo that the C/A gear at RS but at the end of the day its your £££

Another 'new' combo to consider would be the NAD C326BEE amp, Marantz CD6003 or the NAD C545BEE CD player and the Dali Lektor 2 speakers.

Can be bought from SightandSoundUK but I'm sure you'll be able to demo the gear locally to you

 

[Sizzers]

IIRC the A75 was considered pretty awful.

A65+ would be a good bet. I was looking for one of those myself along with a Pioneer A400 but gave up with all the c*** on fleabay. Good place to look for second hand gear is www.hifi-adverts.co.uk

 

[scene]

See my signature - I can't recommend the A85 enough - I've had one since new. They're very popular secondhand. One thing to be aware, if you're looking to add a turntable later, the A85 had an optional MC/MM switchable phono stage - added by Arcam. I have one - it's very nice and makes the A85 an all round stunner. I'm still looking for a P85 to go with it (there's one on ebay at the mo...)

My Silver 8i's sound fantastic with A85 - might be worth seeing if any on ebay...

 

[Anonymous]

My system was bought in the following way:

Electronics - second hand Cyrus Unofficial forum except one amp

Speakers - New from shops

Cables - second hand mainly ebay

 

[the record spot]

Ebay, or Richer Sounds, or, perhaps Superfi? They're doing the underrated Harman Kardon HK980 CDP and Amp combo for £469, leaving you about £350 for your speakers. Alternatively, they're doing the Onkyo A5VL amp and C5VL SACD/CD player (great review in Hi Fi World for this pairing) for about £599.

One or two places are doing the Audiolab 8000S and 8000CDE (i.e. the little brother of the 8000CD) for about £599, which is deffo worth considering. Just add speakers in all cases.

Lastly, don't get too bogged down by spending loads on interconnects and speaker cable. I use some copper core interconnects (from Computergear's Pro Audio range) that cost me £7 and they do the same job as the Audioquests and Van den Huls costing ten times more. Save the cash and add it to the core components. Failing that, buy a set and compare to more expensive ones if you must. Likewise with speakers cable - check out Roger Russell's website (ex-McIntosh engineer). You should be able to do your wiring up for less than £30 if you wish to.

 

[Anonymous]

I have just had a little look on the bay and for your budget you could get

REGA APOLLO CDP BLACK £360 OR BEST OFFER

REGA MIRA 3 BLACK ON AUCTION

AND REGA RS1 SPEAKERS £199 NEW

nice little combo and if you play it right it should come in on budget!

 

[alex cook]

I'd probably go for the Richer sounds deal then use ebay later to upgrade . you'll have a good solid starting point and guarantees.

 

[Scissor_digits]

Of course the third option is ex demo/display kit from a dealer. You'll be getting almost brand new kit usually with the remainder of the warranty as well.

 

[JamesOK]

d_a_n1979:The DiVA A85 amp would be the one to go for; it'd do VERY well with the CD72 or CD73 and some M/A RS1 speakers

I agree with what Johns said as buying new gives you the safety etc but if you make sure that the eBayer is a good one with good feedback and you can see plenty of pictures then it's sometimes worth the risk!

The A85 with the CD72 IMO is hell of a better combo that the C/A gear at RS but at the end of the day its your £££

Another 'new' combo to consider would be the NAD C326BEE amp, Marantz CD6003 or the NAD C545BEE CD player and the Dali Lektor 2 speakers.

Can be bought from SightandSoundUK but I'm sure you'll be able to demo the gear locally to you

I'd agree, I had the A85 and CD82 for several years and really liked it. You could upgrade somewhere down the line with a P85 (as I did). The other plus point is that you wont have to deal with RicherSounds if you go the ebay route...

 

[richardw42]

I got my current music setup from ebay. Took a couple of months as you need to be quite picky. Including postage this is what I paid.
Roksan candy KC1 CDP - £191, Musical Fidelity x-A2 amp £290, Monitor Audio RS6 (New) £291
So in total spent just over 770. Think the cdp about right, think I paid prob 20 or 30 too much for amp but the real bargain was the new speakers.
Trouble is with ebay is that you get no opportunity to audition and no warranty.
I'm happy with what I got but already looking at maybe changing the cdp

 

[Big Chris]

Make sure you audition the C.A stuff. My father in-law has the 540 amp and 640 CD. Underwhelmed isn't the word, and this was when I had my A65+ & CD72T.

 

[Anonymous]

Personally I would be going down the Ebay route as there really are some genuine bargins to be had and you will almost certainly be getting more for your money. All my kit apart from the speakers was bought second hand from ebay/another forum and im more than happy with what I got for the ammount I paid. I wouldn't worry about buying second hand as quality hi-fi tends to have been looked after by previous owners.

 

[matthewpiano]

I don't quite agree here. The Cambridge Audio stuff is excellent, and both the CD players and amps are amongst the best at or near their price points. The Mordaunt-Short Mezzo 2s are brilliant speakers and compliment the CA amps really well. The 650 system you are looking at would be very hard to beat for the money IMO, even if you were to look at 2nd hand, and the new gear has the distinct advantage of Richer Sounds' excellent customer service too.

 

[Ronald Archiebald]

THESTIG08:
I have just had a little look on the bay and for your budget you could get

REGA APOLLO CDP BLACK £360 OR BEST OFFER

REGA MIRA 3 BLACK ON AUCTION

AND REGA RS1 SPEAKERS £199 NEW

nice little combo and if you play it right it should come in on budget!

Excellent choice, if the OP decides to go for these. I have always found E-Bay fantastic for hi-fi/home cinema kit where very good bargains can be had.

 

[Anonymous]

You could try the Separo SE88i amp with Klipsch RB-61 speakers and a pair of Apollo AZ stands. You can get the speakers on eBay new for about £240. The stands are £100 and the amp a touch over £300. I have just bought this set up and imho the sound is very good indeed. So much so that I took my primary system back for a refund after the second component failure in 6 weeks. Even returned the IQ5's.

 

[SonofSun]

The best value is to be had on ebay without a doubt. However, the main problem is that you won't be able to demo, so you will need to do your research (you may still get a warranty though).

I would spend the most money on the amplifier (this is the heart of the system). Next, I would go for speakers (these can make the biggest sound difference for the money). Finally the source, you can always upgrade this later and this will have the least effect on the system (money wise).

Definitely, don't spend too much on cables. Get some thick speaker copper cable, and you can get some IC's for about a tenner. These make the least difference sound wise to your system, and if you are a cable believer you can always upgrade later.

A lot of people recommend the CA stuff from Richer sounds, I would bear in my that this is still budget equipment and if you shop wisely on the bay, you will achieve a much better sound.

Also, if you buy the right brands (on the bay) you will be able to get your money back if you don't like the component (or even make a small profit).

Hope this helps, I see there is some good advise already posted.

Have fun.