Another n00b question: Complete system

[admin_exported]

Howdy guys,

New to the forum so I thought Id start by asking a usual noobie question. I am looking to get myself a new seperates system with a CD, Tuner and ipod attachment. I have a good budget of around £1000 (very top end I must admit!) and both my Dad and my brother have Technics systems (with my dad having Qef(?) floor standing speakers. Id like something quality and not just loud (which the guy in Richer Sounds seemed to find more important than quality!)

Essentially, I listen to rock/metal/emo music but really enjoy all types such as Classical, moody bassy stuff ala Massive Attack, Mogwai etc and radio 4 stuff like comedy shows, documentories etc . I have a hard wood floor with quite high ceilings and the room is about 15 x 25 feet.

My main questions are: What would be a good system to consider for this?

Floor standing speakers vs book shelf speakers: if I can afford it, should you always go for floor standing speakers?

What makes an amp better than another one? What should I be looking for?

Any newbie advice would be gratefully recieved! My email/msn is gareth-morgan (at) hotmail.com if anyone fancies a chat or helping me discover new music!

 

[Andrew Everard]

No, you don't need floorstanding speakers, and there's an argument for saying that with your hard wooden floor you should certainly steer clear of designs with their bass units mounted too low down, as you will get a lot of reflected bass which can tend to dominate matters.

Nonetheless, with a room that large to fill, I'd suggest looking at floorstanding speakers such as the Q Acoustics 1030 or Mordaunt-Short MS914s, at around £230 and 3250 respectively, as this will then leave you with a decent amount of the folding stuff to buy the rest of the system.

For CD players, consider the much-recommended Cambridge Audio Azur 640C v2.0 at £250, but also take a listen to the Pioneer PD-D6-J at about £100 more.

The best amp buys at this kind of level are the Cambridge Azur 540A v2.0, at about £250, the Rotel RA-04 for the same money, and the £180 Marantz PM4001.

Tuners? You'd have to spend quite a bit more money to better the Denon TU-1800DAB, which covers both FM and DAB bands, or if you prefer to stick with FM only, the less expensive TU-1500AE.

 

[Anonymous]

Excellent, I did look at the Cambridge audio stuff before hand and Ive heard good things about it so Ill have another look today!

 

[Anonymous]

FYI, Just ordered the system Cambridge system with richer, its been delivered so Ill be running some tests on it and by friday I should know more! It comes with the basic interconnectors etc and the bookshelf speakers so Ill be toying with maybe upgrading the speakers but Ill let you know how I get on!