Baic system with integrated hard drive

A

Anonymous

Guest
Oops, sorry! Looking for a basic system (CD player/amp/speakers or all-in-one) with integrated hard drive to copy and store our CDs. Streaming not required, although I suspect may be automatically included these days. Budget up to £1k. Room approx 6m x 6m. Any advice/thoughts much appreciated. Thanks.
 

John Duncan

Well-known member
There aren't that many with hard drives built in, tbh, since most people use their PC to do that. The obvious choices in that regard are the Brennan JB7 and the Cocktail X10, though personally I'd be more inclined to make use of a PC for storage and add a Squeezebox Touch to separate amp and speakers.

Another alternative would be to get an AirPlay-enabled unit like the Marantz 603 and use in iPod Touch as your 'hard drive'.

Does your £1k budget include speakers?
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Thanks for your reply. Yes, the £1k includes speakers. Had seen the Brennan before, but reviews seemed somewhat mixed. The Cocktail seems interesting, and has the ease of use that I'm looking for (the kids are fine with this stuff, it's me that's a bit slow...). Have to have a wander into town and try one out, particularly ref amplification levels, to see if it is 'big' enough to fill the room to a decent level or needs to be incorporated with a separate amp.

Thanks!
 

tino

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Sep 29, 2011
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External storage seems the way to go with these things although I can see why you might appreciate an all in one unit. Don't forget that an Apple iPod Classic with 160 Gigabytes of storage also can act as a hard drive when docked / plugged into a hifi system either directly or using a separate docking unit. Something like a Vita (Ruark) R4i is a good quality all in one unit (CD/DAB Radio/iPod Dock) and it also includes built in speakers. That might fit the bill or do you want something more 'hifi' with separate amp / speakers to fill your quite largish (6m x 6m) room?
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
What I'm looking for is a 'second room' system I suppose. I recently moved house, and the new house has a movie room, which was pre-wired for 5.1. My BOSE system went in there (yes, I know, but we were all young once and seduced by brand names...), and when the budget is back in the black, a projector will follow (chap left the wiring, mount etc, plus details of suitable systems for distance/throw, good bloke!). The living room has no system at the moment, but as it is for casual listening I am not looking for 'proper' hi-fi quality, and whatever it is has to be easy to use for all the family. The kids would doubtless be happy with a system with an I-Pod dock, she who must be obeyed is as techno-illiterate as I am. Thus the feeling that an integrated hard drive might be easier, despite the time required to load it. Yes, I looked at Olive (O3HD), although by the time speakers/cables are added, it is more than I wished to spend. It would seem that the consensus is to buck up and download everything to an external system (presumably I Tunes/IOS based system, so it would be compatible with the kids) and feed into a recognised separates system with enough oomph to feed the room size. Certainly that would give a far better choice of readily available systems, perhaps the missus and I now need to get the kids to show us how to run them!

Thanks to all for your inputs, Isaneng.
 
T

the record spot

Guest
isaneng said:
Thanks for your reply. Yes, the £1k includes speakers. Had seen the Brennan before, but reviews seemed somewhat mixed. The Cocktail seems interesting, and has the ease of use that I'm looking for (the kids are fine with this stuff, it's me that's a bit slow...). Have to have a wander into town and try one out, particularly ref amplification levels, to see if it is 'big' enough to fill the room to a decent level or needs to be incorporated with a separate amp.

Thanks!

The Cocktail Audio comes equipped with up to 2TB onboard storage and a 60w amp. Or you can put it with a separate amp and run it that way. The 2TB version comes in at around £450-500, leaving you with £500 to get your speakers, or thereabouts if you buy a separate amp as well.

EDIT: Or alternatively, if you want relatively fuss-free, there's the Marantz as JD mentioned, or my Onkyo, both of which can connect to your network. The latter has Spotify connectivity, so if you have an account, you can stream music (I know you said you didn't want that, but if you want a second system and aren't too fussed for ripping discs this makes a decent halfway house).
 

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