budget cd system for 600 max

[admin_exported]

Hi, my current system has gone pop after a little 3 yr old has been prodding, twisting, and switching.

My musical tastes vary from electronica, dance and classic and would like a system that has some drive and attack, but good with vocals.

I want to avoid harsh treble and slow flabby bass.

My current system consists of marantz pm7200 amp, marantz cd5200 player and kef Q3 floorstanding speakers, as ive said the whole lot is now redundant so have to start all over again, but i did find my current system a bit warm and soft for my liking although vocals were good to my ears.

any ideas where i should start looking?

ive found some deals at superfi and richersounds within my budget but im looking to your advice for best possible system matching.

products on my mind are from marantz, denon, and cambridge audio with no idea on speakers!

regards mali

 

[timwileman]

recommened by what hifi is the marantz pm 6002 and cd6002 with moniftor audio BR2 speakers..................you can get the marantz cdp and amp for 200 each and if you hunt around the speakers for just under 200...............???

 

[John Duncan]

Why is the whole lot redundant?

 

[drummerman]

Perhaps controversially, I'd go a different route.

Source a second/h or ex dem cyrus 8vs for £500 or thereabouts (there was one mentioned for £450 here recently), add Nad's 515BEE player and a budget speaker such as Tannoys F1 custom which seems to do well at the moment and is available for £90 quid or thereabouts. Then in 3 or 4 months funds provided, sell the said Tannoys for £40 and buy some Rega R3's/Epos or whatever tickles your fancy and another 3 months down the line, come xmas bonus buy a matching cyrus player. There should be some good discounts around by then as the current model is being phased out (its a great player). Nad's little player will match well with the 8vs and do a good job til you can afford the cyrus and you will get £90 or so back even in 6 months.

This way you have a great amplifier as a building block for years, dont compromise with source and only slightly with the speakers. If you split your budget equally you can at best buy £250 components each which means something like a MABR2 (not that great anyway).

Of course the above only applies if you do plan to upgrade and only if you like cyrus

 

[jaz9090]

I would reccomend timwileman's suggestion of the marantz cd6002 and pm6002, I just bought those (did get the 640c v1 but it broke almost immediatly) with a pair of maudant short 902i's, a great sounding system, doesnt seem too warm, but have a listen for yourself in richer, they should have a demo room - only issue is that currently there is a shortage of these marantz products in the uk as they have been unexpectedly popular so you may have to wait a couple of weeks.

My system including an atlantic interconnect and 4 x 2m of GALE SYMPHONY 400 speaker cable cost me £570, if you want the gale T50s then that could be the entire system including cables and speaker stands (although you may have them already?) for £600 - thats Richer Sounds - I got a slight discount on some of the bits, saved about £15 there.

 

[the record spot]

Is the PM7200 beyond repair? Excellent amp; big beefy Class A (was it?) monster of a thing that was slightly off Marantz's usual radar. Hang on to it if you can, check repair options out - a £100 fix frees up your options. I can see how that might be the least likely to be affected compared to - for instance - CD player tray being covered in jam, or the oft-occurring tweeter squidge courtesy of your wee one!

If that's the case, or something like it, let's budget £120 and put that out the way towards a repair job on the 7200. Leaves you about £480 to get a CD player and an pair of speakers. Obvious contender at this budget would be the Marantz CD6002 deal at Richer Sounds for £200, but not forgetting NAD's C542 which also gives you HDCD compatibility, there's Audiolab's 8000CDE and Pioneer's PD-D6-J, both at £350, the latter having SACD capability too. Of course, no £250-ish listing is complete without Cambridge Audio's 640 CD player.

How about the used market? The Teac VRDS 10 can be yours for around £350 - good build and a fine transport, certainly as good as what's out there right now and probably better in many cases. A used Micromega Stage 3, or the Rega Planet are also in the £350 - £275 bracket. The Micromega, a few years old now, was a super player in its' day - roughly 7-10 years ago and build was excellent.

Speaker options include, depending on what you like, secondhand Quad 11L's but make sure it's first edition - a must audition if you see a pair and will withstand a future upgrade - Monitor Audio Bronze's at £200, Acoustic Energy Neo 1's at around £200 (new), Wharfedale 9.1s at £180 or so and the usual suspects around the £150 mark.

There's a ton of options and this is the tip of the iceberg; you can achieve a really good set-up and I hope your PM7200 amp can be rescued. If not, I'd probably go with Richer Sounds Marantz deal with the 6002 CD player and amp at £200 each and then see what they offer with speakers (they might knock £50 off the Mordaunt Short 914s which are normally £250 for example) or you can shop around.

All the best with it!