Budget hi-fi

[admin_exported]

Hi all,

I am looking to spend between £550 and £650 on an amp and speakers.

I listen in a 15m^2 room, carpet floor. I am limited for space quite a bit so there is a high chance the speakers would back up close to a wall. I wouldnt listen at extreme volumes, obviously, due to the size of the room.

I listen to a mixture of FLAC and mp3 (streamed from PC) and a few CDs. I listen to a variety of music so it would be safer to say I DONT listen to heavy metal - other than that its a wide range.

I know many people will comment that I have to go and listen before I buy blah blah blah. My problem is time, i don't have much time to audition speaker and amp combos all day so I am looking on here for suggestions of what to go and demo.I have an old pair of b&w 610i and love the sound of b&w's.

thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[Anonymous]

And include some speaker stands, incase i need some

 

[the record spot]

What kind of sound do you like Isaac?

 

[Anonymous]

Are you not keeping the old speakers with you, how do you plan to play from your pc?

 

[SonofSun]

I would go second hand, you will get far more bang for your buck. There is loads of great kit on ebay.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your responses. I'm not really sure what sound I like as I have little experience, but I do like the sounds of the B&Ws.

I have pc speakers aswell and I stream to the Hifi. So think of the speakers just as hifi, not PC speakers.

what speakers would you suggest on ebay and for what prices?

thanks.

 

[Big Chris]

If you're planning to stick with B&W. You could look at the 685 (standmount), or 684 (floorstander). These are from the current range, but they've been about for a bit, so you should be able to find some fairly good prices.

If you want to spend a bit less, you could look at the previous 600 S3 range. Starting with the 601 S3 (standmount), 602 S3 (large standmount), 602.5 S3 (small floorstander), 603 S3 (floorstander) and 604 S3 (large floorstander).

Bear in mind the 600 S3 range are now getting on to be 10 years old, but don't discount them out of hand. If they've been well looked after, they're still cracking speakers.... As one look at my sig should confirm.😉

You might be able to find some CM1s inside your budget. They're small standmounts from the range above the current 68 range so will command a premium.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the response, I've been looking at all those speakers a fair bit and my main concern was finding a decent amp to drive them all within the budget. The 685s are £380 so i'd need to find a decent amp for around 200, any suggestions?

And how do the 601/602s compare to my old 610i ?

I am running cambridge audio s30 with a cambridge audio A500, but I assume a better amp would be recommended for the likes of the 685s or CM1s.

Thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the suggestions, I will keep an eye out for the amps then.

That leaves me around 300 for the speakers, do you suggest ebay for speakers even though i cant audition?

Thanks

 

[Big Chris]

An audition would be much better. You don't want to end up with gear which you hate. Of course, the beauty of buying off eBay is that if you get a good deal, you shouldn't lose much, if anything, should you want to get rid of it.

Have you got any mates with any of the stuff you're looking at?

Alternatively, you could go and demo current stuff at dealers. It won't be exact, but it'll give you an idea of the 'house sound' of certain manufacturers and will give you an idea of which stuff to totally dismiss.

It may not be entirely ethical getting dealer demos and then buying stuff on eBay, but you're not looking at buying new gear, and if you feel guilty you can always buy some speaker cable or interconnects off of them.

 

[Anonymous]

If you like the sound of your existing speakers and you still have them in use, may be it is better if put your budget into Amplifier and an external dac to be used with your pc (in case you still havent got). Same brand speakers from generations apart do not always sound the same.

 

[Big Chris]

Yeah, I think you're at the limits of what your amp can do. Not heard your 610s I'm afraid, but the 600 S3 range was/is a good 'un, with many fans.

Second hand amps can also offer great VFM. My current amp an Arcam A85 integrated with P85 power amp cost me less than £500 off eBay... New it would have been £1500 for the pair!

I think the A85 is a cracking amp (many here do), and you should be able to track one down for less than £300. Also look for Rotel's RA-05, RA-06 or 1062 amps. Cambridge Audio's 640 or 740 amps might also be worth a look.

If I can think of any decent amps that should fall into the sub £300 budget on eBay, I'll let you know. I'm sure others here will have alternative recommendations.

 

[Anonymous]

I don't have an external DAC, but i was planning on getting a logitech squeezebox soon, to go with the many others in the house. I assume a squeezebox has a decent DAC?

Not sure about trying at dealer and not buying, mainly because if i hear something i love there, then it'll be difficult for me not to buy it. I will look out for one of the amps above, probably Rotel as they have had better reviews on the whole, and then wait for time to audition speakers approproate to the price bracket i'll have after buying the amp.

thanks for all comment

 

[Anonymous]

I used to own an SB3 for a while, sorry for all logitech fan but i would not say i will use it as my source for my primary listening set. It is a convenient piece of equipment but i didnt find its sound very good on itself until i hooked it up with my then cambridge 840c. Though many of myfriends had praised the mod duet as a very good gear.

Have u ever listened to the q acoustics. I found them to be some very great affordable speakers.

 

[csq2]

iPod is the easiest to store and play music IMO and 320kbps MP3s is good enough, so...

Source: iPod or Wireless Streaming thru Laptop

Amp: Denon RCD-N7

Speakers: Tannoy Mercury V Floorstanders