Budget quality setup

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Aug 10, 2019
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Hello people of What hifi? forums.

I am looking to purchase a nice basic starter system for around €1500-~2000 which still offers the performance I want.

I am mostly interested in an amp and 2 floorstanding speakers. A CD player would be a luxury but if I can get better components for the other parts I would prefer to perhaps get a CD player later, or perhaps not at all.

'Not at all' because I intend to mostly play (lossless) audio files from a computer. This is where it gets tricky. I can't find many amps that accept digital input (thereby bypassing my computer's audio card DAC) which is what I want.

The products I have been looking at and listening to so far are the Kef Q500s (auditioned driven by a CA 840A+C edit:(which sounded superb to my ears by the way)). And I'm quite interested in the Marantz PM6003/7004 and maybe the Cambridge Audio 650A/C (but these are quite pricy in my country, the Netherlands). Now, I also saw the Yamaha A-S500 recommended with a 5 star rating here, but I'm not sure about the compatibility with perhaps a CD player and, correct me if I'm wrong, there's no digital input.

I'm open to any suggestions or tips since this will be my first hifi purchase apart from some Sennheiser HD595 headphones.

As for the musical styles I listen to, they're just very widespread, ranging from classical to rock to ambient to 'dance' music (I'm only a college student). The room for this is either a 3x4 meter dorm room or a 5x4 room.

Of course, I am aware that I should buy what I think sounds best. But there are also some technical issues I don't specifically trust the local retailer with to answer, as most here have a penchant for a certain brand.

Please let me know if you want additional information, till then, thanks in advance.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
i'm pretty sure the harmon kardon hk990 has an onboard dac and digital inputs, 150 watts per channel too, might be worth checking out...
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Thanks, that does seem to meet my requirements specification wise, but of course I don't know about its real world performance and the larger problem is that the lowest I can get it at is ?1400, which is quite a large chunk of my budget.

With the usage of circuitboards and computing technology in today's amps I would expect a simple digital input before the amp's DAC isn't too much to ask but apparently I'm at fault to expect it at a price point of ~?600. Maybe the market has to develop more away from CD players (Which I reckon will decrease in popularity at this budget price point more and more, though I can't predict any future) to develop better solutions than external DACs.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Something like a KingRex T20U amplifier that has a USB input with an onboard Burr Brown DAC add their off board linear PSU which gives you about 450?uros worth of amplification then add a decent pair of floor standers with about 90db sensitivity and away you go, no need for a CD player.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
@silly Thanks for the suggestion, it does seem to be very to the point which is quite applicable but I think it's impossible to actually hear that amp in that setup with the speakers of my preference which is a shame.

@maxflinn

The Netherlands (Holland, Amsterdam). Yes, I see that they actually offer EU at a 'bespoke' shipping pricing. I shall contact them... thanks.

However I can't seem to find a dedicated HiFi (which would have a range of different speakers) dealer that also has Harman Kardon equipment.

In hifi, I do like to apply a sort of 'what you hear is what you get' principle, though I often buy blind in other electronics, I am very much aware of the differences from person to person in aural perception.
 

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