Hi
I am sorry my requirements are not going to be particularly exciting as low budget but I would really appreciate any help anyone may be able to give me. I have spend hours and hours reading forums trying to understand as much as I can in order to make the best possible purchase for my available budget, but it is so complex and so many variables to consider!
I have had for the previous 5 years a Yamaha V361 av receiver and 5.1 Yamaha nx7 speakers (or something similar), but I rarely ever watch TV/films and 95% of it's use is for music. I was thinking that I would be able to achieve much better quality by investing in a hifi system rather than the av system, which seems to be the case from the reading that I have done.
I have got a budget of around £700, I am assuming this will be enough to buy a worth while upgrade from my current set up. Sorry for the detail to come but not sure how much of it is important. I do not own a cd player so all of the music that I listen to is either from my:
- laptop which has a Toshlink or regular headphone socket out
- dj mixer which has 2x 6.35 mm balanced jack sockets out (but I currently use a jack to rca cable and do not believe it is common for a home system to have a dual 6.36 input)
- Sony A865 mp3 player with a regular rca to phono cable
- Audio-technica Ath m50 headphones
The music that I listen/mix is mainly house but some techno/disco/swing so I would want the system to be able to handle bass well.
The speakers that I was going to choose between were the monitor bx2 or the Tannoy V4s, am leaning to the Tannoy but purely because I have in my head that floorspeakers would handle bass better than bookshelves. I picked these two due to good ratings on whathifi and being in the right price range of £250ish. Is there better?
The amplifiers that I were looking at are the Cambridge audio 651 or the MARANTZ PM7004 both around £450. Again I was leaning towards the cambridge as it has got a built in dac where I dont believe the Marantz has. Is my understand correct that a dac is important if using a laptop as the input?
My other option is to buy a cheaper amp like the Yamaha S500 or the MARANTZ PM6004 both around £250-£300 and also a dac for around 200. I guess the bit I do not understand is - Is it better to buy a better amp and not use a dac or a cheaper amp and use a dac, or is the cambridge the best of both?
Thanks in advance for the help, I am sorry for the length of the message. It has been very frustrating trying to buy a system without knowing enough about the technology (and I thought I was pretty good compared to most).
Adam
I am sorry my requirements are not going to be particularly exciting as low budget but I would really appreciate any help anyone may be able to give me. I have spend hours and hours reading forums trying to understand as much as I can in order to make the best possible purchase for my available budget, but it is so complex and so many variables to consider!
I have had for the previous 5 years a Yamaha V361 av receiver and 5.1 Yamaha nx7 speakers (or something similar), but I rarely ever watch TV/films and 95% of it's use is for music. I was thinking that I would be able to achieve much better quality by investing in a hifi system rather than the av system, which seems to be the case from the reading that I have done.
I have got a budget of around £700, I am assuming this will be enough to buy a worth while upgrade from my current set up. Sorry for the detail to come but not sure how much of it is important. I do not own a cd player so all of the music that I listen to is either from my:
- laptop which has a Toshlink or regular headphone socket out
- dj mixer which has 2x 6.35 mm balanced jack sockets out (but I currently use a jack to rca cable and do not believe it is common for a home system to have a dual 6.36 input)
- Sony A865 mp3 player with a regular rca to phono cable
- Audio-technica Ath m50 headphones
The music that I listen/mix is mainly house but some techno/disco/swing so I would want the system to be able to handle bass well.
The speakers that I was going to choose between were the monitor bx2 or the Tannoy V4s, am leaning to the Tannoy but purely because I have in my head that floorspeakers would handle bass better than bookshelves. I picked these two due to good ratings on whathifi and being in the right price range of £250ish. Is there better?
The amplifiers that I were looking at are the Cambridge audio 651 or the MARANTZ PM7004 both around £450. Again I was leaning towards the cambridge as it has got a built in dac where I dont believe the Marantz has. Is my understand correct that a dac is important if using a laptop as the input?
My other option is to buy a cheaper amp like the Yamaha S500 or the MARANTZ PM6004 both around £250-£300 and also a dac for around 200. I guess the bit I do not understand is - Is it better to buy a better amp and not use a dac or a cheaper amp and use a dac, or is the cambridge the best of both?
Thanks in advance for the help, I am sorry for the length of the message. It has been very frustrating trying to buy a system without knowing enough about the technology (and I thought I was pretty good compared to most).
Adam
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