Hi-Fi Upgrade suggestions?

[admin_exported]

Hi everyone,

My brother is fanatic about classical music. He spends his entire time in his bedroom listening to the stuff. The only problem is he has a pretty poor sound system. He has a stereo system from argos which is pretty much worthless (cost £30 about 8 years ago). He has this connected to a logitech x530 home cinema speaker system (I dont know enough about Hi-Fis to know if this is any good).

I have less than £100 to spend on a present. Thing is I dont know whether to get him a new Hi-Fi or not, as he would only be able to use his current speakers or the speaker with the Hi-Fi, so it would seem a bit of a waste. Is it possible to get a Hi-Fi with no speakers included? Any suggestions are welcome!

 One last thing: he has an Ipod with tonnes of music on it. I'm not sure how he listens to it at the minute, I'm thinking he uses an fm transmitter which is pretty poor quality. Because of this, I'm thinking something with mp3 connectivity would be a great idea.

 Thanks for your help! 

 

 

 

[Anonymous]

It's very hard to get hi-fi sound for GBP100. I'm not from the UK, but from what I've read on this forum you can buy a second hand/vintage amplifier for GBP 30 or so; if you add a pair of used entry-level speakers for GBP 70 you end up with a complete system.

You only have to connect a source to it, such as a cheap DVD player.

 

[ElectroMan]

Maybe a pair of good headphones to go with his iPod, as that would sound a lot better than any upgrade you could make to his sysem!

(I spent a lot of time when I was younger listening to Wagner and Mahler on headphones - it was mindblowing!)

 

[Anonymous]

i would second a pair of good headphones

i use beyerdynamic dt-250's - you will find them in most studios and they have excellent tonal accuracy and drive. They will sound 10x better on his ipod.

ÿ

You can't really get good kit for £100. Sure a new hifi might sound better than his current one. He would love a fatman carbon valve amp with ipod dock but this is too much. It would be the only thing worth getting in new hifi terms. Second hand they are a v.v.good buy with some decent speakers. He would love them too. ÿ

 

[the record spot]

Check out gumtree - you'd be surprised what crops up there; a guy was offering a Marantz CD6000 OSE for £65 the other day (this was the Edinburgh site). Good VFM IMO and in good nick too by the look of it. Have a look for your area maybe - can't hurt and you might just snag a winner.

 

[d_a_n1979]

Buy some Goldring GX200 earphones and some iTunes credits

 

[Anonymous]

Put lossless files on the iPod and use it as a source.

Partner with £50 amps and £50 speakers from eBay

 

[professorhat]

Eddie Pound:
Put lossless files on the iPod and use it as a source.

Partner with £50 amps and £50 speakers from eBay

Or £100 active speakers like Audioengine A2s... (well okay, £110).

 

[Anonymous]

professorhat:
Or £100 active speakers like Audioengine A2s... (well okay, £110).

That's a good idea.

Or maybe you can find a used active studio monitor, such as a Behringer or M-Audio. Actually, M-Audio has also a desktop monitor for USD 199:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/StudiophileAV40.html

 

[John Duncan]

Tannoyite:
professorhat:
Or £100 active speakers like Audioengine A2s... (well okay, £110).

That's a good idea.

Or maybe you can find a used active studio monitor, such as a Behringer or M-Audio. Actually, M-Audio has also a desktop monitor for USD 199:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/StudiophileAV40.html

Great idea, definitely the Audioengines. Start by plugging the iPod in with lossless, move up to a DAC from the PC....etc etc etc

 

[bballtom]

Ebay is a good place to look, listings with amps, cd players and speakers with "pick up only" are always a good bargin as only local people will bid.

£100 will be hard but currently there is a Yamaha AX396 going for £20 (which was once a 5 star amp) and a Yamaha CDX 493 (once again 5 star) about £5, I had both of them for my first system I bought 10 years ago and now my brother has it.

Anything you buy will be a vast improvment on what he has got so spend a few days watching the auctions and go for something, plenty of people selling stuff to raise money for Christmas.