HiFi system with iPod dock/Internet Radio/Wireless

[admin_exported]

Hi there,

I'm new to this forums so HI and I hope to put this on the right section.

I'm looking for a HiFi system for my living room with certain features, but I'm terribly overwhelmed by the amount of things you can find out there. So I hope you guys can enlighten me.

The features I'm looking for it to have are:

- Great sound quality first of all

- iPod dock (which charges the iPod too), as I'll be mostly playing music from my iPod

- Internet radio

- Wireless connectivity to stream music from my computer

As it's going to sit on my living room I'd like it to be sexy too, but it's not my first premise.

Also I have a question about the internet radio. I want that feature to be able to listen to spanish radio stations (that's where I'm from), but I've seen on other systems that the stations you can connect to are determined by servers from the system's brand? eg.Sony is that true?

I wouldn't mind spending money on it if it's worth it and it sounds superb. I'd say I' go up to 500£

 

[hortensio]

Maybe you can have a demo-test on Marantz MCR 603...

 

[Anonymous]

UK spec Marantz uses vTuner for the internet radio and stations available can be viewed following this link

http://vtuner.com/setupapp/guide/asp/BrowseStations/StartPage.asp?sBrowseType=Location

There are some 360 odd Spanish stations on that list.

Also appears that the iPod dock is a digital one as well for certain ipod devices which means you will be pulling the original digital files off the ipod through the Marantz effectively bypassing the Apple DAC which should give better sound quality.

 

[John Duncan]

Another vote for the Marantz...

 

[chebby]

I love my M-CR603 but...

... the built-in internet radio interface is a bit of a clunker and used to have a habit of losing internet radio 'favourites' after firmware downloads. (I am not sure if this is still a problem as there been no firmware updates for a long time so my presets are still there.)

This is not a 'show stopper' IF you download AirPlay to it (£39) and invest in an iPhone 4 or iPod Touch or iPad 2 and something like the TuneIn Radio Pro app (69 pence).

Doing this (and playing via 'music server' on the Marantz) transforms the experience of internet radio completely. And BBC iPlayer and iTunes (whether on the iThing itself or using the Apple Remote app to control iTunes wirelessly from your computer).

TuneIn Radio Pro app has an excellent interface, doesn't 'forget' your favourites, allows the true bitrate of the radio station through*, has artwork (where provided by the station), allows recording of programmes and allows you to 'pause' radio programmes as well. Searching is a pleasure whereas using the Marantz/Vtuner search with the remote control is pretty awful with rudimentary 'phone texting' character selection sometimes having to be resorted to find a station by name.

Personally speaking, I consider AirPlay + iThing absolutely essential to get the best from the Marantz M-CR603. I don't mind this. I am loving the partnership (and always intended to use it this way) but I would understand if others balk at the extra costs to get something working how it should be.

Anyway, I will still recommend the M-CR603. (Despite the clunky internet radio.)

*For instance the BBC Radio 3 'HD' (320k) option is not available on the Marantz Vtuner. On Radio 3 It only gives you 192K, whereas using TuneIn Radio Pro (via AirPlay from an iPhone 4/iPad 2/iPod Touch) you get the 320K stream.

 

[chebby]

However, despite the above, yes I would recommend the M-CR603.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks a lot for the replies.

It seems to be pretty unanimous. And I've been looking at it on the web and it seems to have all the features I was asking for.

I need to go see it in person if I can find it in a store. I've seen a bunch of bundles with speakers on the web, obviously I need to go and listen to them, but in the meantime, any thoughts on this speakers?

Anything I should avoid?

Here are a few of the ones I've found:

Monitor Audio BX1 Speakers

Monitor Audio BX2 Speakers

Tannoy Mercury V1 Speakers

Q Acoustics Q2010 Speakers

Dali Zensor 1 Loudspeakers

Boston Acoustics A25 Speakers

Boston Acoustics A23 Speakers

Wharfedale Diamond 10.1

Wharfedale Diamond 10.3

Mission mx1

Thanks again!

 

[chebby]

OK. As luck/coincidence would have it, there was a firmware update on my Marantz M-CR603 today.

Details here.

And the bug I described above (where internet radio 'favourites' annoyingly got deleted by firmware updates) has just been fixed.

So It will not happen on any new one after initial set-up.