How do you get good sound?

[chrisrock]

I am about to venture into the world of hifi seperates for the fiirst time. I have read many posts on here and i am still none the wiser with what system would be best for me.I have had an onkyo cr525 for last couple of years and while i like the sound it dose not take my breath away or make me want to listen for longer because of the sound quality.

The room i will listen to the music in is 12ft x 11ft.

I have a budget of about £600-700 and the choice of deals from richer sounds, sevenoaks or superfi in this price range seem the obvious chioce. I can get some Tannoy F1 speakers from a friend for free but I would spend the extra on new speakers such as the Dali Lektor 2 if the sound would be much better.

Well any sort of advice would be much apreciated. I am keen to know what people think about the jump in sound quality from the Onkyo to a seperate system in this price range.

Thanks.

 

[Messiah]

The best advice I can offer you would be to arrange for some Demos. Speak to the dealers and see what they can put together for your budget. You can then decide what system sounds best to you and if it is a step up over the Onkyo.

You could always compile a shortlist from the reviews on this site.

 

[idc]

chrisrock:

...I have a budget of about £600-700 and the choice of deals from richer sounds, sevenoaks or superfi in this price range seem the obvious chioce......

I'll second Messiah. As you are starting from scratch you should take up one of the above deals, preferrably having auditioned at the shop, so Sevenoaks is a good place to start, unless your local Richer Sounds has a demo room, which many do not. Other wise read loads of reviews and get an idea od how different kit sounds. What Hifi reviews is a good place to start. I have always found that the reviews here are very good in the way they describe how different kit sounds. So if an amp is described as laid back and not good with rock, then that is what you get. But bear in mind such a description is not necessarily bad. Bad for rock can also mean the bass does not dominate, so good for classical.

Another way of getting an idea of what works with what, is to look at other posters kit lists. For example, go to the massive thread 'What are you listening to...' and see who listens to what style of music and what their kit list is. Again it gives you ideas as to what works with what.

 

[plastic penguin]

I agree with Messiah & IDC. There isn't a one-stop solution or answer, hi-fi is a grey area, hence the individualality & nature of this obsession of ours. If you don't know or unsure of the sound you are looking for e.g. warm, bright, bass heavy or bass light etc. then the safe bet (as always) is to book a dem. Or even better, try and arrange a home demo.

 

[chrisrock]

choices choices. thanks for the replies guys. i will try and demo some kit at ritcher sounds in Newcastle which i believe do have a demo room. i can see me being easily tempted to go far over budget with the help of my credit card tho. Seven oaks do the Roskan Kandy III CD and Amp combo for £899, well over budget but having read some of the posts on here a big improvement and a better long term spend (trying to convince myself already). I am not sure that the Tannoy F1 speakers i could get for free would be a good partner for them tho

Thanks again for the advice.

 

[plastic penguin]

chrisrock:

choices choices. thanks for the replies guys. i will try and demo some kit at ritcher sounds in Newcastle which i believe do have a demo room. i can see me being easily tempted to go far over budget with the help of my credit card tho. Seven oaks do the Roskan Kandy III CD and Amp combo for £899, well over budget but having read some of the posts on here a big improvement and a better long term spend (trying to convince myself already). I am not sure that the Tannoy F1 speakers i could get for free would be a good partner for them tho

Thanks again for the advice.

Just a thought - I know Richer Sounds has a 30 day trial period. Once you've established which sounds the best in their demo, you are pretty much guaranteed that if it doesn't come up to scratch at home you can take it back and exchange it.

 

[chrisrock]

Well that sounds like a plan. Richer is the only one of the 3 companies mentioned that are close enought to visit, so I will certainly be giving that ago. They have the new marantz PM6003 which might be worth a try depending on the reviews it gets when tested.

 

[plastic penguin]

chrisrock:Well that sounds like a plan. Richer is the only one of the 3 companies mentioned that are close enought to visit, so I will certainly be giving that ago. They have the new marantz PM6003 which might be worth a try depending on the reviews it gets when tested.

Please don't get too hung up on reviews. They are a great guide, but even if the Marantz only receives 3 stars listen to it anyway.

 

[idc]

To add to PPs comment above, dont worry too much about stars. What is said about a product is more important. I have bought 4 star products (after audition) because the description of their sound has matched what I was looking for. Try and get a shortlist before you audition.

 

[Anonymous]

Search on what hi fi forums for dacs (external) that would resolve the source issue

. As for amps and speakers, are you looking for floorstanders or bookshelves? personally I feel that floorstanders offer a lot more particularly if you are looking for weight scale and bass

 

[plastic penguin]

idc:To add to PPs comment above, dont worry too much about stars. What is said about a product is more important. I have bought 4 star products (after audition) because the description of their sound has matched what I was looking for. Try and get a shortlist before you audition.

Very true - also I believe you are unlikely to get a bad Marantz amp. Likewise Panasonic or Sony just don't do duff tv's. I think if you stick to the brands that major in amps, like marantz, Roksan, Arcam, Rotel etc. Get the synergy right with the chosen speakers and your home and dry.

 

[JoelSim]

You can always upgrade the speakers when funds permit

ÿ

 

[chrisrock]

''Hi-Fi Newbie'' i think i will be going for standmount speakers as i already have the stands, and I am not sure that my neighbours would be too chuffed with a massive amount bass going through the walls from floor standers.

Any way I have arranged an audition at Richer Sounds for next Monday to listen to the system 4 and 5 that they have advertised on teh website. I did tell the guy what music i liked and what my budget was and he said that he would have a think what would be best for me and talk to me about it next week. I just hope that he is not to CA biased to the detriment of the quality of system I could get. But I am sure my ears will tell me that. The only problem I see is that this is my first time listening to seperates so I could be easily lead due to ignorance.

Thanks again guys for the help.

 

[plastic penguin]

chrisrock:

''Hi-Fi Newbie'' i think i will be going for standmount speakers as i already have the stands, and I am not sure that my neighbours would be too chuffed with a massive amount bass going through the walls from floor standers.

Any way I have arranged an audition at Richer Sounds for next Monday to listen to the system 4 and 5 that they have advertised on teh website. I did tell the guy what music i liked and what my budget was and he said that he would have a think what would be best for me and talk to me about it next week. I just hope that he is not to CA biased to the detriment of the quality of system I could get. But I am sure my ears will tell me that. The only problem I see is that this is my first time listening to seperates so I could be easily lead due to ignorance.

Thanks again guys for the help.

I think the general consensus is that floorstanders blast walls down and upset the neighbours. However, a good floorstander is equally comfortable at idling levels. I play mine very late at night and the amp drives the speakers without trouble.

 

[idc]

chrisrock:

..... I just hope that he is not to CA biased to the detriment of the quality of system I could get. But I am sure my ears will tell me that. The only problem I see is that this is my first time listening to seperates so I could be easily lead due to ignorance......

chrisrock. The best way round that issue is to take some music with you. You want tracks you know really well and that have specific parts to listen out for. For example, I use;

Massive Attack 'Angel', the first 50 seconds for bass distortion and detail, there is a noise at 41 seconds that only some systems can dig up.

Gomez 'Whippin' Picidilly', most of the track as it is full of details and I want to hear everything as clearly as possible.

Ash 'Oh Yeah', because the recording is dreadful, just a wall of muffled sound and I want to hear how well the setup copes.

That way, no matter what the salesman says, you can say, well that sounds better to me.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok mate fair enough but as far as floorstanders are concerned it doesn't have to cause your neigbhours to scream, it's not just about bass, although obviously the louder you turn it up the more noticable this will become, it's also about depth of sound and certainly you don't need to have them on loud to appreciate them. Personally I would recommend going second hand but can understand the trepidation of purchasing for the first time, so new is understandable. Anyways I would still either recommend a dac or a dac and a cheap cd player, that way you can play music through the computer and still have use of the cd player if you can't be bothered to rip albums.