If you were starting from scratch what is your preferred set up under £5K?

[Jasonovich]

I brought this up on another thread which had absolutely no relevance to the core subject, yeah it was kind of random but I think this might have some mileage in terms of positive outcome and some constructive opinion may help newbies make an informed choice.

Ok, to kick off; if suddenly I received a cheque from the Customs & Excise for £5K. Mister R-A-W-GERS you've overpaid your tax, yeah fat chance, but indulge me, how would you spend this money on your new Hi-Fi system. Oh a word of caution, never mention this to the missus, if she hears you inherited a small fortune, she may wish for you to spend it on her, take her to the Maldives or buy her a new Bang & Olufsen Hi-Fi system and make Mr & Mrs Eric jealous.

Anyway, cut the small talk, If I had the dosh. I will build my new system around HEGEL H190, it is an integrated AMP, it is also a Streamer and a DAC and it has 6.5 jack for the headphones.
That's £3k from the £5K, this leaves me £2K for the speakers, cables and the rest.

My shortlist for speakers would have to be the Focal Chora 806 £999 plus £100 for good quality speaker stands



Ok let's do the maths 1 + 1 = 5, that's £900

My choice of turntable would either be a Rega or Pro-Ject, I don't want to spend too much. T1 (Ortofon OM5e moving magnet pickup included) with a built in phono preamp is just the ticket, so that still leaves me with £520 for cables and speaker wires. All the main actors Chord, Mogami, Audioquest etc will be just fine.

The change left from the £5K, I will treat the missus to a nice meal, thank God, she's not reading this!

Your thoughts or your suggestions?

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[twinkletoes]

Jbl 4329p id save the rest of the cash.

 

[Cricketbat70]

I brought this up on another thread which had absolutely no relevance to the core subject, yeah it was kind of random but I think this might have some mileage in terms of positive outcome and some constructive opinion may help newbies make an informed choice.

Ok, to kick off; if suddenly I received a cheque from the Customs & Excise for £5K. Mister R-A-W-GERS you've overpaid your tax, yeah fat chance, but indulge me, how would you spend this money on your new Hi-Fi system. Oh a word of caution, never mention this to the missus, if she hears you inherited a small fortune, she may wish for you to spend it on her, take her to the Maldives or buy her a new Bang & Olufsen Hi-Fi system and make Mr & Mrs Eric jealous.

Anyway, cut the small talk, If I had the dosh. I will build my new system around HEGEL H190, it is an integrated AMP, it is also a Streamer and a DAC and it has 6.5 jack for the headphones.
That's £3k from the £5K, this leaves me £2K for the speakers, cables and the rest.

My shortlist for speakers would have to be the Focal Chora 806 £999 plus £100 for good quality speaker stands

View attachment 5008

Ok let's do the maths 1 + 1 = 5, that's £900

My choice of turntable would either be a Rega or Pro-Ject, I don't want to spend too much. T1 (Ortofon OM5e moving magnet pickup included) with a built in phono preamp is just the ticket, so that still leaves me with £520 for cables and speaker wires. All the main actors Chord, Mogami, Audioquest etc will be just fine.

The change left from the £5K, I will treat the missus to a nice meal, thank God, she's not reading this!

Your thoughts or your suggestions?



View attachment 5009

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View attachment 5007

I regularly ask myself what would I buy now if I was starting from scratch. The trouble is I'm not that clued up on modern hifi. I've thought of the budget end of the scale and just going for a Marantz MCR612.

Based on things I've listened too recently, when I took my Rega Planner 3 to my local hifi dealer for repair, they had a Hifi Rose streamer hooked up to Fyne Audio speakers I was impressed.
My current system is based around a Yamaha AV receiver but I've often thought of just going back to stereo, up until last week when I watched Dune part 1 on Blu-ray I hadn't used the Yamaha in surround sound for months.

 

[Deleted member 201267]

All my listening is CD based so one of these units (£3k) plus what ever ATC actives £2k would buy :-

CDA2 Mk2 - CD DAC Pre-Amplifier | ATC Loudspeakers

Very high performance stereo pre-amplifier with on-board CD player and high resolution DAC, inc. USB digital input

atc.audio

 

[plastic penguin]

Not sure but I wouldn't faff around with vinyl... takes up too much room.

It would be simple all-in-one or active speakers.

Probably something like Leema Quasar with my current speakers. As regards active speakers I couldn't say without listening to a few.

 

[Friesiansam]

Well I can't think of any good reason to change my headphone amp but, I'm sure it could do justice to a headphone upgrade. That's what I would do, look for a headphone upgrade, maybe up to £2,000. Probably start by looking at Audeze. Rest would go on other things, including more CDs.

 

[Juzzie Wuzzie]

The Lyngdorf products have caught my eye, so a do-over would involve looking very closely at them.

 

[Jasonovich]

I regularly ask myself what would I buy now if I was starting from scratch. The trouble is I'm not that clued up on modern hifi. I've thought of the budget end of the scale and just going for a Marantz MCR612.

Based on things I've listened too recently, when I took my Rega Planner 3 to my local hifi dealer for repair, they had a Hifi Rose streamer hooked up to Fyne Audio speakers I was impressed.
My current system is based around a Yamaha AV receiver but I've often thought of just going back to stereo, up until last week when I watched Dune part 1 on Blu-ray I hadn't used the Yamaha in surround sound for months.

Even though, my AV-Fi is pretty decent, I don't listen to it as much, probable because there's a dearth of good movies currently. Studios these days are so hung up on the Kingdom of Woke, aka Netflix.
Rose Streamer is excellent hardware but too pricy for me, I was after the much sought after Eversolo DMP-A6 which is almost identical to the Rose in terms of the interface, but much cheaper and plus the good reviews I wanted it. In the end I settled for DAC-less Android based Streamer and digital transport JF MX-Pro which works great with my standalone DAC

 

[Jasonovich]

The Lyngdorf products have caught my eye, so a do-over would involve looking very closely at them.

John Darko from Darko Audio has reviewed the Lyngdorf TDAI-3400 amplifier together with the CD-2 CD player. He gives it the big thumbs up. These Danes are mighty fine kits.

 

[Jasonovich]

Well I can't think of any good reason to change my headphone amp but, I'm sure it could do justice to a headphone upgrade. That's what I would do, look for a headphone upgrade, maybe up to £2,000. Probably start by looking at Audeze. Rest would go on other things, including more CDs.

Planar magnet headphones are the way forward for me. You know when you put them on, they just sound right, nothing exaggerated. No more dynamic driver headphones. Even my earphones KZ's are PM. Love the detail on my XS, the bass isn't over extended but it is solid and the treble is forward without the harshness and transparent across the range. The Audeze are better than my Hifiman Edition XS but costs significantly more.

 

[Jasonovich]

I brought this up on another thread which had absolutely no relevance to the core subject, yeah it was kind of random but I think this might have some mileage in terms of positive outcome and some constructive opinion may help newbies make an informed choice.

Ok, to kick off; if suddenly I received a cheque from the Customs & Excise for £5K. Mister R-A-W-GERS you've overpaid your tax, yeah fat chance, but indulge me, how would you spend this money on your new Hi-Fi system. Oh a word of caution, never mention this to the missus, if she hears you inherited a small fortune, she may wish for you to spend it on her, take her to the Maldives or buy her a new Bang & Olufsen Hi-Fi system and make Mr & Mrs Eric jealous.

Anyway, cut the small talk, If I had the dosh. I will build my new system around HEGEL H190, it is an integrated AMP, it is also a Streamer and a DAC and it has 6.5 jack for the headphones.
That's £3k from the £5K, this leaves me £2K for the speakers, cables and the rest.

My shortlist for speakers would have to be the Focal Chora 806 £999 plus £100 for good quality speaker stands

View attachment 5008

Ok let's do the maths 1 + 1 = 5, that's £900

My choice of turntable would either be a Rega or Pro-Ject, I don't want to spend too much. T1 (Ortofon OM5e moving magnet pickup included) with a built in phono preamp is just the ticket, so that still leaves me with £520 for cables and speaker wires. All the main actors Chord, Mogami, Audioquest etc will be just fine.

The change left from the £5K, I will treat the missus to a nice meal, thank God, she's not reading this!

Your thoughts or your suggestions?



View attachment 5009

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View attachment 5007

PS.
I forgot to mention the headphones, as much as I love my Hifiman Edition XS, for an extra £100 I would seriously consider ANANDA NANO with suspended headband...that leaves me no change out of the £5K, looks like I'm going to have to take a rain check on the restaurant.

 

[bigfish786]

£5k is a decent amount. I’d genuinely go for the setup I previously had. Full Marantz setup, tt15, pm14/sa14 and focal speakers chorus 826v. loved the sound, only curiosity led me away from that.
id be happy to go back to that if circumstances changed. 👍

 

[nopiano]

All my listening is CD based so one of these units (£3k) plus what ever ATC actives £2k would buy :-

CDA2 Mk2 - CD DAC Pre-Amplifier | ATC Loudspeakers

Very high performance stereo pre-amplifier with on-board CD player and high resolution DAC, inc. USB digital input

atc.audio

I fear that £2k might get you an active amplifier service and a couple of new drivers. But certainly not a pair of even the crummiest used ones!

Sometimes you can find SCM40As for under five grand. That’s what I’d buy, as I have everything else already.

Yes, I know, that’s cheating! So I guess it’d be the ex-demo KEF LS60s at Oxford Audio for £4999 which I think I can stream to from my iPad.

 

[daveh75]

A pair of Devialet Phantoms

 

[Deleted member 201267]

I fear that £2k might get you an active amplifier service and a couple of new drivers. But certainly not a pair of even the crummiest used ones!

Sometimes you can find SCM40As for under five grand. That’s what I’d buy, as I have everything else already.

Yes, I know, that’s cheating! So I guess it’d be the ex-demo KEF LS60s at Oxford Audio for £4999 which I think I can stream to from my iPad.

Actives punch well above their weight if correctly designed.

If not ATC there are plenty at the £2k mark that would work well.

Models such as the excellent AVI DM10'S, when available, were great value for money but dont rule out pro-audio offerings that don't do the mainstream hi-fi ********...

Check this video out as an example. This bloke is so confident in this pro-audio product that he has even invited people to visit him to have a listen !

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Z9NMPKu5M

 

[12th Monkey]

As (I believe) he's someone who was barred from the forum, perhaps his links aren't the most appropriate!

 

[jjbomber]

''If you were starting from scratch what is your preferred set up under £5K?''

Simple question, which nobody has answered!

 

[Gray]

As (I believe) he's someone who was barred from the forum, perhaps his links aren't the most appropriate!

Not just this forum.
He's special.

 

[nopiano]

''If you were starting from scratch what is your preferred set up under £5K?''

Simply question, which nobody has answered!

I did, eventually, in post #13. The ex dem LS60 actives for £1 change from the budget. I almost certainly wouldn’t try to get a traditional multi-box system were I to start again.

 

[Dom]

''If you were starting from scratch what is your preferred set up under £5K?''

Simply question, which nobody has answered!

Its a hard question to answer. It would be easy just to say what you currently have and miss the point of the question. I personally have no where near enough experience to answer that question.

 

[Friesiansam]

Simply question, which nobody has answered!

Meh! What can you do, it's the way forums work...

I don't understand why moderators, on some forums, have a problem with threads wandering off topic. On the computer forum I frequent the most, it happens all the time and, nobody worries about it or complains.

 

[Deleted member 201267]

As (I believe) he's someone who was barred from the forum, perhaps his links aren't the most appropriate!

As (I believe) he's someone who was barred from the forum, perhaps his links aren't the most appropriate!

He's a reformed character hence his new views on cables at the 7min mark. Everybody deserves a 2nd chance !

 

[daveh75]

Everybody deserves a 2nd chance !

He was given multiple chances ISTR...

 

[jjbomber]

I don't understand why moderators, on some forums, have a problem with threads wandering off topic.

Only one I believe,!

 

[Gray]

He's a reformed character hence his new views on cables at the 7min mark. Everybody deserves a 2nd chance !

I wonder if you missed his many posts on here (and elsewhere).