Midi or separates for £450?

[admin_exported]

I am looking to replace my ageing av separates/speakers with a more compact stereo setup as it rarely gets used and takes up too much space. It will be used in my bedroom which is roughly 12ft x 12ft and I have a budget of around £450. I had pretty much decided to go down the midi route with the Onkyo CR-515DAB which does everything I want and comes in on budget. I then made the fatal mistake of buying What HiFi and am now being tempted by shiny separates with the promise of better sound. Below are the two setups I am considering:

Onkyo CR-515DAB receiver - £229
Q Acoustics 1020 speakers - £109
Q Acoustics 1000ST stands - £69
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Total - £407

Marantz PM4001 amplifier - £139
Marantz CD5001 cd player - £119
Q Acoustics 1030 speakers - £209
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Total - £467

Will the separates sound noticeable better in a bedroom environment and be worth the additional money, space and concession of the dab tuner or should I stick with the Onkyo? Would you recommend any other setups for similar money? Any advice would be appreciated as I don't have the option of listening to either complete setup before buying.

 

[gregory]

hello,you could try using the q acoustic floorstanders with the onkyo system for a better bass response but you will get a noticeably better sound with seperates.why not pop over to the richer sounds website for some different makes,you may well find an alternative set up with the addition of a dab tuner although i feel an analogue tuner will give a better sound if you have a suitable aerial.we have at least another 5 to 7 years before switchover to full digital signal maybe more.a 12x12 bedroom is a fair size and a small floorstander takes up the same amount of room as a stand mount.if you can stretch yor budget a linn classik system from superfi takes care of all yor needs but you will need speakers.the power of haggling and a discount for cash may well sway them into a suitable pair of speakers. good luck,gregory.

 

[Anonymous]

Don`t turn to the darkside of the mini system dude! You know deep down that you`ll always wonder how much better it could have sounded with seperates!

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="gregory"]hello,you could try using the q acoustic floorstanders with the onkyo system for a better bass response but you will get a noticeably better sound with seperates.why not pop over to the richer sounds website for some different makes,you may well find an alternative set up with the addition of a dab tuner although i feel an analogue tuner will give a better sound if you have a suitable aerial.we have at least another 5 to 7 years before switchover to full digital signal maybe more.a 12x12 bedroom is a fair size and a small floorstander takes up the same amount of room as a stand mount.if you can stretch yor budget a linn classik system from superfi takes care of all yor needs but you will need speakers.the power of haggling and a discount for cash may well sway them into a suitable pair of speakers. good luck,gregory.[/quote]

Would the Onkyo cope well with the 1030's as they have a higher minimum requirement than the 1020's which are already at the top of its output? I have looked at richer sounds site and actually went to one of their stores and demo'd the Onkyo with Mordaunt Short 902i's but was quite disappointed after all the positive reviews I had read. The system seemed to struggle and when the salesman turned it up to even medium volume, there seemed to be a lot of distortion. I got the prices for Marantz separates from there aswell - what do you think of this setup, would it work well together (all 5 star products according to What HiFi)? I did look at the linn classik but unfortunately its too much of a stretch even without speakers!

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="WaxMan"]
Don`t turn to the darkside of the mini system dude! You know deep down that you`ll always wonder how much better it could have sounded with seperates!
[/quote]

I would prefer not to loose the separates but at this price it seems pretty close on what you get for your money - higher end midi system or basic separates - that is the question...

 

[Anonymous]

Without a shadow of a doubt you should go for separates.

...and you could get a pretty good setup for four fifty

 

[gregory]

if i had £450.00.i would go for this.cambridge audio a1 amp £99.95 cd5 £99.95 mission m33i £169.95,mission go well with cambridge audio.for the tuner then cambridge 340t £59.95 much better than dab but if it must be dab then the camb dab300 £119.95. haggle for some interconnects from richer and some spaker cable from superfi for the missions and try and get everything in black it looks nicer.just my personal opinion.this will give you a system which over time you can upgrade as and when.the cambridge amp is very good much underated and can take some hefty upgrades.this should all gel well together being a same make system.i dont think you can get anything cheaper elsewhere but if you sacrifice the tuner you can get a better cd or amp but to be honest not by much.all of these components will sound better than an all in one system and it's much more fun putting together a hi-fi system.that's something we should all remember,have fun.all the best,gregory.

 

[Anonymous]

Quick update; after all the votes for separates I went to another hifi store and they were also in favour of doing this and made it extremely clear what a bad choice the midi alternative would be (didn't get a word in for about 5 mins)!

The guy I spoke to suggested that I kept my current floorstanders (Kef Cresta 3's) for the time being and match them to a new amp/cd player. He was very keen on the Arcam A70 (reduced to £370) and an Arcam cd player which I can't remember the name of. Although this would undoubtedly sound amazing, it would completely destroy my budget and put the price north of £700 without speakers or a tuner! However after the suggestion of keeping my current speakers I had a look at What HiFi's current recommended budget system minus the speakers, which consists of Rotel RA-04 and Marantz CD6002. This seems like a good compromise to me, not too much over budget (£520) and good base for future speaker/tuner upgrades (Sevenoaks are also doing a deal which means I would qualify for £100 worth of accessories if both were bought from them so that price would include decent speaker cables/interconnects).

What do you think?

 

[JoelSim]

I couldn't agree more with going for separates. Do you have to buy all the bits now or could you upgrade piece by piece? I would buy a new CD player with the majority of the budget, then an amp, then speakers. Save a few quid each month and you won't regret it.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="JoelSim"]I couldn't agree more with going for separates. Do you have to buy all the bits now or could you upgrade piece by piece? I would buy a new CD player with the majority of the budget, then an amp, then speakers. Save a few quid each month and you won't regret it.[/quote]

To be honest this is already pushing my budget far too much and the thought of only getting one component for this, no matter how good, is making me cringe!

I think I can do without the tuner and as suggested am willing to keep my current floorstanders for the time being. I can stretch the budget to £550 but this must include a cd player and amp. Current thoughts are Rotel RA-04/Marantz CD6002 or Marantz PM6002/Marantz CD6002 - what do you think?

 

[Anonymous]

We recently bought both the Marantz CD6002 and PM6002 from Sevenoaks after looking around for a midi system but after reading WhatHiFi we went for the seperates.

I was informed that a good CD player and Amp should be the heart of any system - Who am I to disagree this is our first system afterall.

We went for the Marantz CD6002 as it had a great review and won the group test, to this we added a matching Amp PM6002 - mainly went this route as these are (for now anyway) the system.

We added a set of B&W 685 speakers and Sevenoakes throw in the Nexus 7 stands (£70)

As for the sound - its fantastic; crisp and clear and a pleasure to turn-up; bass in my opinion is a subjective matter, the amp has the loudness button for when you play it at lower volumes and makes a vast difference, the 685s have port plug/sponges which tightens the bass hence my statement that bass is subjective.

Ok this is my opinion and not having much experance with seperates can only comment on how I feel about the units bought; its something we shall keep for a long time so don't regret any of it.

Out of intrest now when will it PM6002 be reviewd?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks shezlee for the advice - I think I will be going with the CD6002 and will give Sevenoaks a call tomorrow and see if I can arrange a listen to both amps paired with this cd player.

Has anyone heard both these amps - any opinions?