New budget set up

admin_exported

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Hello,

First and foremost, my apologies if I sound confused but whoever said english was an easy language to learn was obviously a native speaker...

I am looking into graduating from a very very low budget (Sony STR DE215 / Sony CE315 and some non descript speakers - forgot the brand since back in the 90s when I bought the whole set) to something more serious. My budget lies south of £700 and while browsing on richersounds, I saw the complete system Yamaha AS500 - CDS300 and KEF IQ10 for a price that would fit my budget.

What is you opinion about this set? I also thought about buying the Yamaha bits separately (in silver rather than black) and replace the KEF with Zensor Dali 1. Would that make more sense?

The room the system will be set up in is fairly big ( around 430sqFeet) with a cathedral ceiling (reaching around 14feet at its highest point) and I wanted to place the speakers on a ledge running on the smaller side of the room at around a heigh of 6.5feet.

Would the whole set (Be it with the KEF r the Dali) be enough for the room? Also, what about cables? I've seen all sort of them at all sort of prices and I would be needing at least 40 feet of it to link the speakers to the amp...

Thanks a million in advance for your advises!
 

Blackdawn

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Both the Dali and KEF speakers you mention are on the small size, I don't think they are meant to fill a room of those proportions. You might want to think about floorstanders or larger standmounts.
 
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Anonymous

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I hear you. ;) DO you reckon I would be better off ditching the CD player and go for the amp only and bigger speakers like, day, the Tannoy Revolution DC6? Would that make more sense? Would the AS500 be able to drive them propoerly?

Also, what about cables? Do they really play that critical a role?

Thanks a lot fo your reply! :)
 

slice

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Given your budget it might be a good idea to forget the cd player and get an amp with digital inputs, such as Rotel RA11 (£500) or Onkyo A9050 (£350). You could then use a dvd/blu ray player as transport via an inexpensive optical/coaxial player. I have not got personal experience of thes items but it would be the direction I would be looking in if I was starting afresh.
 
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Anonymous

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Thanks a mill for your replies so far guys. You gave me a lot of food for thoughts.

First, I decided to postpone the purchase the CD player. Instead, I'll work out a streaming solution with what I have at home at the moment and that'll free up some of the budget for bigger speakers.

About that, I looked around a bit and cme up with 3 possible contenders:

1) "budget" solution: Monitor Audio Bronze BX2

2) Kef Q100

3) Tannoy Revolution DC6

I think I'll stick to the AS500 amp. (Probably for the wrong reason: I prefer its look over the other ones alternatives...) Which of the 3 do you think would work best with the amp?
 

Johnno2

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NicoDudu said:
Thanks a mill for your replies so far guys. You gave me a lot of food for thoughts.

First, I decided to postpone the purchase the CD player. Instead, I'll work out a streaming solution with what I have at home at the moment and that'll free up some of the budget for bigger speakers.

I think I'll stick to the AS500 amp. (Probably for the wrong reason: I prefer its look over the other ones alternatives...) Which of the 3 do you think would work best with the amp?

If you go for the AS500 can be had now for 200 quid,a true hifi bargain, it will give more expenive amps a run for their money, I also dont get this 'bright' reputation it has mine sounds full and detailed with AE floorstanders, there are useful and effective tone controls if you feel the need to tweak anyway, The drawback is it has no internal DAC
 

Blackdawn

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May 7, 2010
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NicoDudu said:
Thanks a mill for your replies so far guys. You gave me a lot of food for thoughts.

First, I decided to postpone the purchase the CD player. Instead, I'll work out a streaming solution with what I have at home at the moment and that'll free up some of the budget for bigger speakers.

About that, I looked around a bit and cme up with 3 possible contenders:

1) "budget" solution: Monitor Audio Bronze BX2

2) Kef Q100

3) Tannoy Revolution DC6

I think I'll stick to the AS500 amp. (Probably for the wrong reason: I prefer its look over the other ones alternatives...) Which of the 3 do you think would work best with the amp?

If you really don't want floorstanders then of the 3 you like the look of I would only possibly go for the BX2's.

Some alternatives are the Wharfedale 10.2's - look like a bargain - have a larger main driver than the 10.1's and a better frequency response. Also I have some Boston Acoustics A26 standmounts which I like very much. Second hand, I'm sure you could pick up some good speakers as well.
 
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Anonymous

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Blackdawn said:
If you really don't want floorstanders then of the 3 you like the look of I would only possibly go for the BX2's.

Some alternatives are the Wharfedale 10.2's - look like a bargain - have a larger main driver than the 10.1's and a better frequency response. Also I have some Boston Acoustics A26 standmounts which I like very much. Second hand, I'm sure you could pick up some good speakers as well.

Thanks again for your reply. It's not so much that I want to avoid floorstanders at all cost but want to keep the visibility of the system to a minimum. The room it's going to be installed in is pleasing enough to the eye as it is and floorstanders don't fit anywhere in it, really.

Out of curiosity, what speaks agains the kef and tannoy? I would like to know what I did wrong in picking them. Also, you mention that the

Johnno2 said:
If you go for the AS500 can be had now for 200 quid,a true hifi bargain, it will give more expenive amps a run for their money, I also dont get this 'bright' reputation it has mine sounds full and detailed with AE floorstanders, there are useful and effective tone controls if you feel the need to tweak anyway, The drawback is it has no internal DAC

What would be the exact implications of the lack of internal DAC? I was planning on plugging an airport express to the amp to stream music. Would that be a problem?
 

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