New Buy Advice

[admin_exported]

Hi

Hope you can give me some advice, looking to buy a hi-fi to that plugs into my TV, that I can also play CDs and my Ipod through.

Have looked around and the TEAC DRH300 looks like a good unit (?), as for speakers I am struggling, had shortlisted to Tannoy Mercury F1, Wharfedale Diamond 6.1, Cambridge Audio S30. Not sure what to go for ?

Any tips ?

Also any suggestions on speaker stands ?

Thanks

Nick

 

[Gwyndy]

Hi Nick

I have a few queries which may help us advise you

Firstly do you specifically want an all in one unit rather than seperates?

Secondly do you definitely want to plug the ipod via usb or would you accept something that would allow the use of a minijack to phono cable?

Thirdly by "plugs into your TV", I am assuming that you mean you want to be able to connect the Television sound output into the Hi-Fi unit, if so is this direcct from the TV or from some form of Freeview,Sky etc. type box?

Thirdly what is your total planned budget.

Should you consider it to be suitable, then for slightly more than the cost of a TEAC DRH300 and Wharfedale Diamond 9.1s you could get a deal like this one offered by Superfi
http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/Product_ID/3624
Which should provide you with much better sound quality than the TEAC. And have the advantage of greater long-term flexibility and upgradability

Regards

Mark

 

[Anonymous]

Mark

Thanks for your help

Seperates or single unit, I dont mind which - I thought the TEAC was a neat single unit, would the sound of separated in the same price range really be that much better ?

Fine to plug in by USB or minijack and phone - I don't mind which

I would plug it in to my HUMAX Freeview PVR / DVD player

My budget is 400-500

Which of the speakers would you go for ?

Thanks

Nick

 

[Gwyndy]

[quote user="s2Krazy uk"]
Mark

Thanks for your help

[/quote]
That's okay you'll find we are a friendly bunch on these forums, I'm surprised no-one else has chipped in yet actually

[quote user="s2Krazy uk"]

Seperates or single unit, I dont mind which - I thought the TEAC was a neat single unit, would the sound of separated in the same price range really be that much better ?

[/quote]

I must confess here it's been a while since I have heard it, I listened to one in a Comet or Currys once and was quite impressed with it, despite that fact that I was listening in a store full of shoppers. In general a decent quality seperates unit will beat a similarly priced micro, mini or midi system for sound, build quality and flexibilty, this is because each component has its own power supply and can be tailored to specific role rather than having to share supply and be compromised by having to work alongside everything else in the same box (cross-contamination).

[quote user="s2Krazy uk"]

Fine to plug in by USB or minijack and phone - I don't mind which
I would plug it in to my HUMAX Freeview PVR / DVD player

[/quote]

As far as I can tell the Denon doesn't have a USB input it has Phono, CD, Tuner,DVD and two tape loops, so you could connect CD to CD, PVR to Tuner, DVD to DVD and Ipod minijack to one of the tape loop ins,

[quote user="s2Krazy uk"]

My budget is 400-500

[/quote]
That takes the Denon slightly above your price range and I'm assuming that the max of £500 includes stands?
Richer sounds has set up of Cambridge Audio A5 Amplifier, Cambridge Audio S30 Speakers and free Kensington ipod dock for £199,
http://www.richersounds.com/information.php?cda=static&cst=hifisystems
They also sell the TEAC so you may be able to get them to let you listen to both.
If you then decided you preferred the seperates you could add something like a Marantz CD5001 or Denon DCD500 CD player for £100 that would leave you £100 to buy some speaker stands and a better quality of interconnect/speaker cable, say Alphason AA3 £40, QED Qunex 2 or Cambridge Audio Pacific at £30 and a couple of meters of QED silver anniversary and Banana plugs, you would probably have to negotiate to get it for £400, as it would be just over, however from my experience Richer Sounds staff are quite nice.

[quote user="s2Krazy uk"]

Which of the speakers would you go for ?

[/quote]

I believe that all of them have been well recommended and that the Mercurys knocked the Wharfedales off their Award Winning position a while back, however the package deal saves you £40 and throws in an ipod dock (assuming that's what you need the USB connector for). Another option you could consider where Richer Sounds is concerned, is a Marantz 5001 CD player £100, Marantz 4001 Amp £100 and Tannoy Mercury Custom F1 £100, total £300-no ipod dock however should beat the Cambridge Audio amp and speakers for sound quality.