New Year, New System on £4-5k Budget

[admin_exported]

Dear all, I'm looking at putting together a new system for approx £4,000 - £5,000.

My music choice is mostly modern classical such as Ludovico Einaudi, movie soundtracks, blues such as Chris Botti on trumpet, or Michael Buble on vocals. I tend to listen to music as background when I read but may occasionally pump it up a bit to fully experience the depth of the music.

My music is mostly on my iPhone and iPad but the entire selection is on an external drive connected to my MacBook air upstairs. Occasionally I listen to a CD, particularly if its not on my iPad.

I would like to have access to my entire selection downstairs in my living room. I don't mind duplicating my music rather than filling my house with wifi. I'm kind of concerned about all the radio waves on my young family. I do like to listen to Internet radio and podcasts that I've downloaded to my iPad.

I was thinking of the following setup, but wasn't sure how to listen to my music and podcasts on my iDevices:

Speakers: KEF LS50

CD player: Marantz CD6004

Amplifier: Marantz PM6004

Was thinking of a Pioneer N50 but that's where I started getting overwhelmed by the whole configuration of my system. I would appreciate some clarity and guidance in the selection of components to best suit my budget and needs. I could be willing to extend my budget up to £6,000 if required to make the best setup. Thanks so much.

 

[Frank Harvey]

What size is your room? As you like to turn it up every now and again, this may exclude you from smaller speakers like the LS50.

Also, you say you have a budget of £4-5,000, but your proposed system is around £2,000 - do you want to keep the cost down? Or do you want to utilise your budget to get the best you can?

Assuming your MacBook is plugged into your network, there would be no need for WiFi if the streamer you use is also wired to the network.

With that sort of budget, you could look at a couple of one box solutions from Naim like the Uniti2 and the UnitiLite, which are both excellent sounding systems comprising of CD player, amplifier and streamer, which also has access to Internet radio. The Naim streamers are very stable, with a great app for Apple products which is up with the best.

If you want standmount speakers, try the PMC Twenty.23's, or even the floorstanding models if you want something with better bass depth. The Twenty Series is a very well balanced speaker that gives you a real insight into the music, allowing you to hear every layer in the mix.

Another manufacturer that makes high quality streamers are Cyrus. With something like the StreamXP2 (a streamer with a pre-amp built in), you can plug this directly into a power amplifier like the Cyrus 8 Power, and some speakers like the ProAc Studio 115 or 140se.

Pill give a few more options when you've answered my questions above

 

[chebby]

You should be aiming higher than entry level Marantz seperates if you can spend £4k -£5 k +.

I would be looking at brands like Harbeth and Luxman or Sugden if I had up to £5k. (That's just me, I am not recommending them specifically to you. Just pointing out where i'd be heading first with £5k!)

 

[Anonymous]

My room is approx. 6m x 5m and 3m high. I'd prefer to have wall mounted speakers to save on floor space. I don't mind spending up to £5k but I don't want to overspend if its not required, as long as it meets my needs.

Currently my music is on a 1TB external hard drive connected to my MacBook Air via USB. This is located upstairs in my bedroom. However now that I have an iPad I tend to leave my MacBook off most off the time and listen to music on my iPad which is less than satisfactory hence my desire for a complete new hifi system. My Internet connection for my MacBook is using a plugin USB dongle whereas my iPad is using 3G. I tend to download podcasts to my iPad but would prefer to listen through a hifi speaker system. Any ideas how I could listen to Internet radio through the proposed hifi? Tis is where I tend to get lost with so many different options out there. Thanks for your valuable feedback!

 

[CnoEvil]

Hi there, and welcome to the forum.

I would also be thinking along the lines of Chebby.

For source, I would be looking at a streamer from Linn or Naim.

For amps, I would be looking at Sugden, Luxman, Electrocompaniet, Lavardin, Audio Analogue and Pathos.

For speakers, Harbeth, Sonus Faber, Spendor, Proac, Kef R series, Opera.

Given the size of your room, you are probably looking at floorstanders, or a fairly big standmount.

The sort of system I'm talking about would be:

Linn Sneaky DS + Sugden A21SE + Spendor A5 / Kef R700 / Proac D18 / SF Venere 2.5

 

[Frank Harvey]

Wall mounted speakers are generally quite small, and may not be up to the job when you turn things up. How about smaller floorstanding speakers? At least these will have a bit more presence when it comes to bass.

If you're willing to put some larger than normal shelves in, you may find a larger bookshelf speaker for that sort of size room.

Whichever streamer you go for, it will more than likely have access to Internet radio, and some may have AirPlay, so your podcasts can be listened to through the system.

Another Naim option (like the Cyrus one) is the NAC-N172xs streaming pre-amp. Add to this a power amp like the NAP150 and have a listen to some speakers - Dynaudio, KEF, PMC, ProAc etc all work well.

The Primare CD22 and I22 CD player and amplifier are another choice, with the I22 amplifier allowing a plug in 'media' module, allowing streaming and access to Internet radio. Again, speakers from the above manufacturers will work well.

 

[dragon76]

My suggestion would be to get one of the Naim's Uniti streamers, which would allow you to play your music via network or to use an external usb hard drive to plug directly into the Naim. As you mentioned, you have mo issue with creating another disc with your music, so this should eliminate the need for setting up network. Uniti streamers will allow you to listen to internet radio as well, and they are all in one systems, so there is no need for you to buy separate components, which saves space. As for speakers, I do believe you should better get floorstanders for the size of your room, and Proac, PMC, Dynaudio, or Spendor speakers would be good match to Naim.

 

[richardw42]

I think the unitilite is potentially a great product, wish they'd do it without amp or at the very least with a digital out.

Pairing it with a pair of AVI ADM9 or ADM40 would have been a sleek and very high quality system.

The alternative, as you have mac, iPad etc is to get an Airport Express or Apple TV and feed that to the AVIs

 

[dragon76]

My suggestion would be to get one of the Naim's Uniti streamers, which would allow you to play your music via network or to use an external usb hard drive to plug directly into the Naim. As you mentioned, you have mo issue with creating another disc with your music, so this should eliminate the need for setting up network. Uniti streamers will allow you to listen to internet radio as well, and they are all in one systems, so there is no need for you to buy separate components, which saves space. As for speakers, I do believe you should better get floorstanders for the size of your room, and Proac, PMC, Dynaudio, or Spendor speakers would be good match to Naim.

 

[matthewpiano]

How good do you need it to be if it will mostly be providing background music while you do other things? If you spend all of your budget, will you ever get the value out of it given your usual listening habits?

You should definitely ask yourself these questions and answering them will involve some auditioning of systems at different price points to see how far you need to go. If money is no object, get the best you can, but otherwise tailor the system you buy to your needs. Don't forget, you can put together a superb system for £1k so there is a strong chance you won't feel the need to spend your entire budget.

 

[tino]

I second matthewpianos advice ... 4 - 6K is quite an extravagant budget for mostly 'background music' and 'internet radio'. The Kiko system I just mentioned should serve as a very good, small footprint background system and equally be good enough to meet your expectations for those moments you do crank it up or want to absorb yourself in 'serious' listening.

Look at my sig. - that system cost me less than £1500 to put together - using a mixture of new and ex-dem components. It gives me internet radio, streaming in a very compact and (in my opinion) a very good quality system.

 

[tino]

I would recommend you go for a compact (one-box) quality streaming system ... given that you want to save on floor space, listen to internet radio quite a bit, and mainly have music as a background rather than the main focus of your activities. The Linn Kiko springs to mind - that also includes the speakers and this also has HDMI inputs for sources such as your TV or DVD player. This can be had for £2500 and is well within your budget.

Similar systems without speakers can be found in the Cyrus Streamline and Naim UnitiQute.

If you need a CD, then there is the Yamaha CDN500 (combined CD player and network player to save space) ... leaving the choice of amplifier and speakers up to you.

 

[CnoEvil]

I suspect with the right system, the OP will "pump it up a bit" with increasing regularity......the fact that a £5k budget was mentioned in the first place, leads me to believe that this might be part of the plan.

Do it once, and do it right! :shifty:

 

[richardw42]

That Yamaha looks good.

Does it stream Spotify ? If not can you send it from your phone / tablet on its wireless music app ?

 

[Overdose]

My music is mostly on my iPhone and iPad but the entire selection is on an external drive connected to my MacBook air upstairs. Occasionally I listen to a CD, particularly if its not on my iPad.

I would like to have access to my entire selection downstairs in my living room. I don't mind duplicating my music rather than filling my house with wifi. I'm kind of concerned about all the radio waves on my young family. I do like to listen to Internet radio and podcasts that I've downloaded to my iPad.

Given your budget, you have a huge amount of choices to select an ideal solution and bear in mind that you need not spend it all to achieve the best results.

I would advise from the music point of view and suggest an Apple Airport Extreme which you can plug your hard drive into for access from the whole house and maybe an Airport Express or Apple TV plugged into the DAC (whatever solution you choose, it'll have a DAC incorporated). A Sonos connect might also be a good option, but I don't know how well they play with Apple products.

You could also invest in an iTunes Match subscription if this suited your purposes. At this point then, you have the capability to stream just about any digital music format available.

After that, you're on to actually making the sounds come out of some speakers and that's where the real fun begins.

 

[richardw42]

With the latest Sonos update. It effectively acts like AirPlay.

Eg. When I'm using the Sonos app on my phone, in the music section one of the options is "this iPhone". So it plays everything in the music player on my phone. It just keeps getting better.

WIRELESSLY.

 

[Anonymous]

It sounds like Sonos would be best for your home, but you have the wifi issue, which I don't understand as your house has more radio waves flying through probably from other people's wifi and never mind that mobile frequencies are in more abundance.

If you went with sonos, you could easily scale music through your whole home very cost effectively, but the Naim all in one sounds best bet. Might be worth demoing the Naim options. I would opt for a simple streamer with power amp - I believe Naim just released a compact version (Cyrus size). David will probably know more about this.

What decor is the room? If its classical and woody, the pmc twenty with right veneer will add to the classic looks. They are not look at me speakers but sound great and come with bookshelf version for smaller visual impact.

 

[expat]

unitilite and ATC scm 11s

 

[Exoticsounds]

If you really want wallmounted speakers you could have a look at these 3, PMC Wafer 2, Image Audio IA8 and Monitor Audio SoundFrame 1, they have all gotten great reviews here at What Hi Fi.

 

[WishTree]

I am putting together the following system

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/new-system-for-2013-on-wall-valve-flavour-good-dac

may be there is something that can be of interest in this set up. I can vouch for the speakers for sure!

 

[Frank Harvey]

Another option that has popped up today is by Musical Fidelity. They have just released the M1SDAC, which is a high quality, 24/192 with 7 inputs (two analogue), a pre-amplifier, headphone amplifier, and a Bluetooth/apt-X receiver fire wireless transfer. This can be used together with two M1 power amplifiers in mono mode, and a M1CDT CD transport plugged in digitally to the M1SDAC. Once again, speaker choice is yours - there's plenty to choose from

 

[richardw42]

Nice to see more use of Bluetooth. As there seems to be quite a lot of snobbery about it.

Can you give more info as I didn't find it on their website.

 

[Frank Harvey]

Nice to see more use of Bluetooth. As there seems to be quite a lot of snobbery about it.

Can you give more info as I didn't find it on their website.

Apologies - a little busy, so this is copied and pasted from what I've posted elsewhere this morning.

This is a high quality 24/192 DAC with no less than seven inputs:

• 2 x COAX inputs (will accept up to 24bit/192kHz)

• 1 x AES/EBU balanced input (will accept up to 24bit/192kHz)

• 1 x USB input (will accept up to 24bit/192kHz, asynchronous)

• 1 x Optical input (will accept up to 24bit/96kHz)

• 1 x Bluetooth V 2.1 apt-x receiver (up to 24bit/48 kHz and up-sampled to 24bit/192kHz)

• 2 x RCA Analogue inputs

• 1 x COAX output

• 1 x Optical output

As well as a high quality headphone amplifier, the M1SDAC also has a built in pre-amplifier, allowing direct connection to a suitable power amplifier.

The M1SDAC retails for £799.

 

[richardw42]

I suppose its for those that don't want or need the Clic.

Pis it likely that the clic will get Bluetooth and head amp ?

 

[Frank Harvey]

I suppose its for those that don't want or need the Clic.

Pis it likely that the clic will get Bluetooth and head amp ?

Not sure, not heard any details about that changing.