Recommend a cd player, stereo amp and speakers for a daft dad

[md99]

Hi folks,

I'm looking to buy my Dad a hi-fi setup for a forthcoming birthday. My budget is between £350-400. First and foremost, my Dad probably couldn't tell the difference between a £50 Alba setup and a £20,000 Naim setup. Saying that I don't want to buy crap for him but I'm not exactly going to spend a fortune either.

Any suggestions?

Btw, he listens to Country music [] Hank Williams, Tammy Wynette and all that cowboy hat wearing, rootin tootin, horse manure kicking crap .

 

[Rob998]

I think Richer sounds is your friend at that price level, unless you want to buy 2nd hand. http://www.richersounds.com/information/hifisystems

Does he need a turntable?

 

[Anonymous]

eBays your game then with that budget

I think something a long the likes of a NAD C320BEE or Arcam Alpha 8 integrated amp would be a good start. The Arcam Alpha 7SE or 8SE CD players are very good also.

Some B&W 601 S3 or 602 S3 speakers on Atacama Nexus 6 stands would be a good finish as well; all connected with Chord Carnival Silverscreen speaker cable and Chord Crimson interconnects

All can be bought on 'the Bay'

 

[Anonymous]

rob998:

I think Richer sounds is your friend at that price level, unless you want to buy 2nd hand. http://www.richersounds.com/information/hifisystems

Does he need a turntable?

Agree with rob998's recommendation of Richer sounds, great prices for good budget manufacturers like Cambridge Audio.

Would your dad consider an all in one system like the Onkyo CS-515UK, with either Q Acoustics 2010 or TANNOY MERCURY V1 speakers? It would be a neat solution which should deliver a decent quality sound for your price range.

Happy hunting,

Nick

 

[shooter]

md99:
Btw, he listens to Country music

Hank Williams, Tammy Wynette and all that cowboy hat wearing, rootin tootin, horse manure kicking rubbish .

Howdy.

You forgot Stetson wearing.

So long.

 

[md99]

How does this lot look?

http://www.richersounds.com/product/cd-players-recorders-dacs-cassette-decks/cambridge-audio/azur-640c-v2/camb-640c-v2-blk

http://www.richersounds.com/product/amplifiers-receivers/cambridge-audio/topaz-am10/camb-am10-blk

http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/Product_ID/5694

Would have preferred to get him the Cambridge Audio Topaz AM5 amp but it doesn't come with a remote however the £50 difference is probably worth it if I don't have to listen to him complaining about getting getting out of his chair every time he needs to change the volume.

 

[Rob998]

That looks like a nice little system. Don't know too much about the amp, but I've listened to the CD and it's a cracker at the money and the speakers are decent too.

 

[chebby]

This will do the trick nicely...

http://whathifi.com/Review/Denon-D-M38DAB/

Buy it somewhere that has a range of alternative speaker options (like Audio-T) and you could get plenty of change from £400 (with something like Monitor Audio BR1s).

 

[Crocodile]

I'm with Chebby,

Unless he's shown a desire for a separates system, it may just sit unused as "too complicated". I don't know what the M38DAB is like but I have an old M30 & for what it is, it's very good.

 

[md99]

It definitley interests me. The only slight reservation I have is that my dad has been through several micro systems in the past. Cheap ones though (sub £100 Sony, Philips, etc)

I take it there is no comparison between them and this though? Seen it for £180 and I'd probably pair it with the Q Acoustic 2010 speakers and save myself the guts of a hundred quid.

 

[Anonymous]

Don't know if I'm coming to the party too late, but I would recommend the Topaz Am10 as a basic integrated amp.

The sound is a little rough when directly compared to the Azur range (did that just the other day, for 2 hours in Cambridge Richer), but far far better than the Denon System which sounded confused with anything running at pace.

I plumped for it and use it for anything from extreme metal through folk, and it copes admirably in my small/mid sized room with a pair of mordaunt short avianos. You might want to consider some of the smaller Cambridge Audio speakers as an option to go with it.