Selling up and starting again....HELP!!!

[amarocknrollstar]

Hi All,

I've come to the very difficult design to sell my existing hi-fi equipment and settle for a 'lifestyle' or one box system.

Trouble is, technology has passed me by and I'm very much out of the loop.

I guess what I am after is a system with DAB, CD, i-pod/ pc facility, music storage if possible and with aesthetics.

Of primary importance is size.

My stereo outgrew my room hence the reason to downsize.

I'm completely at a loss as to where to start.

I would consider tying up my AV and music together. Speaker wise, I'm thinking about the mission M cubes (because of their size), any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks in advance,

Stevie

 

[CarlDW]

The Marantz MCR610 appears to fit the bill, perhaps with some Neat Iotas (very small but great sound).

 

[BigH]

How much can you spend?

 

[audioaffair]

It depends on what you had originally?

 

[Big Chris]

If music matters, I would consider some 'proper' speakers for your front stereo pair, then you could have smaller style speakers for surround & centre channels.

I know The Prof has/had B&W 685s as his front pair with the smaller M1 satellites for surround and said it sounds great.

I worry that you might be underwhelmed with the musical performance of style speakers such as the M-Cubes. As much as I like what my MT-30 style package does with movies, I wouldn't consider ditching my 602s in favour of them for music.

As always, going and listening for yourself is key.

 

[SiUK]

I would consider tying up my AV and music together. Speaker wise, I'm thinking about the mission M cubes (because of their size), any comments would be greatly appreciated.

'Transitioned' recently myself and I'd advise caution before combining AV and Hi-Fi... if music is your main thing and you are on a budget. The hi-fi will suffer the most, without a doubt, and I doubt whether it will provide you with much stereo listening pleasure. If you do keep things separate, the Marantz MCR610 is a terrific combined hi-fi, you just need to add speakers and speaker cable to make it whole, and you're ready to go. It's compact and fully featured and the sound it puts out is excellent for what it is and the price. To me these 'things' are the way forward for a lot of people. Mine was supposed to be a stop gap but as it is so good I'm happy living with it until something much better comes along (waiting for reviews of Cyrus Lyric 09 to be honest..even if it looks as fugly as a fugly thing with fugliness all over it).

 

[malthus80]

Hi amarocknrollstar. I agree with other posts that combining av and music probably isnt the way to go. Im on a similar journey to you at the moment, having just sold my entire naim system with a view to downsizing. As a stop gap before moving to more modest setup i am currently using my tannoy arena satellites for music. Whilst i enjoy what they do with movies, they are fairly inadequate for music and they are far closer to full size speakers. As a further cautionary tale, a friend of mine downsized to mission m cubes (from epos m12 standmounts) after ther birth of his child, only to quickly reinstate the m12's after finding the m cubes inadequate for both music and movies.

I agree that the marantz 610 is a good choice ( one whch im considering as part of my downsizing journey), but paired with a good quality pait of desktop speakers or standmounts. I hope this was helpful.

Regards

 

[Dommer]

You might want to look at the Naim UnitiLite , it's a one box solution that does everything you just described and does it with style and brilliant sound quality to match. Only thing it doesn't have is storage, for that you will need to pick up a NAS drive. This is the setup I have in the lounge (minus the CD) and am very happy with it. I also had separates for a while and am not regretting selling them and going with the unitiQute.

 

[newwy]

I recently did the same....got rid of a pile of old stuff, and bought a Denon DM39 and Dali Zensor 1 package from RicherSsounds for £299...Very impressive sound from this little package. CD, FM/DAB, USB input, optical/digital and analogue.

You can't beat this little setup for the money.

 

[amarocknrollstar]

Hi All,

Thanks for all the advice and feedback.

Opted for the Marantz 603 and Boston Accoustic A25s.

Currently running through my JBL Control 1s (can't bring myself to part with these) whist awaiting the Bostons on order, really am amazed by this little music box - fantastic!

Thanks again.