Starter set-up with a £300 to £400 budget

[admin_exported]

Hi all,

Hoping for a bit of perspective on a starter hi-fi setup. I've got a budget of ideally £300-350 but possibly could stretch to £400 and I'm starting from scratch - until recently I've always lived with people with decent equiptment and never thought about it.

I listen to jazz, electronica, a bit of rock and classical, but would like something I can plug my laptop into for films. All my music is on my laptop or iPhone, so a CD player isn't much of a worry.

So far I'm considering:

Denon 38 with Dali Zensor 1 (or Monitor Audio BX2?)

Audioengine 5+

Aktimate Mini

Arcam rCube

So, a bit of a mix between types. I don't really know what the advantages and disadvantages of a seperates system over an iPod dock or powered speakers is, especially if I'm playing off an iPhone or laptop. Also, would I need a DAC to play from the laptop or would it make a major difference? It's pretty difficult for me to get to a proper size shop, I live in a small town and I'm bedbound for the next couple of months, so advice would be really helpful.

Thanks,

James

 

[matthewpiano]

Marantz PM6004 - £250

Tannoy Mercury V1 - £130

Ideally you would add a DAC when funds allow, but this amp and speaker combination would give you a superb basis for a system.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the suggestion. Is it worth spending that much more on an amp than speakers then? Would I need a dock to connect the iphone to the amp?

 

[the record spot]

HAve a look at Onkyo's TX-8050 - does everything you want for a very affordable price. Simply plug the iPod in to the USB point on the fascia and let it run. That's going to leave you about £100-150 or so for some speakers and you've options from Mission, Q Acoustics and so on. Check out Gumtree or Ebay too, you'll often get a good deal there. However, £150 will get you some Mission MX1s, Wharfedale 9.1s, Q Acoustics 2020s...some good options to get you started.

 

[bigblue235]

Sorry to go over budget, but if you could stretch to £449 I quite like the look of

http://www.richersounds.com/package/system-savers/mini-hifi-systems/pah01300

Going to keep it in mind myself.

 

[Anonymous]

I thought about that, but I can't really tell what the advantages of that are over the Denon 38, other than Airplay. Does the more expensive amp make a significant difference to the sound, more than spending that extra money on speakers for example?

Thanks for the Onkyo suggestion, I'd not seen that before and it looks interesting.

 

[busb]

Hi James

The other option is buy 2nd hand or look out for reduced ex-demo gear, not so easy when bed-bound I admit. The latter has saved my £100s. My own view is to spend over half one's budget on speakers - they are the crucial part that has to work in the listening room. That split in budget isn't set in stone of course. Good luck with your choice & getting back on your feet.

 

[the record spot]

Thanks for the Onkyo suggestion, I'd not seen that before and it looks interesting.

It is! Spotify, DLNA, network capability, 100wpc, internet radio, yadder, yadder....s'all here:-

http://www.uk.onkyo.com/en/products/tx-8050-43158.html

 

[matthewpiano]

I agree with the record spot that the Onkyo is excellent. Great as an amp, will drive all sorts of speakers quite happily and all the extra features are a real bonus.

The only thing I would point out is that the streaming features aren't as flexible as something like a Squeezebox Touch. For example, the Onkyo doesn't support gapless playback, which can be a major issue if you listen to classical music or quite a few progressive rock albums. I'd also say that the user interface is better with something like the Squeezebox Touch, although the Onkyo's simple 2-line display works surprisingly well.

For £250-£300 the Onkyo gets you a cracking amp with some useful extra features that work extremely well but there is the chance that you might eventually outgrow its streaming capabilities.

 

[Anonymous]

For sound quality I would advise you to go with:

- HRT iStreamer (approx £150)

- T-amp (flavour of the month is the mini-t on ebay - about £60 I think)

- best seond hand,reasonably sensitive, speakers you can afford.

This will give you high quality vfm front end that will allow you to upgrade speakers in the future as funds permit.

 

[bigblue235]

I thought about that, but I can't really tell what the advantages of that are over the Denon 38, other than Airplay. Does the more expensive amp make a significant difference to the sound, more than spending that extra money on speakers for example?

I'm not too sure about all the differences but the RCD-N7 seems much better specced: Airplay, dock, network streaming, Internet radio, more powerful amp, hi-res playback, optical input, etc. Probably best to compare them on Denon's site:

http://www.denon.co.uk/uk/Product/Pages/Product-Detail.aspx?Catid=Systems&SubId=MiniMicro&ProductId=DM38DAB

http://www.denon.co.uk/uk/Product/Pages/Product-Detail.aspx?Catid=Systems&SubId=NetworkMusicSystems&ProductId=RCDN7

That package at RS seems a particularly good deal. I think the Dali's are about £180, and the Denon was originally £500, according to the mag review (and it received 5 stars at that price). Hopefully someone from the team has heard both and can elaborate.