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

admin_exported

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Aug 10, 2019
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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
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
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?
 
T

the record spot

Guest
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.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
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

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Jun 14, 2011
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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.
 

matthewpiano

Well-known member
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.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
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

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Aug 22, 2007
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jameskey said:
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.
 

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