The cheap challenge

[matthewpiano]

A thought has occured to me this evening and I'd be interested to know everyone's thoughts. If you buy second hand products, what is the cheapest you could put together an enjoyable sounding hi-fi system?

 

[Frank Harvey]

Rega tend to make enjoyable systems. So an old P3 with a Brio or Elex amplifier and a pair of Kytes. Probably cost about £300 at a complete guess.

Personally, I'd grab a "built like a tank Japanese CD player, an Audiolab 8000A, and a pair of Jim Rogers JR149's. probably cost no more than £500.

These may not be the cheapest you could pick up, but they'd cleanly sound good. If you look through last budget separates (£100-200) you'd probably pick up something for about £100.

 

[Paul.]

Define enjoyable

I have a Marantz PM44 SE and come KEF Cresta 10s in my kitchen . The speakers were £49 new from richer and the amp was £40 off the bay. I wouldn't have it in my living room but its thoroughly enjoyable whilst I wash up or fix my bike.

 

[CnoEvil]

Rega Planar 3............£150

A&R A60.......................£80

Goodmans Maxim.....£14.50

This was a system I owned around 1980.....prices taken off ebay after a very quick search, so could probably be got cheaper.

 

[the record spot]

Sansui AU-217 - £33 delivered.

Marantz CD52 MkII SE - £35 near mint

Mission 752 - £80

£148. (Still) works a treat.

 

[lindsayt]

Yep, Cnoevils, or the RecordSpots systems would give you enjoyable music for less than £200. I'd go for their systems or some variation of their systems. It would all depend on what I saw good deal on first. It would also depend upon whether I fancied doing some basic repair work or not, such as a basic service to a Lenco or refoaming some speaker surrounds.

 

[amcluesent]

Maybe £1750 - Audio Analogue Enigma REV2.0 and Sonos Faber Concertinos?

 

[hoopsontoast]

My current system in my signature was about ~£450, best VFM system I have had so far!

Sony DVP-S9000ES | Sony TA-F770ES | KEF Reference 104/2

Cheepest I have had that I have also enjoyed were:

Philips CD-850, Sony TA-F670ES, Keesonic Kolt ~£270

Philips CD-850, Amptastic T-Amp, Keesonic Kolt ~£200

Philips CD-850, Arcam AVR200, Keesonic Kolt ~£170

Teac VRDS 10SE, Teac A-BX7R, Tannoy Mercury S ~£400 (With Rega Jura as well)

Sony QS CDP, Rega Brio3, Rega R1 ~£300

Sony S9000ES, Puresound A10, Keesonic Kolt ~£370

All of that was S/H apart from the Brio3 bought cheap when they were phasing it out for the new model, and the T-Amp which was on loan.

Lots of variations on those as well that have been tried over the past few years.

 

[drummerman]

If you are willing to buy faulty, you probably could put something decent together for 30 or 50 pounds. It should certainly be possible to build a nice little system for £100 otherwise.

If you're aiming a little higher but still cheap in the greater scheme of things, Hoopsontoasts 'your system' thread is a good inspiration.

regards

 

[hoopsontoast]

If you are willing to buy faulty, you probably could put something decent together for 30 or 50 pounds. It should certainly be possible to build a nice little system for £100 otherwise.

If you're aiming a little higher but still cheap in the greater scheme of things, Hoopsontoasts 'your system' thread is a good inspiration.

regards

Thank you, I have found that the most fun has been with playing around £300 mark or less for a component, sometime its nice to be supprised by a very cheap item that I would not expect to like.

 

[BigColz]

I just bought a Harmon Kardon HK6550 and CD player for £150 and i'll run through some free Kefs (off a friend) think they about £50 new.. Will report how it sounds using my mac mini and eventually a Sonos connect as source :cheers:

 

[shafesk]

I'd go for a technics slq210 for around 60, marantz cd 63 KI2 for 60, marantz pm 6010 for 120 and quad 12L for 150 great system imo.

 

[the record spot]

Good shout with 6550 - if it's anything like the 6850 I have you'll be a happy chap!

 

[BigH]

Well you can buy for around £120, Marantz 63SE, Arcam Alpha 3 amp and Mission Cyrus 780SE speakers. Not a bad system.

 

[BigColz]

Good shout with 6550 - if it's anything like the 6850 I have you'll be a happy chap!

Thanks only heard good things so thought i'd give it a go.. May even sell all my high end and go Sonos and release some cash :rockout: :cheers:

 

[nopiano]

Maybe £1750 - Audio Analogue Enigma REV2.0 and Sonos Faber Concertinos?

I like your style!

To answer mp, I think about £250 or less, as you can often get decent items for about £50 a go - amp, cdp and speakers, leaving £100 for cables (only joking).

 

[Dougal1331]

Ahh, my kind of thing...

Using previous bargain ebay purchases:

Rotel 930AX amp £50

Mission 780SE £55 (760i will do just as well, probably a bit cheaper too!)

Technics SLPG670D CD player £40

So that's £145 in total. The amp alone was £180 when new...

 

[AlmaataKZ]

Last year at he Scalford show one of the rooms feaured a 'cheap as chips' system made up of seconf hand components bought very cheaply. I think it was 'under 100'.

You know what? It sounded better than a third and as good as 85% of the other systems on show.

Edit: here are the pics:

 

[Fulci]

That is something I was wishing to try some day...

A Pioneer PL-12D or PL-514 and a vintage receiver or amp with some good old Wharfedale Denton speaker can be had for under £100 and make you really happy for a long time. I'd be looking for Marantz, Pioneer, Sansui, Yamaha, etc... Pretty much most of the Japanese from the gold era should still sound great nowadays.

Should you wish going with digital, I'd say a HK 6550, a Sony ES or Rotel with an old Philips CD player and some Celestion Ditton or B&W speakers...

I still have my Audiolab 8000A which was recently recaped and it sounds bloody marvelous! It is a truly remarkable piece of Hi-Fi, much better than what it's credited for.

Also, I make my own interconnects, no need to spend £200 in a pair when you can make one with Mogami and Neutrik for £10.

 

[BigColz]

Got my HK6550 and HD7425 today :cheer: I'll report back later to see how it sounds through my ProAcs and budget Kefs :rockout:

 

[the record spot]

Don't know much about the CD player, but the amp is well sought after when it comes up. Rarelyin the UK< but HK are very popular in Europe. Germany especially I think.

 

[BigColz]

Don't know much about the CD player, but the amp is well sought after when it comes up. Rarelyin the UK< but HK are very popular in Europe. Germany especially I think.

Yeah I've seen a fair bit of praise so thought is give it a go.. But it doesn't work :doh: Any suggestions??

 

[the record spot]

The amp doesn't? What's not happening with it? Power, sound...?

 

[BigColz]

The amp doesn't? What's not happening with it? Power, sound...?

Yeah. The CD player works fine I've tried it in my other amp.. I tried the HK CD player and my iPod through the amp using CD and Tuner inputs. They both had the same symptoms. At first only the right speaker was just audible at mid to max volume and seems to be either badly distorted or badly distorted and just through the tweeter. Then it was the same but playing through both the same.. Also when I flicked from speaker off to A, or A to B etc it fuzzes slightly out the right speaker. I then tried using the speaker B terminals and was exactly the same results.. Sound like anything you've heard happen before?

Thanks for your time I'd much rather have it working than claim insurance etc.. Hopefully it's something simple

 

[the record spot]

No idea mate, can you take it up with the seller? This should've been made clear if there were any issues with it. Was it an Ebay purchase? Either way, if it was sold as seen then you haven't got much comeback, but if it was pitched as being something other than it's turned out to be (good working order, etc) then you might be able to do something about it. Tougher if it's not on Ebay though.