The Joys (!) of starting anew

Sy23

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Back in the eighties and nineties I was a complete hi-fi freak, listening to CDS on a Luxman/Rotel/Interdyn set up and very much on the geek fringe. In those days, hi-fi knowledge seemed simple enough and I was always ready to rattle off advice... "Forget your all-in-one," I'd say, "get yourself a set of good bookshelf speakers, whack 'em on decent stands, grab a good integrated amplifier and a CD player, conenct it all up with good cable and you;ve got a starter system that can blow your music centre out of the water."

Then other demands came along... paying off a house, computers, trips, and the hi-fi thing fell by the wayside. I still loved music, but mostly enjoyed it via MP3 format on an ipod or computer.

Now, the bug has a chance of biting again, but in looking around I am as confuded as any newbie I encountered back in the early days. Everything seems confusing to the max. After preliminary investugatiosn, I wonder do people still HAVE hi-fi systems as I understood them, these days? It all seems to be about either (a) listen to your tunes in a lossy format on an MP3 player, or (b) stick to your creaky old formats like CD players, turntables, cassette decks, and other things that I thought had died, or at least only exist in a kind of geeky hobby enclave,

* Is there, today, any kind of basic budget "starter system" like the historical one I describe above? And if so, does it still have olde worlde CD players and analogue tuners and such? If so, is there a reason for this... like, perhaps, that dedicated CD players give a huge sonic advantage over listening to your CDs on a Blu-Ray player?

* What are the typical sources for a modern set-up? The modern version of CD Player/Radio Tuner/Turntable/Cassette Deck?

* Building from my question above, is there a kind of hard drive thingy with a slot, that can rip CDS and DVDs, and play them back through my amp/speaker combo (or TV for the DVDs?) and connects to a hi-fi?

*Or should I buy a laptop used JUST as a storage device for FLAC and ripped movies? I really don't want to get into wi-fi streaming from other rooms if I can help it.

* Should I play CDs on a Blu-Ray? Or would I get more bang for my buck buying a cheaper Blu-Ray and a seperate CD player for the same price?

I present these questions for discussion... since I am sure many others would love to get into good, lossless sound and are repelled by the sheer confusion of it all and go back to their MP3s.

Anyway, here's what I'm kicking around with going with... comments welcome.

Good integrated amp, set of bookshelf speakers, subwoofer.

TV

Blu-Ray player (with the sound outlets plugged into a hi-fi amp)

(if possible) a hard drive as I describe above OR a cheap laptop to be used for media storage.

(maybe, see above) Dedicated CD player

(when finance permits) Turntable

Sorry if this is so &*^%^ long. Blame it on new member enthusiasm :^)
 

matt49

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Sy23 said:
Back in the eighties and nineties I was a complete hi-fi freak, listening to CDS on a Luxman/Rotel/Interdyn set up and very much on the geek fringe. In those days, hi-fi knowledge seemed simple enough and I was always ready to rattle off advice... "Forget your all-in-one," I'd say, "get yourself a set of good bookshelf speakers, whack 'em on decent stands, grab a good integrated amplifier and a CD player, conenct it all up with good cable and you;ve got a starter system that can blow your music centre out of the water."

Then other demands came along... paying off a house, computers, trips, and the hi-fi thing fell by the wayside. I still loved music, but mostly enjoyed it via MP3 format on an ipod or computer.

Now, the bug has a chance of biting again, but in looking around I am as confuded as any newbie I encountered back in the early days. Everything seems confusing to the max. After preliminary investugatiosn, I wonder do people still HAVE hi-fi systems as I understood them, these days? It all seems to be about either (a) listen to your tunes in a lossy format on an MP3 player, or (b) stick to your creaky old formats like CD players, turntables, cassette decks, and other things that I thought had died, or at least only exist in a kind of geeky hobby enclave,

* Is there, today, any kind of basic budget "starter system" like the historical one I describe above? And if so, does it still have olde worlde CD players and analogue tuners and such? If so, is there a reason for this... like, perhaps, that dedicated CD players give a huge sonic advantage over listening to your CDs on a Blu-Ray player?

* What are the typical sources for a modern set-up? The modern version of CD Player/Radio Tuner/Turntable/Cassette Deck?

* Building from my question above, is there a kind of hard drive thingy with a slot, that can rip CDS and DVDs, and play them back through my amp/speaker combo (or TV for the DVDs?) and connects to a hi-fi?

*Or should I buy a laptop used JUST as a storage device for FLAC and ripped movies? I really don't want to get into wi-fi streaming from other rooms if I can help it.

* Should I play CDs on a Blu-Ray? Or would I get more bang for my buck buying a cheaper Blu-Ray and a seperate CD player for the same price?

I present these questions for discussion... since I am sure many others would love to get into good, lossless sound and are repelled by the sheer confusion of it all and go back to their MP3s.

Anyway, here's what I'm kicking around with going with... comments welcome.

Good integrated amp, set of bookshelf speakers, subwoofer.

TV

Blu-Ray player (with the sound outlets plugged into a hi-fi amp)

(if possible) a hard drive as I describe above OR a cheap laptop to be used for media storage.

(maybe, see above) Dedicated CD player

(when finance permits) Turntable

Sorry if this is so &*^%^ long. Blame it on new member enthusiasm :^)

Welcome to the fun!

First a couple of questions:

* what's your budget for the first and subsequent stages?

* are you wedded to the idea of radio? How high is the quality bar for radio? FM or internet radio?

* you say 'bookshelf speakers': will they actually be on a bookshelf or on stands?

* how much time are you prepared to spend ripping your existing CD collection?

* how prepared are you to 'get your hands dirty' with the computing side of streaming?

That'll do for starters.
 

Sy23

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matt49 said:
Sy23 said:
Back in the eighties and nineties I was a complete hi-fi freak, listening to CDS on a Luxman/Rotel/Interdyn set up and very much on the geek fringe. In those days, hi-fi knowledge seemed simple enough and I was always ready to rattle off advice... "Forget your all-in-one," I'd say, "get yourself a set of good bookshelf speakers, whack 'em on decent stands, grab a good integrated amplifier and a CD player, conenct it all up with good cable and you;ve got a starter system that can blow your music centre out of the water."

Then other demands came along... paying off a house, computers, trips, and the hi-fi thing fell by the wayside. I still loved music, but mostly enjoyed it via MP3 format on an ipod or computer.

Now, the bug has a chance of biting again, but in looking around I am as confuded as any newbie I encountered back in the early days. Everything seems confusing to the max. After preliminary investugatiosn, I wonder do people still HAVE hi-fi systems as I understood them, these days? It all seems to be about either (a) listen to your tunes in a lossy format on an MP3 player, or (b) stick to your creaky old formats like CD players, turntables, cassette decks, and other things that I thought had died, or at least only exist in a kind of geeky hobby enclave,

* Is there, today, any kind of basic budget "starter system" like the historical one I describe above? And if so, does it still have olde worlde CD players and analogue tuners and such? If so, is there a reason for this... like, perhaps, that dedicated CD players give a huge sonic advantage over listening to your CDs on a Blu-Ray player?

* What are the typical sources for a modern set-up? The modern version of CD Player/Radio Tuner/Turntable/Cassette Deck?

* Building from my question above, is there a kind of hard drive thingy with a slot, that can rip CDS and DVDs, and play them back through my amp/speaker combo (or TV for the DVDs?) and connects to a hi-fi?

*Or should I buy a laptop used JUST as a storage device for FLAC and ripped movies? I really don't want to get into wi-fi streaming from other rooms if I can help it.

* Should I play CDs on a Blu-Ray? Or would I get more bang for my buck buying a cheaper Blu-Ray and a seperate CD player for the same price?

I present these questions for discussion... since I am sure many others would love to get into good, lossless sound and are repelled by the sheer confusion of it all and go back to their MP3s.

Anyway, here's what I'm kicking around with going with... comments welcome.

Good integrated amp, set of bookshelf speakers, subwoofer.

TV

Blu-Ray player (with the sound outlets plugged into a hi-fi amp)

(if possible) a hard drive as I describe above OR a cheap laptop to be used for media storage.

(maybe, see above) Dedicated CD player

(when finance permits) Turntable

Sorry if this is so &*^%^ long. Blame it on new member enthusiasm :^)

Welcome to the fun!

First a couple of questions:

* what's your budget for the first and subsequent stages?

* are you wedded to the idea of radio? How high is the quality bar for radio? FM or internet radio?

* you say 'bookshelf speakers': will they actually be on a bookshelf or on stands?

* how much time are you prepared to spend ripping your existing CD collection?

* how prepared are you to 'get your hands dirty' with the computing side of streaming?

That'll do for starters.

WOW! Great to get a reply so soon! Glad I stayed up until after 2.30AM (Aussie time) tonight, and many thanks.

OK, as far as your questions.

Budget: I presented these questions more as a general "philosophical" starting point than specifically relating to my own plans, so no particular budget in mind. It would depend on many things... however, it would definiitely be at the low end! I was sort of assuming the actual TYPES of compnents would be the same and budget would determine the quality of the somponents.

No, not especially obsessive about radio - even in my "hi Fi Heyday" I tended to use it only for background listening. Just listed it as it was a more or less inevitable component of 80s-90s systems.

I do not like "bookshelf speakers" actually on bookshelves unles there is no other alternative... IMO a set of good stands makes a world of difference, and I'd definitely allocate whatever budget I had to stands (and cables for that matter)

Time spent ripping my small (around 300) collection to FLAC (or other lossless) format would be no problem. I would be perverse enough to actually enjoy the experience (yes, I know, I MUST get out more!)... but sitting there with a flask of coffee, a block of chocolate and music playing in the background while the task went ahead would be bearable enough!

The dirtying of hands with regard to the computer streaming would be limited by my ability rather than willingness. How complex is it? I naively thought it would be just a matter of taking a cord from the computerised device (laptop, hard drive, whatever) into the amp and TV. Or maybe via a DAC. This level of "expertise" is pretty much within my compass. Crawling around in the roof tacking cables, or screaming at multi-room devices that won't "talk" to each other, however, isn't really my thing.

More and more (after reading around this forum) I am coming more and more towards liking having a hi-fi set up of just a turntable and CD player, and letting the visual side (cable and Blu Ray) play back into the TV, with a single input from the TV into the amp. And then maybe plugging a laptop or ipod into the amp as a background listening source. Is this a more logical way of thinking, perhaps?
 

matt49

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OK, that's helpful.

The simplest way to go is to buy a universal disk play with a USB port (Oppo make very good ones). Rip your disks on your PC (dbPoweramp is as good as you can get for ripping software), and connect the PC via USB to the universal player. Then you just need an amp and speakers.

If you value a nice user interface, get a Sonos Connect box and plug this into the disk player via digital optical or coax.

As far as amp and speakers are concerned, you have two options: either a traditional passive set-up (amp plus speakers) or active speakers (for which you might need a separate pre-amp, depending on the brand of speakers you choose: Adam is an excellent manufacturer of active speakers).
 

record_spot

Well-known member
I grew up with separates, and still have a separates system, but I did find the limitations of a traditional integrated amp became an issue for me when I started to use online services, or wanted to take advantage of network capabilities at home. I didn't really want another box and had tried out a few DACs over time. On the other side of it, I definitiely DID want a universal player, so something that played SACD, CD, DVD-A and HDCD and played all of them well.

In the end, I went with a Cambridge 752BD universal player at Christmas which gave me the disc formats and via the Wolfson WM8742 DAC (five of 'em!) which I already knew of and liked from my other CD player. My amp, an Onkyo TX-NR818 that I bought a couple of years ago gives me the breadth of functionality that I wanted. My sources go through it, as does my external hard drive, my PS3 which is my Netflix and Prime streaming source and my TV is hooked up to it.

I gave up the fripperies of being an audiophile, and bought what I needed that would work for me but to a standard that I wanted it to deliver. As it is, I use my system for hours on end, seven days a week.

By the same token, work out what you need a system to do, shortlist the products that give you that and buy accordingly.
 

steve_1979

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record_spot said:
...By the same token, work out what you need a system to do, shortlist the products that give you that and buy accordingly.

Good advice.

Decide what you want your system to do first then start looking for kit that fits your needs second.
 

matt49

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record_spot said:
Thanks Cno, thought I'd drop by the old place. I see it's had a bit of a makeover..!

Yes, while you've been away, the site has been vastly improved. Everyone's really happy with it.

Also the mods have scrupulously enforced a policy of niceness, which we're all sticking to.

Welcome back! You'll wish you'd never been away!
 

steve_1979

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matt49 said:
record_spot said:
Thanks Cno, thought I'd drop by the old place. I see it's had a bit of a makeover..!

Yes, while you've been away, the site has been vastly improved. Everyone's really happy with it.

Also the mods have scrupulously enforced a policy of niceness, which we're all sticking to.

Welcome back! You'll wish you'd never been away!

You forgot to mention that we've also finally come to an agreement about whether or not cables sound the same and the topic never pops up anymore.
 

matt49

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Apr 7, 2013
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steve_1979 said:
matt49 said:
record_spot said:
Thanks Cno, thought I'd drop by the old place. I see it's had a bit of a makeover..!

Yes, while you've been away, the site has been vastly improved. Everyone's really happy with it.

Also the mods have scrupulously enforced a policy of niceness, which we're all sticking to.

Welcome back! You'll wish you'd never been away!

You forgot to mention that we've also finally come to an agreement about whether or not cables sound the same and the topic never pops up anymore.

Steve, don't be ridiculous!
 

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