Tuner Advice

[admin_exported]

Hello all,

I'm at that stage in life when I'm looking to move up from micro systems to separates. Having lurked around the forum, I'm heading towards the package available from Richer Sounds which consists of the Cambridge Audio 640C V2 CD player, 540A V2 amplifier and Mordaunt-Short 902i speakers for just under £500.

I'd like to get a DAB tuner to go with this system. Is there any merit in sticking with the same system (better synergy? fewer remotes?) and getting the Cambridge Audio 640T V2 tuner or should I go with the Denon TU-1800DAB, which seems highly regarded?

Another general curiosity question - why is the 640T supplied with digital outputs but the equivalent amplifier, the 640A only has analogue inputs?

If you have a comment on any aspect of my proposed set-up, it would be much appreciated!
Other info that might be of use:
The system will be for a carpeted room approx 16' x 10'
In addition to the CD player and tuner, I'll be looking to attach my Roku SoundBridge network music player and DVD player to the system too.
My music tastes fall on the spectrum of Jazz/Soul/Funk/Rhythm&Blues with frequent doses of jazzy/dancey electronica (Basement Jaxx, Mr Scruff, Nicola Conte etc), classical and pop music.

 

[Andrew Everard]

The Denon tuner is exceptionally good, but the Cambridge won't involve too much of a quality trade-off in return for the single remote convenience.

The digital outputs on the tuners are there to feed a digital recorder, such as a CD-R machine, or an external digital to analogue converter. For ordinary radio listening, the analogue connectors to an amplifier will be more than good enough.

 

[Clare Newsome]

Curses, even on a Saturday morning you beat me to that reply, Mr E....

That's s great package deal, I must add - the amp and CD player usually cost £250 each, so you're getting £150 of speakers free!

Don't forget to budget for speakers stands and cables, too....You don't want to risk losing details or punch, or your great system could start to sound sludgy (more likely in a carpeted room, too)

 

[Andrew Everard]

[quote user="Clare Newsome"]Curses, even on a Saturday morning you beat me to that reply, Mr E....
[/quote]

Hey, it's a fine, bright, warm Saturday morning - what better thing to do while waiting for the washing machine to finish than sit in the garden and answer some Forum questions?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your responses. Would you be able to advise me on what to get in the way of speaker cables and interconnects?

I've read that you pretty much get what you pay for and that you should spend about 10% of your system budget on cables (from the richer sounds website, I think), but there just seem so many options that I don't know where to begin!

 

[Andrew Everard]

IMHO Chord Crimson and Carnival Silver Plus, or QED Qunex and Silver Anniversary

 

[Anonymous]

Hello again, I thought it would be better to continue on with this thread rather than start a new one so to keep the background of my situation.

I visited my local HiFi shop today to have a look around and while chatting was shown a Harman Kardon AVR 145 AV receiver (£450*) on the principle that if I want to have the possibility to introduce surround sound to my basic system in the future it may be a better investment than buying a stereo amp in the £200-250 range (he showed me a Rotel and a Denon), as the Harman Kardon would perform just as good as those stereo amps for music. Has anyone got any experience of this product or company? I found only one CD player by them in the magazine buyer's guide and not much in the forums either.

He also mentioned a DVD player by the same company (not sure of the model, around £250 I think) that he said was an excellent CD player as well - I'm inclined to think the shop is fond of Harman Kardon as there was a lot of their stuff around.

*As an aside, I thought I'd comment on this price. While the staff were clearly very knowledgeable and I would love to support their specialist shop, the same model can be found on the internet for £265 - a difference of about £20-50 would be something I could consider, but when you could buy the Denon tuner I'm looking at with the difference, it makes it difficult to 'do the right thing'!

 

[Andrew Everard]

If I was spending £400 or so on a receiver, I'd be buying the Onkyo TX-SR605, which might well get fairly close to a £250 amp in musical terms. But I think you have to decide whether you want a pure musical system or one that does surround sound too.