Which amp etc?

flippo

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Hello all,

My current Denon midi system is getting long in the tooth now and the cd player is getting hot and not playing correctly.

The time has come to treat myself to a new amp, speakers and cd player.

But where to start? The budget is probably £1000 - 1300 ish.

I do tend to stream most of my music from my imac via an Apple Airport Express while my wife will only use cds.

I was looking at something like the Naim Mu So but im guessing the sound wont be as good as seperates and no cd player.

What would anyone recommend, is there a good amp with Airplay built in?

Which cd player to suit and the speakers are to go on a free standing unit against a wall.

It is soley for music which varies greatly.

Thanks in advance.
 
flippo said:
Hello all,

My current Denon midi system is getting long in the tooth now and the cd player is getting hot and not playing correctly.

The time has come to treat myself to a new amp, speakers and cd player.

But where to start? The budget is probably £1000 - 1300 ish.

I do tend to stream most of my music from my imac via an Apple Airport Express while my wife will only use cds.

I was looking at something like the Naim Mu So but im guessing the sound wont be as good as seperates and no cd player.

What would anyone recommend, is there a good amp with Airplay built in?

Which cd player to suit and the speakers are to go on a free standing unit against a wall.

It is soley for music which varies greatly.

Thanks in advance.

I am not sure of what part of the world you are from but my advice anyway would be to get to a dealer and explain your requirements to them. Get to actually audition something. Most will also tell you that mounting speakers as you intend is not ideal and would limit your selection, get some proper stands.
 

flippo

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Hi,

I have been to my local dealer and they were not that helpfull other than to say everything they sold would suit me.

I just wanted a starting point with regard to brands to go for and then I can go search them out.

The speakers will be on a unit but about 4-5 inchs away from the wall.

Thanks
 

muljao

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I'll just say that we or maybe I can recommend a starting place, but it will likely be based on my current set up and what I have used.

If you could bag a monitor audio a100 you'd have apple covered and any modest CD or DVD player plugged in via its optical cable will give good sound.

If I were you though id look at the Onkyo tx8150. It covers almost all streaming needs with great features and supposedly sounds great. That's about 550 pounds or less.

I'd buy a CD player in the 150 pounds range and plug it in via opt cable to the Onkyo

That leaves 300-600 for speakers. Have you room for stands? If yes the q acoustics 3020 work well close to walls, they are about 150, stands are about 100.

Other speakers to look at are wharfedale diamond 220, as they have a bottom port so are not to fussy about placement
 
muljao said:
I'll just say that we or maybe I can recommend a starting place, but it will likely be based on my current set up and what I have used.

If you could bag a monitor audio a100 you'd have apple covered and any modest CD or DVD player plugged in via its optical cable will give good sound.

If I were you though id look at the Onkyo tx8150. It covers almost all streaming needs with great features and supposedly sounds great. That's about 550 pounds or less.

I'd buy a CD player in the 150 pounds range and plug it in via opt cable to the Onkyo

That leaves 300-600 for speakers. Have you room for stands? If yes the q acoustics 3020 work well close to walls, they are about 150, stands are about 100.

Other speakers to look at are wharfedale diamond 220, as they have a bottom port so are not to fussy about placement

I'd have a look at something like the Yammaha CDN301 network streamer and CD player combined and add this to the Onkyo 9010 amplifier then add speakers of choice.
 

muljao

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Al ears said:
muljao said:
I'll just say that we or maybe I can recommend a starting place, but it will likely be based on my current set up and what I have used.

If you could bag a monitor audio a100 you'd have apple covered and any modest CD or DVD player plugged in via its optical cable will give good sound.

If I were you though id look at the Onkyo tx8150. It covers almost all streaming needs with great features and supposedly sounds great. That's about 550 pounds or less.

I'd buy a CD player in the 150 pounds range and plug it in via opt cable to the Onkyo

That leaves 300-600 for speakers. Have you room for stands? If yes the q acoustics 3020 work well close to walls, they are about 150, stands are about 100.

Other speakers to look at are wharfedale diamond 220, as they have a bottom port so are not to fussy about placement

I'd have a look at something like the Yammaha CDN301 network streamer and CD player combined and add this to the Onkyo 9010 amplifier then add speakers of choice.

That looks like a great option, allowing a good budget for more specialist speakers that may be designed for just the setup the op requires. There is so much good stuff on the market
 

rainsoothe

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Hi. If you're positioning speakers that close to a wall and not on stands, I would start with Neat Iota speakers, and look at 2nd hand market for amplification. Maybe an amp with a DAC, so you can connect a cheap Sony blu-ray player with digital output for CD duties - and the AEX too. Or maybe you can find a Naim Unitiqute 2 that fits your budget (again, just plugging a cheap blu-ray into one of its digital inputs).
 

flippo

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Hi,

Thanks for the suggestions.

The room is approx 5m x 2.5m.

Sorry Al Ears but location was not a question, but im in Bucks.

I will look at some of the suggestions.

Thanks.
 

insider9

Well-known member
flippo said:
Hi,

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

The room is approx 5m x 2.5m.

Sorry Al Ears but location was not a question, but im in Bucks.

I will look at some of the suggestions.

 

Thanks.
The very limiting factor would be the distance to the wall and size as they'd have to fit on shelf. Speaker stands would be ideal scenario to get best sound quality even if the speakers you're buying are called bookshelves.

The above Neat Iota would be a good choice size wise but I've not heard them and not sure how they'd do in that size room.

I'd suggest looking at Quad S-1. They're very compact so would fit on even a small shelf and they will work a few inches from back wall. I've had a demo yesterday and they sounded bigger than they looked.

Audio T in Oxford to Reading should have a pair for you to listen.

Another thing to consider, how high is the shelf?
 

tino

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I would take a look at the new NAD C338 amplifier which comes out very soon although this doesn't have Airplay but it has Bluetooth, wireless streaming capability and digital inputs for a cheapish CD transport.

The Pioneer NC-50 DAB ticks all the boxes feature-wise and includes a CD.

There is a stand/wall mount Dali Fazon speaker which might do the job speakerwise for you (see http://www.dali-speakers.com/uk/loudspeakers/fazon/fazon-sat/)
 

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