Which Speakers?

admin_exported

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Hi

So I am now onto buying the final part/s of my first ever (budget) turntable setup. I have a Dual 505-1 turntable with an Empire 2000 E/IV cartridge and a Rotel RA-820AX intergrated amplifier.

I have about £35'ish left to buy speakers, including postage costs, which are usually around £10 or so for speakers on ebay. Which leaves me with around £25 for the speakers themselves. What sort of thing should I be looking at for that price? I just want something that will get me up and running and sound pretty good, as I will probably upgrade the speakers at some point next year as it is the easiest thing to upgrade. So can you recommend anything?

Also, what interconnects/cables do I need? And how do I know if I will actually need them? Because up until recently I never knew you needed to buy separate cables to attach speakers to an amplifier/output on a CD player, from my experience speakers have always had cables attached to them to just plug and play. If I do need to buy internconnects though, would something like this be ok?: http://ebayitem.com/190345717441

Thanks for your help.
 

John Duncan

Well-known member
Was about to say KEF Coda 7, then checked the outrageous prices they're going for on the 'bay (note to self - dig mine out of wardrobe). Nothing else comes to mind that you'd be guaranteed to get that cheaply, will have a look.

As for cables, with such a budget system, I wouldn't recommend spending much more than a tenner on an interconnect, and getting some thick copper speaker cable for as little as possible for starters.
 
A

Anonymous

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JohnDuncan:As for cables, with such a budget system, I wouldn't recommend spending much more than a tenner on an interconnect, and getting some thick copper speaker cable for as little as possible for starters.

How many cables will I actually need? And what do you mean by 'getting some thick copper speaker cable'? As I can't really be bothered making cables, I just want to buy, plug in and play, as hassle free as possible.

Thanks.
 

John Duncan

Well-known member
Actually, I'm being a bit dim. Your dual has built-in interconnects so forget that bit.

As for speaker cable, I'd go to ebay and search for "speaker cable", and pick one that feels like the right price (there's some thick '322 strand' cable on ther for about a fiver for 10m, which seems to fit with the rest of your budget. Can't vouch for its quality, but beggars/choosers etc.
 
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Anonymous

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So what am I meant to attach the ends of the cable to? You have lost me at this point. I don't understand what I'm using to plug the cable into the speakers and amp if it's just a big lot of cable without any connectors on the ends?

Basically my turntable has a power cord and two other cables, red and white plugs that will plug into the phono input on the amp.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Has anyone heard of Acoustic Solutions? Are they a reputable brand? As I have found some cheap speakers made by this company on ebay for £30 including postage, £20 for the speakers themselves. Here is the specification of the speakers:

Two-way design, 100mm Bass Driver, 20mm soft dome tweeter, 50W RMS, 8Ohms, spring terminals and speaker cables.

Impedance 8Ohms

Sensitivity 84Db

Peak Music Power 90W Max

Power RMS 50W

Frequency Response 100Hz - 20KHz

Do these look any good? Are they worth buying?

Thanks for your help.
 

John Duncan

Well-known member
d3moliti0n:
So what am I meant to attach the ends of the cable to? You have lost me at this point. I don't understand what I'm using to plug the cable into the speakers and amp if it's just a big lot of cable without any connectors on the ends?

Basically my turntable has a power cord and two other cables, red and white plugs that will plug into the phono input on the amp.

Indeed.

The amp itself can either accept banana plugs or bare wires - the red and black sockets on the back should unscrew to allow you to put bare wire in, then you just tighten them up. Same with the speakers (99% of the time)
 

Johnno2

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d3moliti0n:

Has anyone heard of Acoustic Solutions? Are they a reputable brand? As I have found some cheap speakers made by this company on ebay for £30 including postage, £20 for the speakers themselves. Here is the specification of the speakers:

Two-way design, 100mm Bass Driver, 20mm soft dome tweeter, 50W RMS, 8Ohms, spring terminals and speaker cables.
Impedance 8Ohms
Sensitivity 84Db
Peak Music Power 90W Max
Power RMS 50W
Frequency Response 100Hz - 20KHz

Do these look any good? Are they worth buying?

Thanks for your help.

Acoustic soloutions are a cheapo brand and probably sound so too. Currys seemed the only place that sells them I would avoid them personally,go for a 'proper 'hifi manufacturer .
 

drummerman

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Suggest Mordaunt Short MS10i or 20i Pearl Editions. Epos engineering. Not best with very lean sounding components but good enough to be at the end of some serious Naim stuff and other quality systems.
 
T

the record spot

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Not sure how limited your budget really is here, but I really would hold out here for a week or two and bump it up by £20 as more cash becomes available if you can. Reason for saying is you could land a pair of Q Acoustics 1010i speakers from Richer Sounds for £59.99 and that's more or less half price. Great bookshelf speakers, excellent reviews all round, plus, albeit unlikely you'll need it, you'll get a warranty and the option to return and swap for something else (e.g. Wharfedale Diamond 9.0s for a tenner less) if you don't like them.

These are still going for nearer £100 in some places, so this RS deal is pretty good and the brand is excellent.

http://www.richersounds.com/product/bookshelf-speakers/q-acoustics/1010i/qaco-1010i-blk

41X7Nz%2BpXxL._SL500_AA280_.jpg
 
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Anonymous

Guest
The final piece of kit has been bought, a set of
Mordaunt-Short MS10 (not the MS10i sadly) speakers for £35 including
postage. I found an old review from like 1993 for these and they got a
good write-up overall and I have heard good things about this brand and
have been recommended them which is why I went for them, and the price
was great, spot on my budget. Here they are:

http://ebayitem.com/180434351708

Thanks.
 

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