Your Recommendations: New CD Player/Hi-Fi System

[Susie]

Hello Everyone,

I don't know much about A/V eqipment but really need to upgrade my current sound system it's not even worth mentioning the make/model it's nothing fancy. Over the course of the next year I would like to put together a good all purpose system. CD/SACD/DVD/Blu-ray would be my ideal set up but I next to nothing apart from what I've learnd for here and elsewhere online.

I have roughly £1000 a month despoabal income to spend or save to put towards new eqipment. I know that's not a lot when it comes to these things but I don't have to have an ultra high-end system just good with room to imrpove would do.

This may sound stupid but I assume one should start with the CD player and build from there?

I'd be looking for something up to £1000 unless you think I really need something more expensive then I can wait and save. I'd also be looking for a set of speakers as my current speakers are built in and not great.

Sorry for the long post thank you for your time.

Susie

 

[Overdose]

I'd say a Cambridge Audio 751BD (currently on sale for less than £500) or its successor the 752. This is a universal player and will cater for all disc play back.

I would then consider a pair of active speakers and the soon to be released AVI ADM5s would be my first port of call.

 

[matt49]

Hello Everyone,

I don't know much about A/V eqipment but really need to upgrade my current sound system it's not even worth mentioning the make/model it's nothing fancy. Over the course of the next year I would like to put together a good all purpose system. CD/SACD/DVD/Blu-ray would be my ideal set up but I next to nothing apart from what I've learnd for here and elsewhere online.

I have roughly £1000 a month despoabal income to spend or save to put towards new eqipment. I know that's not a lot when it comes to these things but I don't have to have an ultra high-end system just good with room to imrpove would do.

This may sound stupid but I assume one should start with the CD player and build from there?

I'd be looking for something up to £1000 unless you think I really need something more expensive then I can wait and save. I'd also be looking for a set of speakers as my current speakers are built in and not great.

Sorry for the long post thank you for your time.

Susie

Hi Susie,

welcome to the fun.

Your budget will go a long way. My vote would be: a relatively cheap Blu-ray player (e.g. from Sony) plus an outboard digital-analogue converter (DAC) e.g. the Audiolab MDAC (£699). The outboard DAC will give you the option of turning your PC/Mac into a high-quality music source, if you decide to go down that route later.

Speakers are a very personal choice. I think the general view on this forum is that speakers should always be tried out at home, because the interaction with your room is crucial. Are you located in/near a major city with good specialist hi-fi dealers?

:cheers:

Matt

 

[floyd droid]

Hi Susie ,oh gawd your brain will be exploding with suggestions soon. All will be totaly pointless at this stage in game in my honest opinion.

Do you have a 'proper' independant hifi retailer close by ?. If so get ye down there and moosie around with your ears and eyes wide open. But your purse closed !!.

One mans/womans meat is anothers poison in this game.

Not much help to you I guess , but you will read what I am getting at as the thread evolves. Paracetamol are quite cheap these days .

 

[altruistic.lemon]

Shilling again, Overdose, they haven't even been released, no-one has heard them, no reviews, no comparisons, plus they need a preamp! you really are not helping anyone here.

Apologies for the outburst, Susie, but welcome, and, yes, a CD/SACD/Blu-Ray player is a good place to start. I'd look at one of the Sony models, which play all formats and sound good, use one myself. You'll need an amplifier too - NAD would be my choice here. The rest you should spend on speakers, something like the Boston Acoustics A25 or 26, the Dali Zensors or the Q Acoustics. That'll give you a good base system which sounds good and upon which you can build.

If you want to save, then I'd hang fire on the speakers and look at something like Neat, Spendor, or Dynaudio. You should audition speakers, though, to give you an idea how they sound, what the differences are, and what the extra money gives you.

 

[CnoEvil]

Hi Susie ,oh gawd your brain will be exploding with suggestions soon. All will be totaly pointless at this stage in game in my honest opinion.

Do you have a 'proper' independant hifi retailer close by ?. If so get ye down there and moosie around with your ears and eyes wide open. But your purse closed !!.

One mans/womans meat is anothers poison in this game.

Not much help to you I guess , but you will read what I am getting at as the thread evolves. Paracetamol are quite cheap these days .

I would go along with this.

@ Susie

I would just add, that If you can let the forum know the general area where you live, I'm sure you will get suggestions about which dealers to check out.

BTW. Welcome to the forum.

 

[Susie]

I'd say a Cambridge Audio 751BD (currently on sale for less than £500) or its successor the 752. This is a universal player and will cater for all disc play back.

I would then consider a pair of active speakers and the soon to be released AVI ADM5s would be my first port of call.

Thank you OD for your time that looks great if a little ugly it does almost everything. If I may ask where would one find it for that price? I did a Google search and only got eBay results must be looking in the wrong places...

Would a multi-purpose unit like the 751BD/752 equel the qaulity of a deadacated CD/SACD and or Blu-ray player for their respective roles?

Much appiracited!

Hi Susie,

welcome to the fun.

Your budget will go a long way. My vote would be: a relatively cheap Blu-ray player (e.g. from Sony) plus an outboard digital-analogue converter (DAC) e.g. the Audiolab MDAC (£699). The outboard DAC will give you the option of turning your PC/Mac into a high-quality music source, if you decide to go down that route later.

Speakers are a very personal choice. I think the general view on this forum is that speakers should always be tried out at home, because the interaction with your room is crucial. Are you located in/near a major city with good specialist hi-fi dealers?

:cheers:

Matt

Thanks Matt, I live in London but my time for shopping is limmited I had hoped to do most of my shopping online. I do understand what your saying though about hands on experince with the equpment so may take a day off to have a look.

If I'm honest DACs etc confuse me I know what it does but my brain does start to go into meltdown slightly. I will look into what you mentioned in your post. As for the PC/Mac I have a Mac Mini with a large HDD so would be delgihted if that could be worked into the system some how.

Thanks again for your time.

 

[Overdose]

The 751BD

An alternative, the OPPO 103/105

Most universal players are likely to look a little mundane and wouldn't have the aesthetics of more esoteric specialist designs, however the performance of such equipment will not vary much.

Speakers and the respective amplification is where the big differences exist and it's here that you really need to focus. Active speakers will do away with the need to try and match an amplifier to a pair of speakers and to be sure there doesn't seem to be any hard and fast concensus as to what is best in this regard, opinions vary so much.

The main downside that you will encounter with active speakers though, is trying to find a pair that doesn't offend the eye, few 'affordable' active hifi speakers exist, but the list is growing slowly.

 

[chebby]

If it were me - with £1000 per month to save towards a system - I would save up for three months and buy a Naim Uniti 2 (£2795) and then get a pair of speakers up to £1000 the following month.

The Naim Uniti2 is a one box solution containing CD player, DAC, FM, DAB and internet tuners, amplifier, network streaming etc.

Again, I should stress this is what I would choose for myself based on my own experience of owning a Naim system and having heard the Uniti a few times. (And my preference for keeping the number of boxes and cables to an absolute minimum.)

Speakers? That really depends on the size of room, effects of furnishings, your music, how loud you like to play it and whether you like their looks. So I only suggest a budget for speakers.

 

[altruistic.lemon]

You should be ashamed of yourself, Overdose, and apologise to Susie, the moderators and this forum for your wildly inappropriate recommendations.

 

[Susie]

Hi guys,

I just wanted to say I will reply to everyone and thank you for the warm welcome to the forum. I didn't execpt to get many replies as I was pretty vague but I live in London and can drive and would do so if I had to do so in order to get the right things at the right price.

Thanks again to everyone for their time I know you must get a lot of these threads I really appiracite your time. :cheers:

 

[floyd droid]

I would go along with this.

@ Susie

I would just add, that If you can let the forum know the general area where you live, I'm sure you will get suggestions about which dealers to check out.

I actually typed the question for 'names of dealers' and deleted it ,lol.

 

[floyd droid]

Speakers? That really depends on the size of room, effects of furnishings, your music, how loud you like to play it and whether you like their looks. So I only suggest a budget for speakers.

Plus how they gel with the amp, pretty sure thats just an oversight by you Chebby.

@Susie. Do you like to kick back and chill . Blast it out and boogie , or a bit of both. See where I'm coming from here ?.

Lots of brain food coming your way.

Find the ruddy time and go to a dealer please. We read far too often cries for 'help 'ive lashed up' on this forum.

 

[BigH]

As you live in London you could go to Bartletts in Islington, they have a good range inc. ADM 9RSSs, Tannoy, Dynaudio speakers, you need to book a demo, best to go for 1-1.5 hours. They had Marantz Pearl Lite CD and amps not sure if still in stock, if you look at their website you will see whats in stock. £1,000 per item is quite a heafty budget, not sure you need to spend that much.

 

[floyd droid]

You should be ashamed of yourself, Overdose, and apologise to Susie, the moderators and this forum for your wildly inappropriate recommendations.

Silly so and so is still listening to a box of drivers though isnt he,or hasnt he worked that out yet. :twisted:.

Sorry Susie , tad off topic.

 

[altruistic.lemon]

Exactly, FD!

Susie, there's also Richer Sounds who are more at the budget end of things, and Grahams, who have a good reputation. Best advise, as BigH says, is to go along and do some serious listening.

 

[CnoEvil]

Thanks Matt, I live in London but my time for shopping is limmited I had hoped to do most of my shopping online. I do understand what your saying though about hands on experince with the equpment so may take a day off to have a look.

If I'm honest DACs etc confuse me I know what it does but my brain does start to go into meltdown slightly. I will look into what you mentioned in your post. As for the PC/Mac I have a Mac Mini with a large HDD so would be delgihted if that could be worked into the system some how.

Sorry for butting in to your reply to Matt........Hifi is such a subjective experience (much like Art or Fashion), which means that going and listening for yourself is absolutely crucial, especially if you are fairly new to it all and spending a fair amount of money.

A good dealer will take you through the variety of options open to you, much like Chebby's suggestion for example......and incorporating your Mac Mini into the system is a good idea.

Every week you get someone on here, who has bought a "pick and mix" of 5* reviewed components "cheap" on line, and doesn't like the way it sounds.

Apologies if I'm coming across as patronizing, but I'm trying not to be......but the importance not buying "blind" is something that I feel is worth highlighting.

 

[robg1976]

Hi mate, I understand you may be busy, but please, if you are going to spend around £1000 on a cd player please go to local store and audition some kit, your budget will offer you a huge choice, so please make time to make sure you get whats right for you, sure pick the top players eg arcam rotel nad, naim, audiolab ect.... hope this helps

 

[robg1976]

what music do you like another factor in you choice of kit,

 

[Susie]

Shilling again, Overdose, they haven't even been released, no-one has heard them, no reviews, no comparisons, plus they need a preamp! you really are not helping anyone here.

Apologies for the outburst, Susie, but welcome, and, yes, a CD/SACD/Blu-Ray player is a good place to start. I'd look at one of the Sony models, which play all formats and sound good, use one myself. You'll need an amplifier too - NAD would be my choice here. The rest you should spend on speakers, something like the Boston Acoustics A25 or 26, the Dali Zensors or the Q Acoustics. That'll give you a good base system which sounds good and upon which you can build.

If you want to save, then I'd hang fire on the speakers and look at something like Neat, Spendor, or Dynaudio. You should audition speakers, though, to give you an idea how they sound, what the differences are, and what the extra money gives you.

No Need to apologize Lemon and thank you.

Speakers? That really depends on the size of room, effects of furnishings, your music, how loud you like to play it and whether you like their looks. So I only suggest a budget for speakers.

Plus how they gel with the amp, pretty sure thats just an oversight by you Chebby.

@Susie. Do you like to kick back and chill . Blast it out and boogie , or a bit of both. See where I'm coming from here ?.

Lots of brain food coming your way.

Find the ruddy time and go to a dealer please. We read far too often cries for 'help 'ive lashed up' on this forum.

My Boyfriend and I are very much "sit back and chill" people. We like "Classical" music if that makes a difference to recomendations I'm not sure. We have a small room where our current sound system lives.it's roughly 12ft x 12ft and I would think this is any new system would go.

I run my own digtal media bussiness and we are currently working 6 days a week so time is far from abundant. Having said that I will heed your advice and make time to go test out gear I am in no rush.

I like my headphones and I got a new pair for my Birthday a few days ago. I haven't been able to read reviews on them yet (Sennheiser HD 800s) but am told they are "high-end" headphones would I be able to put off buying speakers for the moment and use these instead? We only ever use speakers when we're listening together which is a rare event these days so less imporant (even though they are imporant).

As you live in London you could go to Bartletts in Islington, they have a good range inc. ADM 9RSSs, Tannoy, Dynaudio speakers, you need to book a demo, best to go for 1-1.5 hours. They had Marantz Pearl Lite CD and amps not sure if still in stock, if you look at their website you will see whats in stock. £1,000 per item is quite a heafty budget, not sure you need to spend that much.

Thanks I'll be sure to check those out. As for my budget if I don't end up spending that amount that's great however if I have to that is the limit I have set for myself it allows me to have money left for other things I do quite well. Sorry if I sound like a ***** I don't mean it that way just letting you know I can afford it and I'm not doing anything becuase I think I need to spend that amount I just can if need be.

Thanks again all you guys are very kind. :cheers:

 

[Overdose]

As for the PC/Mac I have a Mac Mini with a large HDD so would be delgihted if that could be worked into the system some how.

Thanks again for your time.

That's what I use, but obviously the limitation is that I don't have Blu-Ray. I have considered adding the 751BD myself, as it seems to do all that I need, but the OPPO has an HDMI in that could be useful for connecting up to your Mac mini, so may be a more complete solution.

 

[Susie]

As for the PC/Mac I have a Mac Mini with a large HDD so would be delgihted if that could be worked into the system some how.

Thanks again for your time.

That's what I use, but obviously the limitation is that I don't have Blu-Ray. I have considered adding the 751BD myself, as it seems to do all that I need, but the OPPO has an HDMI in that could be useful for connecting up to your Mac mini, so may be a more complete solution.

We have a Blu-ray drive for our Mac mini. Our Mac mini is older so it still has the slot for a optical drive which we swapped from DVD to Blu-ray. We also have several external drives we use for work they are quite cheap if your interested in adding Blu-ray to your Mac mini. The only thing is Mac OS X doesn't suppourt Blu-ray out of the box so third party software is needed.

 

[Susie]

Thanks Matt, I live in London but my time for shopping is limmited I had hoped to do most of my shopping online. I do understand what your saying though about hands on experince with the equpment so may take a day off to have a look.

If I'm honest DACs etc confuse me I know what it does but my brain does start to go into meltdown slightly. I will look into what you mentioned in your post. As for the PC/Mac I have a Mac Mini with a large HDD so would be delgihted if that could be worked into the system some how.

Sorry for butting in to your reply to Matt........Hifi is such a subjective experience (much like Art or Fashion), which means that going and listening for yourself is absolutely crucial, especially if you are fairly new to it all and spending a fair amount of money.

A good dealer will take you through the variety of options open to you, much like Chebby's suggestion for example......and incorporating your Mac Mini into the system is a good idea.

Every week you get someone on here, who has bought a "pick and mix" of 5* reviewed components "cheap" on line, and doesn't like the way it sounds.

Apologies if I'm coming across as patronizing, but I'm trying not to be......but the importance not buying "blind" is something that I feel is worth highlighting.

Don't be sorry I'm well aware that I know nothing and without your help would could end up spending a vast amount of money without getting the results to match my expectations. I will shop around when I have an idea of what I'm going to buy and post back here before I decide to buy anything. Your being honest and I appreciate that not patronizing at all.

I apologize about my spelling etc I'm on my iPad and should be working at the moment. :doh:

 

[Overdose]

We have a Blu-ray drive for our Mac mini. Our Mac mini is older so it still has the slot for a optical drive which we swapped from DVD to Blu-ray. We also have several external drives we use for work they are quite cheap if your interested in adding Blu-ray to your Mac mini. The only thing is Mac OS X doesn't suppourt Blu-ray out of the box so third party software is needed.

Thanks for the advice, I'll definitely look into it.

If that's the case then, I'd probably look no further than the ADM9RS speakers, no further equipment neccessary, although a dedicated universal/Blu-Ray player might be more convenient for direct disc playback, particularly if you need SACD.

Your headphones are highly regarded and would take some beating by any speaker, so you could quite easily leave it there, although you may benefit from a headphone amplifier, as the impedence of the headphones would be a little too high for a portable device and Mac mini to drive to higher volumes. They might sound a little quiet.

 

[altruistic.lemon]

Funny how one word gives the game away, isn't it, guys?

Give it a rest, go back to your speakerette forum and stop trying to hijack the biggest HiFi forum in the UK. I presume you're being well rewarded for this devious nonsense.