Hi-fi systems ?

[jscl]

bose: Buy Other Sound Equipment

[lost53]

Do yourself a favour...

Having read all of the above. If you value music, then you owe it to your self to invest in some good equipment. Ensuring the equipment is well matched and suited to your tastes.

Being in London there are lots of good dealers, one guy who really knows his stuff is- Walrus systems.
Go there with a couple of c.d's and see what you have been missing.
Once you have heard a system that is well put together, you then have a reference point. You will know what is possible then you can make an informed choice.
Good luck!

[lowrey]

I'm sure any audiophile will gringe at this, but I spent some time trying to figure what I want, need and can afford, and in the end I decided to go with a simple Yamaha micro system and have been very happy.

its small and has good connectivity, which is perfect for me. wanting to spend €300-400, I didn't really see much other realistic options without having to spend ages to find some used pieces of equipment to build something. I have a pair of old B&O speakers from the 80's which are probably made with design>quality, but they sound pretty nice to me. I use generic cables and often play mp3 files, and the sound is decent. I've tried high-end systems in a local shop that sells Arcam, McIntosh, Naim etc, and while their systems obviously sound good, I feel the difference between them and a GOOD basic stereo system is not quite as big as its often made to sound. but then again as I said I'm not an audiophile, but do love music and listen to it daily.

[mumma]

snafu, if you're looking for a good quality "all-in-one" kinda thing, i could recommend linn classik (it's a cd player with an amplifier and am/fm radio). it's a good product to start with your audio adventure ;-) (i've been changing my audio system already 10 times in last 5 years - once you start, you'll always search for more and more perfect sound). ok, but for an used one you you'll pay around £400-500. then you need speakers - i would stick to linn, for example katan you can get for ~£200 in a good used condition. than cables it's an additional ~£50-100. i think it's a good combination, which as a new would cost around £2500 - of course that always depends on your personal taste, but as an audiophile that listens to every kind of music, i can recommend this as a really top choice.

ebay is a good place to search.

linn classik

linn katan

also, if you guys are spending more than £1000 for a pair of shoes, i think you should give good audio system a try as well ;-)

[lost53]

Yep I am cringing!!

Lowrey, saying there is not much difference between is like saying there is not much difference from a pair of Guidis to a pair of...uggs!

But be glad if you don't hear it.. it has saved you a fortune!!

Mumma has given some very worthy advice.

[theetruscan]

I'm sure any audiophile will gringe at this, but I spent some time trying to figure what I want, need and can afford, and in the end I decided to go with a simple Yamaha micro system and have been very happy.

I have a proper audiophile system in storage somewhere. 90% of my listening these days is through headphones, random boom boxes, etcetera*. It's about the music, right?

*Admittedly the other 10% is through a very solid system indeed.

[endersgame]

i have a question that is related to this thread.

what is the best wireless device to stream to a stereo? something that avoids any downsampling once the audio leaves the computer.

airport express?
apple TV?
sonos?
other?

[t-bone]

Airport Express (sadly, since I use them) downsamples everything to 128kbps AAC... or at least the older ones did, not sure about the new ones or the new apple TV.

[sargon97]

i have a question that is related to this thread.

what is the best wireless device to stream to a stereo? something that avoids any downsampling once the audio leaves the computer.

airport express?
apple TV?
sonos?
other?

I have not heard it, but this looks interesting...

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Logitech-Squeezebox-Touch-Review

[soultek]

Snafu:

In general, I echo everyone's advice.

For your price range, I'd pay attention to functionality and industrial design over sound quality. Most systems are designed for that these days anyways. Most new systems will have a class D/digital amp in them. Which, although they CAN sound great, mostly sound like crap (at least in inexpensive consumer goods). I'd track down some vintage stuff (from 10 years ago) over any of the new stuff. If you don't mind the way it looks the JBL Invader system sounds great if you can find one (of course, I'm biased...)

If you want to go vintage. You can get some decent stuff for that range, but it won't be compact. 70's solid state receivers (machined aluminum fronts, wood paneling on the sides & top) can usually be had for not much. Then any old book shelf speakers should be okay.

For that budget, and playing MP3's, don't waste your money on cables or a DAC. Get the cheapest thing that does the job.

If you find a little more money to spend, I really like ADAM speakers. I use their studio monitors, but they have a 'home' line as well. I think they have some as little as $500 per pair. I can't tell as they don't distribute the home stuff in the US. Their tweeter technology is very interesting, and despite a lack of literature (last I checked) has great directionality. Some fine it hard to listen to over a long period of time, so might not be ideal for a home system.

Also: the listening environment can be a lot of what you hear. No sense in spending thousands on equipment if you're not treating your room, positioning yourself & speakers, and/or doing some corrective EQ. Unless you plan on sitting in one spot and not moving your head.

Also, headphones suck for HIFI music listening. Yeah, I said it. Unless you have some crazy system that customized to your head and fixes the stereo field for you (of which I only know of a few experimental systems that have not been productized as far as I know).

[thehouseofdis]

Here's something else you could consider and it looks to be within your price range:

BRENNAN JB7

[Soli]

Airport Express (sadly, since I use them) downsamples everything to 128kbps AAC... or at least the older ones did, not sure about the new ones or the new apple TV.

It does not. It resamples everything above 16bit/44,1khz to just that, but will pass normal CD-quality sound bit perfect. It does have an optical output which is the recommended method if you have an outboard processor of some kind. The analog output of the Airport Express is literally the worst I've heard, but it may not matter if is it is a budget Hi-Fi.

[gavagai]

I have a Naim Nait5, Rega Planar 25 and Harbeth Compact 7 Speakers.

I have all my music on hard drives hooked up to an airport. I stream everything through my stereo and use my iphone as a remote. Awesome for functionality and very, very cheap.

When I want to kick back and listen to AWESOME sounding music I put a record on.

I mostly listen to Jazz, Classical and experimental electronic music.

I used to be a hardcore audiophile but having the functionality of 1,000 plus albums able to be streamed at any moment changed everything. That being said, I often go to friends homes and they have 50+ inch televisions and terrible little ipod players that sound like tin cans. Somewhat depressing...

If money was no option i'd go full out tube amp + horn speakers and pay someone minimum wage to change my music...

[theguy1234]

what about just a cheap set of logitech speakers from ebay? if your not that into it these will be dirt cheap and blow away laptop speakers?

[snafu]

ok so seriously thanks to everyones responce iv been eyeing up some naim components and trying to price it up; i guess maybe i could get something working at around £600 maybe a bit more.

Iv been think that im only going to buy this stuff once (that is right now or in this flat atleast so its worth spending the money)

A nait 1 or 2 seems to be pretty rare or hard to come across at a good price/ iv seen a few nait 3's about at possibly the £300 mark; what exactly would be the difference to you guys and my untrained ears ?

Now if i were to buy a cd unit; i would still need an amp ?
I understand the difference between a pre amp and a regular amp, but when i start reading power units and power amps, even flatcap power supply ? im getting a little lost.

Im searching on ebay to try and grad a bit or a bargin on some old used stuff, but is there anything i really should avoid any models ?