Venturing into (back to?) hifi!

BlackDogPhoto

BlackDogPhoto

Suspended / Banned
Messages
121
Name
Bob
Edit My Images
No
So I always wanted a hifi system with floor standing speakers but never got round to it. Anyhow after a bit of deliberation I’ve decided I will invest in a reasonable Cd player, amp and speakers (we’re probably talking under £500 here!)

As you can imagine my wife was equally excited, telling me that it’s not going in the living room, if I wanted it, it would go in the dining room.

While it’s not an audiophiles ideal location for listening, it’s better than nothing so I need to try and find a way to make it work!

I did consider vinyl but i don’t own any records and so it seems a tad pointless, but I have a stack of CDs and you can pick them up reasonably priced compared to vinyl, hence the digital decision.

Anyway anyone else a hifi buff and can offer any advice on what I should look out for?
 
I'm not a hifi buff but appreciate decent audio. I wanted to get back into it like you some years ago, so I went to Richer Sounds for advice and suggestions, as well as decent prices (in my opinion). Real audio[philes will probably say I bought rubbish, but I'm very happy with my Cambridge Audio speakers and Marantz CD/Amp/Network server, plus Audio-Technica turntable for my 60's/70's vinyl. I also bought a Tuner although not strictly necessary. I'd say the item worth the most money is the speakers, but you might be struggling to get speakers, CD and Amp for £500. You may need to add a couple of hundred really for something decent.
 
lindsay said:
I'm not a hifi buff but appreciate decent audio. I wanted to get back into it like you some years ago, so I went to Richer Sounds for advice and suggestions, as well as decent prices (in my opinion). Real audio[philes will probably say I bought rubbish, but I'm very happy with my Cambridge Audio speakers and Marantz CD/Amp/Network server, plus Audio-Technica turntable for my 60's/70's vinyl. I also bought a Tuner although not strictly necessary. I'd say the item worth the most money is the speakers, but you might be struggling to get speakers, CD and Amp for £500. You may need to add a couple of hundred really for something decent.
Click to expand...
Well I probably can add to it, I just won’t tell my wife quite how much it cost!
 
BJP said:
Me , go to Richer Sounds with that budget and see what they can come up with .
Speakers are everything , size and placement to your room are paramount , add amp and music source next .
Click to expand...
Yep I think a visit is in order, although I might leave my card at home in case I get carried away!!!
 
When you go to Richer sounds, make sure you listen with your ears and not your eyes (this is harder than you think). I'm no audiophile either, but I AM a musician, and have reasonably good ears. Our son wanted some speakers and had his heart set on Missions, but although they looked the biz (and you could feel little puffs of air from the ports on the front) they actually sounded much less good than the speakers he did buy for slightly less money.
 
£500 is probably pushing it to get anything decent. Have a look at the What HiFi recommendations but you will find little at that price point to fit that budget. Used equipment is a good option, a lot of old equipment is still very good. As mentioned above speakers are are very personal. I would probably get a new CD as I have found they do not last well and a used amp and speakers.
 
Conventional wisdom says you should spend the most on the source equipment as you can't improve the signal as you head down the chain but at the cheaper end of the market I think a good amplifier is probably a better bet as buying a cheap and nasty one could be a quick way to ruin sets or speakers after sets of speakers and I have seen that happen, not to me but to someone else.

I think there are some respectable cheaper amps, Yamaha springs to mind but I think I'd definitely stick to a name I'd heard of. I think this is what I'd do with a budget of £500, I'd buy a decent amp from a known brand even if that means spending less on the CD player and speakers just to reduce the chance of the amp passing a spike down to your speakers and blowing them up and that can happen.

As Lindsay mentioned Richer Sounds, I think that's where I'd start. Years ago when looking for a replacement tuner finding one which fit the space the old one came out of was the priority and I eventually bought a Tangent tuner from Richer Sounds. It was cheap but it seems well made and has worked perfectly for years now so I'd definitely look at other products of theirs.

Good luck choosing Bob.
 
Last edited:
Personally if you are looking to build a CD based system look at ripping your CDs and if you have one use an existing laptop and software as your source, you will then have more money to just spend on an AMP with a digital DAC built in and speakers.
 
Mr Bump said:
Personally if you are looking to build a CD based system look at ripping your CDs and if you have one use an existing laptop and software as your source, you will then have more money to just spend on an AMP with a digital DAC built in and speakers.
Click to expand...
I get this but actually I like the idea of physical media, I don’t really know why!
 
BlackDogPhoto said:
I get this but actually I like the idea of physical media, I don’t really know why!
Click to expand...

I was like that also but now i am a portable hifi person so you ripping made sense, also for time being it would allow you more money for amp and speakers
 
BlackDogPhoto said:
I get this but actually I like the idea of physical media, I don’t really know why!
Click to expand...

I don't really understand people who don't have CD's and DVD's and rely on streaming / downloading as there are clearly a lot of things which you just can't find on line or at least lots of stuff I want to listen to or watch just isn't available on line. What do people do these days if stuff isn't available to stream? Just listen to / watch something else instead?

Also with physical media you get a cover / notes and sometimes other stuff.
 
BlackDogPhoto said:
So I always wanted a hifi system with floor standing speakers but never got round to it. Anyhow after a bit of deliberation I’ve decided I will invest in a reasonable Cd player, amp and speakers (we’re probably talking under £500 here!)

As you can imagine my wife was equally excited, telling me that it’s not going in the living room, if I wanted it, it would go in the dining room.

While it’s not an audiophiles ideal location for listening, it’s better than nothing so I need to try and find a way to make it work!

I did consider vinyl but i don’t own any records and so it seems a tad pointless, but I have a stack of CDs and you can pick them up reasonably priced compared to vinyl, hence the digital decision.

Anyway anyone else a hifi buff and can offer any advice on what I should look out for?
Click to expand...


If being used in a room where your listening position could change, then it may be worth considering speakers that have a wide dispersion such as DALI.

DALI's Oberon 5 are lovely rich sounding speakers and punch much higher then their value would suggest. Peter Tyson has some nearly new ones for £539 which is an absolute bargain and still comes with a 5 year warranty. LINK

However, as suggested you should definitely demo some at Richer Sounds because the sound signature of speakers can be very subjective to the listener. Best to research a few and give the shortlist to Richer Sounds in advance to arrange a date for a demo.
 
A pair of decent headphones could be an option rather than speakers.
 
Dip a toe into budget hifi, and the big bad upgrade monster will drag you under, second hand is the way forward, got a local hifi shop near you that you visit.
 
or look at a high quality mini system
i had a denon for a while in my spare room and it was very good

www.richersounds.com

Denon RCD-M41DAB (Silver)

Shop for Denon RCD-M41DAB (Silver) Silver Mini System with Richer Sounds for expert advice and lowest prices guaranteed
www.richersounds.com www.richersounds.com
 
BlackDogPhoto said:
So I always wanted a hifi system with floor standing speakers but never got round to it. Anyhow after a bit of deliberation I’ve decided I will invest in a reasonable Cd player, amp and speakers (we’re probably talking under £500 here!)

As you can imagine my wife was equally excited, telling me that it’s not going in the living room, if I wanted it, it would go in the dining room.

While it’s not an audiophiles ideal location for listening, it’s better than nothing so I need to try and find a way to make it work!

I did consider vinyl but i don’t own any records and so it seems a tad pointless, but I have a stack of CDs and you can pick them up reasonably priced compared to vinyl, hence the digital decision.

Anyway anyone else a hifi buff and can offer any advice on what I should look out for?
Click to expand...
Like you I'm finally looking to get back a hi fi system. Many years ago I had an interest e.g. Cambridge amp, Celestion speakers etc but then life gets in the way !

What has surprised me is how compact a lot of the stuff has become and the power it can generate e.g. Vosi V3 for about £100 or so. For my own needs I'm looking to audition a Wiim streamer, amp and speakers

A lot depends on the size of your dining room and whether you like to listen at plaster cracking volume. If it's not a large room you may find you don't need to remortgage the house to get speakers you like - although do remember to budget for stands (check out s/hand for these) and cables

Good luck with your search
 
My trip down the Hi_Fi wormhole began when I was doing my A-levels and a fellow student had "funds" to buy a Linn based system starting with a LP-12,Ittok,Asak front end (think that's right) and he befrended the staff at a place called The Sound Organisation that traded from a property near to Southwark Cathedral in London.

We spent many a happy hour there listening to lots of different equipment, and at this time CD was just coming into vouge.

My purchase was much more modest, for my 18th birthday in 1980 I was given £350 to spend and I discoverd recently that the equivalent today would be about £1300 !!

A Dual TT, a Sansui amp (about a month before the legendary NAD 3020 came out!) and some speakers that I recently discovered were made in Borehamwood where I now live led to hours of fiddling about with cables, speaker placement and heavy turntable mats.

All this kit stayed in the loft for many years but recently I set it all up on a nice set of smoked glass shelves (very 80's) and have been enjoying listening to some of my record collection (also survived storage for all these years) and also connecting the amp to my projector for a very cinema like experience, once there is no one else in the house :-)

One thing I have noticed is my ears (now over 60) do not hear the music in the same way as I remember it, perils of getting old I suppose

D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top