Hi All,
Feel free to change the title to make it a more general topic relating to sound systems...
Any Hi-Fi enthusiasts on the forum?
I'm looking to build myself a Hi-Fi system using separates..no record deck (for now) just a cd player (with usb/mp3) amplifier and speakers. Always wanted one but never owned one. Budget is €500-600. Possibly a little more if recommended or if €500-600 is not viable to get something decent. I just need something that will do my cd's justice..I'm done with mini systems...
Cheers!!
You really need to go into a shop and listen to a system for your self. Sound is very subjective. Also the size of room you listen to will be important for decided what kind of speakers you want.
saying that a system i have used i might be a good starting point if you go into a shop for a demo. Probably the best CD player you can get for around £300 is the Marantz CD6006. It is designed to go with their PM6006 amplifer, which is a similar price. You'd want similar priced speakers, I had a pair of Monitor Audio ones paired with these and was very happy with the sound. But the speakers got too bassy when they were positioned too close to a wall.
I've recently up graded my amp and speakers but kept the same CD player... Well bought the newest version and am going to put the old system into a different room.
Quote from: Anvil on November 29, 2018, 01:05:20 PM
You really need to go into a shop and listen to a system for your self. Sound is very subjective. Also the size of room you listen to will be important for decided what kind of speakers you want.
saying that a system i have used i might be a good starting point if you go into a shop for a demo. Probably the best CD player you can get for around £300 is the Marantz CD6006. It is designed to go with their PM6006 amplifer, which is a similar price. You'd want similar priced speakers, I had a pair of Monitor Audio ones paired with these and was very happy with the sound. But the speakers got too bassy when they were positioned too close to a wall.
I've recently up graded my amp and speakers but kept the same CD player... Well bought the newest version and am going to put the old system into a different room.
cheers Anvil...great starting point for me there!!
Ok, so the more audiophile about here will say that €500 is way too low for a system but it truly is a case of you get what you pay for unfortunately.
I work in a music college. From speaking to people here in general conversation the general agreement is that the item that makes the biggest difference to your experience in a separate setup is your speakers.
I truly went the budget route down the years and still do.
When looking for speakers last year I went with these in a complete bang per buck equation.
They were affordable and had generally great reviews
https://reviewsleague.com/wharfedale-diamond-9-1-review/
For an amp I replaced a budget Sony one with a Denon DNA-100 principally because I got it for free.
Its not the best reviewed item you will find but for me it does the job.
https://www.canford.co.uk/Products/79-7241_DENON-DN-A100-INTEGRATED-AMPLIFIER-2x-45W-8-70W-4-IR-control-rackmount-kit-3U
And in probably a move of complete heresy I used a DVD player as my CD player. Formerly my DVD unit, it didnt have HDMI, I upgraded to bluray and it had all the regular play, skip, pause buttons you'd associate with a CD player.
https://www.ebay.com/p/Toshiba-SD-3800-DVD-Player/55042741
I stuck a Chromecast Audio into the mix for streaming and a 1980's vintage Pioneer LP player I have had for 20 years.
If I went out to buy all that today I could probably get it all for €500.
I would also get what I paid for.
Not top shelf sound but I think its €500 worth of hifi setup and I couldn't hope for much more at that price.
Keep an eye on your local Cash Converters or car boot sales, DOneDeal etc. You may be able to make up something like this to get started and upgrade piece by piece later as finds allow
Quote from: leoos on November 29, 2018, 03:31:14 PM
Ok, so the more audiophile about here will say that €500 is way too low for a system but it truly is a case of you get what you pay for unfortunately.
I work in a music college. From speaking to people here in general conversation the general agreement is that the item that makes the biggest difference to your experience in a separate setup is your speakers.
I truly went the budget route down the years and still do.
When looking for speakers last year I went with these in a complete bang per buck equation.
They were affordable and had generally great reviews
https://reviewsleague.com/wharfedale-diamond-9-1-review/
For an amp I replaced a budget Sony one with a Denon DNA-100 principally because I got it for free.
Its not the best reviewed item you will find but for me it does the job.
https://www.canford.co.uk/Products/79-7241_DENON-DN-A100-INTEGRATED-AMPLIFIER-2x-45W-8-70W-4-IR-control-rackmount-kit-3U
And in probably a move of complete heresy I used a DVD player as my CD player. Formerly my DVD unit, it didnt have HDMI, I upgraded to bluray and it had all the regular play, skip, pause buttons you'd associate with a CD player.
https://www.ebay.com/p/Toshiba-SD-3800-DVD-Player/55042741
I stuck a Chromecast Audio into the mix for streaming and a 1980's vintage Pioneer LP player I have had for 20 years.
If I went out to buy all that today I could probably get it all for €500.
I would also get what I paid for.
Not top shelf sound but I think its €500 worth of hifi setup and I couldn't hope for much more at that price.
Keep an eye on your local Cash Converters or car boot sales, DOneDeal etc. You may be able to make up something like this to get started and upgrade piece by piece later as finds allow
cheers leoos..yeah already it looks like I'm heading to 1k to get something decent if I just want to buy new and off the shelf..may just buy each component when I can and eventually get everything together....
Quote from: Anvil on November 29, 2018, 01:05:20 PM
Probably the best CD player you can get for around £300 is the Marantz CD6006
I've never understood spending money on a cd player. It's all digital so assuming your cd player is decent enough to read a disc reliably (which isnt much of an issue considering modern error correction) what does an expensive player do? Even better, if you got a reliable player with digital outputs then how can there be any output difference if it's all digital?
Is it more snake oil or am I missing something?
I don't see the need to spend 1k either. Assuming you just want a solid system which sounds great, 500 is plenty. Anything more is just an extra cherry on the top if you've got the money to throw at it.
You still need to convert the digital information on the CD to an analogue signal so that the amplifier can then drive the speakers. I suppose the argument is that the more expensive CD players do this better. With the CD player i recommended, I personally think the DAC is pretty good as even stuff off my phone sounds pretty decent through it. The headphone jack is very good as well. Also I had no problems in seven years with it.
The audiophile world is definitely full of snakeoil salesmen, but your own ears don't lie that is why I always suggest going into a shop and listening for yourself. Bring your favourite album and give it a listen.
So my argument about a digital output still stands? There's no analog conversion and you'd be sending a fully lossless signal into your amp, which would then provide the DAC?
Like you I'd assume the laser creating a series of zeros and ones would be the same in most CD players but it is what happens to the zeros and ones afterwards is what is different amongst different players. Audio companies will argue that their players will convert these signals better. Some amps have built in DACs, some don't. My current amp, doesnt . The Marantz one I mentioned does though I've never put a digital signal into it to test it :-[
Anyone have any recommendations for large storage capacity mp3/media players? What I want is something I can put essentially all my mp3 albums for listening to on the other side of the house from where the record player is. I'd prefer to not have to turn on a computer every time I want to access an album that pops into my head like. So, doesn't need to be particularly mobile or fancy, just sturdy and plenty of space. Any recommendations welcomed.
Edit: nevermind, just got a great deal on an old stock Sony yoke that looks like just the job for me!
Go for a Sony pal. One of the old ones.
Quote from: Kurt Cocaine on October 15, 2020, 08:38:05 PM
Go for a Sony pal. One of the old ones.
:laugh: Nice one!
Get yourself an old 7th gen ipod and an iflash quad drive. Ye can stick four sd cards into it and should be possible to hold up to 1tb
Quote from: Kurt Cocaine on October 15, 2020, 08:38:05 PM
Go for a Sony pal. One of the old ones.
I'm in love with the Sony walkman mp3 players. On me 4th or 5th one now. they never failed, I just have a bad habit of losing my shit, like Nicolas Cage
Quote from: Trev on October 15, 2020, 08:47:46 PM
Get yourself an old 7th gen ipod and an iflash quad drive. Ye can stick four sd cards into it and should be possible to hold up to 1tb
I did check this one out before deciding, although hadn't twigged the iflash drive option. I've gone Apple on nothing yet; in my head it was going to be hassle to use an ipod without installing apple software, and I have a notion in mind that it's head-wrecking for imported mp3s, but maybe that's no longer an issue? Either way, the Sony one is on its way already!
I've been using Sharepod for YEARS to transfer things to/from my (at this stage, ancient) iPod, with no hassle. 3rd party, minimal nonsense software.
I'm still using iTunes for mine, I haven't let it update for years as apparently some of the functionality was disappearing. The capacity is the iPod's selling point, really.
Small upgrade to the set up this morning, bought a new cartridge for the record player. Got the Ortofon 2M as an upgrade from the OM10 that was on it. Still want to pick up a decent CD and Tape deck to sit under the record player, as it is I'm set up grand for records and digital (the Edifiers have bluetooth built in so grand for Bandcamp streaming) but lacking any way of playing the other half of my physical media.
Looking at picking up a CD player with Aux In and decent speakers. I suppose Bluetooth would be handy too. After a bit of research it seems speakers should account for 50% of the budget. Would that be about right? Is there much of a difference between a standard CD player and an expensive one?
Any recommendations welcome other than the couple that were mentioned earlier in the thread.
What's your budget?
In or around €400 maybe.
You'll get a good set of Edifier speakers for well under €200. Great punch off them for the money.
Go for active ones should you ever decide to run a turntable through them.
I'm sure someone else here will point you in the right direction for a CD player. Mine's (Sony) nearly 20 years old now so I'm outta touch on the modern players.
Aye, I saw Edifiers mentioned already so was thinking them. Ideally I won't have to spend too big on the CD player. I'm not an audiophile by any means so just looking for something that justifies a nice set of speakers.
Around 7 years ago I upgraded all my hifi / home cinema setup. It was an odyssey to say the least but the Hifihut were extremely helpful in the whole buying process. They never persuaded me one way or another, just giving their best advice within my given budget.
The best advice was that any system regardless of budget is only as good as its weakest component. This means for instance speaker cable choice is just as important as the amp or CD player.
What I'm getting at is you don't have to spend an absolute fortune to get a good listening experience.
Quote from: Emphyrio on April 06, 2021, 11:24:26 AM
Aye, I saw Edifiers mentioned already so was thinking them. Ideally I won't have to spend too big on the CD player. I'm not an audiophile by any means so just looking for something that justifies a nice set of speakers.
Have you a cd player in mind? How would you plan to connect to the speakers?
I have the edifier r1280db and mine has Bluetooth, rca, coax, and optical input.
No expert but I think if you end up buying a cd player and connecting over optical/coax (digital) then the source won't make much difference as the DAC in the edifiers will be used. I mainly use them as Bluetooth speakers but have the Playstation connected via optical. If you had a BluRay player knocking around with optical out it would probably sound grand.
Quote from: pete on April 06, 2021, 01:02:43 PM
Quote from: Emphyrio on April 06, 2021, 11:24:26 AM
Aye, I saw Edifiers mentioned already so was thinking them. Ideally I won't have to spend too big on the CD player. I'm not an audiophile by any means so just looking for something that justifies a nice set of speakers.
Have you a cd player in mind? How would you plan to connect to the speakers?
I have the edifier r1280db and mine has Bluetooth, rca, coax, and optical input.
No expert but I think if you end up buying a cd player and connecting over optical/coax (digital) then the source won't make much difference as the DAC in the edifiers will be used. I mainly use them as Bluetooth speakers but have the Playstation connected via optical. If you had a BluRay player knocking around with optical out it would probably sound grand.
No CD player in mind but probably connecting using RCA cables.
When stuff like DAC is mentioned, that's when things go above my paygrade. I'd be looking at something foolproof. Unfortunately I don't have a DVD/Bluray player which would probably be fine for my purposes. Mind you, I don't think they have Aux Ins??
Quote from: Pagan Waltar on April 06, 2021, 12:52:29 PM
Around 7 years ago I upgraded all my hifi / home cinema setup. It was an odyssey to say the least but the Hifihut were extremely helpful in the whole buying process. They never persuaded me one way or another, just giving their best advice within my given budget.
The best advice was that any system regardless of budget is only as good as its weakest component. This means for instance speaker cable choice is just as important as the amp or CD player.
What I'm getting at is you don't have to spend an absolute fortune to get a good listening experience.
From my research there's diminishing returns when you start to go beyond a certain level price-wise when it comes to the source. I've been used to mini/micro systems so I'm no expert as I generally choose convenience/cost rather than go the whole hog for a proper setup.
I do most of my listening in the car these days which is another factor why I don't wanna spend too much. Just looking at finding a good balance of convenience/cost/quality.
Those edifiers have an aux in / RCA in so you could effectively rig anything with the equivalent out up to it. To be fair, if you wanted to absolutely cheap out on it, you could probably rig up a dvd player to them and it will do the trick. Had my eye out for a CD & Tape deck combo to sit under the record player for a while but haven't hit anything in my budget yet.
So long as your speakers are decent, that's half the battle.
Quote from: Emphyrio on April 06, 2021, 03:48:33 PM
Quote from: pete on April 06, 2021, 01:02:43 PM
Quote from: Emphyrio on April 06, 2021, 11:24:26 AM
Aye, I saw Edifiers mentioned already so was thinking them. Ideally I won't have to spend too big on the CD player. I'm not an audiophile by any means so just looking for something that justifies a nice set of speakers.
Have you a cd player in mind? How would you plan to connect to the speakers?
I have the edifier r1280db and mine has Bluetooth, rca, coax, and optical input.
No expert but I think if you end up buying a cd player and connecting over optical/coax (digital) then the source won't make much difference as the DAC in the edifiers will be used. I mainly use them as Bluetooth speakers but have the Playstation connected via optical. If you had a BluRay player knocking around with optical out it would probably sound grand.
Unfortunately I don't have a DVD/Bluray player which would probably be fine for my purposes. Mind you, I don't think they have Aux Ins??
.
The edifiers I have come with two line ins via rca. So you could have a phone connected to rca via rca to 3.5mm at same time as an rca'd cd player.
But sorry yeah I've no real advice on a cd player was just thinking the cheap route of grabbing some kind of disc player someone isnt using and digitally connect it and see if you like it.
I think McLove bought a CD player of some sort in the last year or two.
Am I right or wrong in thinking that a good source and excellent speakers will yield better results than an excellent source and good speakers?
Quote from: ochoill on March 03, 2021, 12:29:20 PM
Small upgrade to the set up this morning, bought a new cartridge for the record player. Got the Ortofon 2M as an upgrade from the OM10 that was on it. Still want to pick up a decent CD and Tape deck to sit under the record player, as it is I'm set up grand for records and digital (the Edifiers have bluetooth built in so grand for Bandcamp streaming) but lacking any way of playing the other half of my physical media.
Teac AD-850(B) CD and Cassette Player (Tape Deck, CD Music Player, with USB Storage, Karaoke Function, Microphone Input, CD-R/RW and MP3 Playback) - Black https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0722XDRPM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_0X91HRNYSTEMZXBMQZVH
The aul lock down has been handy for finding the time to upgrade my ancient hifi. I was going to go with a TEAC twin deck and was holding off until Black Friday came around. However my CD unit packed it in in the meantime so went for their tape/CD combo instead. Hifi Hut and richer sounds Belfast both advertised it at the time but both were out of stock until the New Year, then April. Richer Sounds rang me last month to advise the TEAC manfacuring facility was destroyed in a fire and the line was discontinued. Thankfully found Amazon.de still had it, so it's just a plug change when the warranty expires. I'm happy out with it. Mist get around to tryimg the USB recording option yet.
I got a new amp last year, caters for the bluetooth and aux:
https://www.richersounds.ie/p-203318-sony-strdh190-black-stereo-receiver.aspx
Record player will be handy for converting old 7" etc as well when I get the chance:
https://www.richersounds.ie/p-202008-sony-pshx500-black-high-resolution-usb-turntable.aspx
Still have my ancient monstorous Sony speakers, seem the biz still. Not sure if I'm missing out or wise to stay with them!
Serious setup, that.
I got the TEAC unit for under €400. not sure if Amazon themselves will be able to restock again, so maybe that's why the re-sellers are taking the biscuit. Hifi Hut were €379 and RRP was €449 so that's the ballpark it should be in.
Conrad.de have a twin tape deck separate for €100, if that might be an option with a separate CD player ochoill?
Any recommendations on a walkman or some device to play tapes in a car through bluetooth?
I'll need something for CDs also, but tapes are priority atm!
Vinyl can remain at home; no need for the car, especially with rural roads :)
I have an AV LINK BLUETOOTH TRANSMITTER that could be plugged into the audio-out of the player
Or could buy a player with bluetooth built-in
Thanks in advance!
(https://goldendiscs.ie/cdn/shop/products/41FRi_2BffoDL._SL1500_900x@2x.jpg?v=1690478431)