Hi all,

I have a budget of just over £1000.00 to spend on an amplifier and speakers.
I listen to lots of different types of music. What amp and speakers should
I go for in this price range? I would ideally like an integrated amplifier
and floorstanding speakers.

I may want to add surround speakers for home cinema in the future so I think
I should bear that in mind. I haven't bought any new hifi in over 7 years
so I simply don't have a clue.

Thanks.

"M Jones" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I have a budget of just over £1000.00 to spend on an amplifier and
speakers.


Oooh....!!

(Luvly!! :-)


I listen to lots of different types of music. What amp and speakers
should I go for in this price range? I would ideally like an integrated
amplifier and floorstanding speakers.


Come into my parlour.....

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/item...emsforsale.htm

:-)



I may want to add surround speakers for home cinema in the future so I
think I should bear that in mind. I haven't bought any new hifi in over 7
years so I simply don't have a clue.


Bugger....

OK, in that case grab the flavour of the month AV amp from Denon, Sony,
Pioneer or Yamaha - ignore all the claims about how *superior* stereo amps
are and stick with a pair of speakers from a range that will be around for a
while yet - Tannoy, KEF, Wharfedale, Monitor Audio all spring to mind for
'worthy but cheap', B&W, Ruark, JM Labs, Castle for 'worthy but a lot more
money'.....

'What sounds best?' - How do I know, it's your ears (in your room) and your
taste in music!! ;-)

"Keith G" wrote in message
...

"M Jones" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I have a budget of just over £1000.00 to spend on an amplifier and
speakers.


Oooh....!!

(Luvly!! :-)


I listen to lots of different types of music. What amp and speakers
should I go for in this price range? I would ideally like an integrated
amplifier and floorstanding speakers.


Come into my parlour.....

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/item...emsforsale.htm

:-)



I may want to add surround speakers for home cinema in the future so I
think I should bear that in mind. I haven't bought any new hifi in over
7 years so I simply don't have a clue.


Bugger....

OK, in that case grab the flavour of the month AV amp from Denon, Sony,
Pioneer or Yamaha - ignore all the claims about how *superior* stereo amps
are and stick with a pair of speakers from a range that will be around for
a while yet - Tannoy, KEF, Wharfedale, Monitor Audio all spring to mind
for 'worthy but cheap', B&W, Ruark, JM Labs, Castle for 'worthy but a lot
more money'.....

'What sounds best?' - How do I know, it's your ears (in your room) and
your taste in music!! ;-)





I always thought stereo amps where better than AV amps. But that's my
knowledge from 10 years ago!.

I've listened to some JM Labs speakers with a Cyrus 6 amp which were in my
total price range but I'm thinking about purchasing some KEF iQ7's or iQ5's
(based on recent reviews and KEF's I've bought in the past). I understand
the KEF's will still be good for a home cinema system.

I've had a look at your site and coincidentally I have a Marantz 63-63 Mk2
CD player just like the one you've sold. Will this sound any good through a
new AV amp and speakers?

"M Jones" wrote


I always thought stereo amps where better than AV amps. But that's my
knowledge from 10 years ago!.


I'm sure you were right 10 years ago, but a lot of the new AV amps have
descrete 'audio circuity' and can chop out the unnecessary bits when you
select 'CD' I gather (???) At any rate I think nowadays they're all pretty
much a good thing - it's only the comix that like to bang on about the
(alleged) 'differences'....



I've listened to some JM Labs speakers with a Cyrus 6 amp which were in my
total price range but I'm thinking about purchasing some KEF iQ7's or
iQ5's (based on recent reviews and KEF's I've bought in the past). I
understand the KEF's will still be good for a home cinema system.


I have no evidence to suggest they won't - contact Ray Cessna quick, he
might be peddling just the pair of KEFs you need....??



I've had a look at your site and coincidentally I have a Marantz 63-63 Mk2
CD player just like the one you've sold. Will this sound any good through
a new AV amp and speakers?


As far as CDPs go (I'm a vinylly type) I would suggest they would even sound
good through moist tights....

(But I guess that's pretty much down to who'd been wearing them...!! :-)

"Keith G" wrote in message
...

"M Jones" wrote

snip

I've listened to some JM Labs speakers with a Cyrus 6 amp which were in
my total price range but I'm thinking about purchasing some KEF iQ7's or
iQ5's (based on recent reviews and KEF's I've bought in the past). I
understand the KEF's will still be good for a home cinema system.


I have no evidence to suggest they won't - contact Ray Cessna quick, he
might be peddling just the pair of KEFs you need....??


I'm a bit late on this thread, but My KEF IQ5 are still on Ebay and have a
couple of days to go. You can't go far wrong with the Kef IQ5 - they really
don't have any bad points at all. I was very happy with them, but then I
went to Keith's place again :-)

Cessna172

"Cessna172" wrote in message
news

"Keith G" wrote in message
...

"M Jones" wrote

snip

I've listened to some JM Labs speakers with a Cyrus 6 amp which were in
my total price range but I'm thinking about purchasing some KEF iQ7's or
iQ5's (based on recent reviews and KEF's I've bought in the past). I
understand the KEF's will still be good for a home cinema system.


I have no evidence to suggest they won't - contact Ray Cessna quick, he
might be peddling just the pair of KEFs you need....??


I'm a bit late on this thread, but My KEF IQ5 are still on Ebay and have a
couple of days to go. You can't go far wrong with the Kef IQ5 - they
really don't have any bad points at all. I was very happy with them, but
then I went to Keith's place again :-)


Post a link to your auction, Ray!! There's someone just posted could be
interested (see above)!!

In article , M Jones
wrote:
Hi all,

I have a budget of just over £1000.00 to spend on an amplifier and
speakers. I listen to lots of different types of music. What amp and
speakers should I go for in this price range? I would ideally like an
integrated amplifier and floorstanding speakers.

It would help if you said something about your taste in music, your room
acoustics, etc.

I may want to add surround speakers for home cinema in the future so I
think I should bear that in mind.

The problem is that this will change the requirements, so making it harder
for others to advise. What may work well as a stereo system for your taste
in music may not suit you and your room as part of a surround/theatre
system.

Slainte,

Jim

--
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Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html

M Jones wrote:

I have a budget of just over £1000.00 to spend on an amplifier and
speakers. I listen to lots of different types of music. What amp and
speakers should I go for in this price range? I would ideally like
an integrated amplifier and floorstanding speakers.

My first instinct would be to say go for something like the Arcam DiVA
A80 (£650) with the Mordaunt-Short Avant 908i speakers (£500). (I have
the slightly older 908 model without the "i" and they're brilliant.)
Don't forget speaker cables too, contrary to what some may say on this
group they *do* make a difference. I'd go for something like Chord
Rumour 4 (£20/metre) and make sure you bi-wire the speakers.

However I then read the following:

I may want to add surround speakers for home cinema in the future so
I think I should bear that in mind. I haven't bought any new hifi in
over 7 years so I simply don't have a clue.

In this case, it'll take you a bit over-budget, but go for the Arcam
DiVA AVR-250 (£1000). This is pretty much the only AV amplifier at this
price range that sounds truly musical (the sound is somewhere between
the A80 and the £900 A90 integrated amplifiers). Then look at adding the
matching Avant 905i centre (£120) and a couple of pairs of 903 bipolar
surrounds (£120 per pair) and a suitable sub and all will be sorted.

I can speak for the above as that's the system I use, along with an
Arcam DV79 DVD-A/CD player and associated kit. Only downside to the
AVR-250 is that it doesn't have a phono pre-amp - add a Pro-Ject Phono
Box 2 for £55 or so if you want to spin the old vinyl.

One word of warning - make sure you use the same type and length of
cable for the centre as for the main L and R speakers. Otherwise it'll
sound weird. Trust me - I upgraded the L and R speaker cable from Audio
Innovations Silver Bi-Wire (£5/metre) to the Rumour 4 and had to put the
system into phantom mode until I'd replaced the cable to the centre
speaker with Rumour 4 as well.

For the rears, 105-strand OFC cable from Richer Sounds will do just fine
(Gale XL-105 at 69p/metre). Just make sure the cables to each pair of
speakers are the same length (a few inches difference won't matter, a
few feet will though). You don't need to mess about making sure the
cables to all 7 speakers are the same length however, just treat them as
three sets, set one L/C/R, set two L/R surround, set 3 L/R back
surround. As long as the cables within each set are near enough the same
length all will be fine.

If you aren't planning a full 7.1 system, you can use the additional 2
channels of amplification on the AVR-250 to either bi-amp the front
speakers (I tried this but couldn't hear any advantage over bi-wiring)
or run a second set of speakers in Zone 2 (eg kitchen, dining room). If
you're using all 7 speakers and want zone 2 you can plug a power amp
into a set of phono sockets and use that instead (which is what I'll be
doing for the kitchen once I've moved house).

Hope that's of some help...

--
Glenn Richards Tel: (01453) 845735
Squirrel Solutions http://www.squirrelsolutions.co.uk/

IT consultancy, hardware and software support, broadband installation