Cuzman wrote:
I'm in the market for a separates system with a budget of approx
£1000. That seems to be pocket money to many of you here, but it
will be the most I've spent on a system to date. What I will need is:

1) Integrated amplifier
2) DAB/FM tuner (extra bands welcome)
3) CD player
4) Pair of floor-standing speakers


I'm extremely anal when it comes to appearance, so I want the
separates to be the same colour/finish, style and manufacturer. They
need to be available in silver/titanium, as all-black won't go with
the room. The speakers will need to be beech, maple or cherry to fit
in with the furniture.


Is there a TV in the room? If looks are important to you why not integrate
it with DVD and surround too? Yamaha RX-V100D (surround amp with DAB) 330
quid, DVDS-657 £150 (DVDA/SACD) or DVD-S1500 (£350), MA Silver RS5
floorstanders (£450). Then as you save you can add centre and surrounds and
be really happy. I'd go with the suggestion of finding a freeview box, with
a hard disk so you can timeshift radio and TV too.



--
non potete realmente essere una testa della benzina fino a che non
abbiate condotto un Passat TDi

Cuzman wrote:

1) Integrated amplifier
2) DAB/FM tuner (extra bands welcome)
3) CD player
4) Pair of floor-standing speakers

Go for the Cambridge stuff, it's actually incredible value for money.
And looks good too.

Don't forget - in spite of what some might say on this group - budget
for interconnects and decent speaker cable. Nothing spectacular, but go
for at least Cambridge Atlantic (£10) between the components, and
something like Audio Innovations Silver Bi-Wire speaker cable (£5/metre).

Now on to the speakers. If I look at £200 to £300 for a good pair, what
would you suggest? Bear in mind that the choice constricts itself if I
go for a £750 system. Some inspiration:

Mordaunt-Short Avant 906i (£350). I have a set of 908s (same drivers but
with a 10" sub-bass driver in the side of the cabinet, RRP £500) running
off an Arcam AVR-250/DV-79 with Chord Rumour 4 speaker cable, and
they're certainly good enough to be used with a £1,000 amp and £1,000
DVD player. (Let's just say I paid quite a bit less than £2,000 for
those bits though!)

As an outside thought I'm considering replacing the CD player in my
proposed setup for a hard disk player. There are a few problems with
the ones I know of:

Slim Devices Squeezebox 3. 'Nuff said.

Plug it into the hi-fi and run the software on your PC. Far cheaper
option, and sounds pretty good too.

Oh, and don't get anal about one-make "everything's got to match"
systems. My amp and DVD/CD player match, and the 7.1 speaker setup
matches (although with speakers it's more than cosmetic) but other stuff
is pick & mix. The sound you get from it is far more important.

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

IT consultancy, hardware and software support, broadband installation

Glenn Richards wrote:

Don't forget - in spite of what some might say on this group - budget
for interconnects and decent speaker cable. Nothing spectacular, but go
for at least Cambridge Atlantic (£10) between the components, and
something like Audio Innovations Silver Bi-Wire speaker cable (£5/metre).

Oh, and don't get anal about one-make "everything's got to match"
systems. My amp and DVD/CD player match, and the 7.1 speaker setup
matches (although with speakers it's more than cosmetic) but other stuff
is pick & mix. The sound you get from it is far more important.

May I just say that Glenn is writing utter ********?

Interconnects - for a metre or less they all sound the same.
Speaker cable - buy the cheapest figure-of-eight cable that will have a
resistance of less than 5% of the minimum speaker impedance.
For a normal room/speakers, 2.5mm^2 will be sufficient.

Glenn just likes the sound of a hefty price-tag.
It's about time he took the DBT challenge. The only investment needed is a day.

--
Eiron

No good deed ever goes unpunished.

In article ,
Glenn Richards wrote:
Don't forget - in spite of what some might say on this group - budget
for interconnects and decent speaker cable. Nothing spectacular, but go
for at least Cambridge Atlantic (£10) between the components, and
something like Audio Innovations Silver Bi-Wire speaker cable (£5/metre).

And despite what many say on this group don't waste your money. No-one has
ever been able to reliably tell the difference between good quality leads
supplied with the equipment and aftermarket ones. They, of course, will
say they can, but in fact can't when properly tested.

Maplin Hi-Fi speaker wire at 0.69 gbp a metre will be fine and anything
more expensive just a waste of money - unless the looks of a 'fancy' cable
appeals.

--
*Beware - animal lover - brakes for pussy*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Sat, 22 Jul 2006 10:03:01 +0100, Glenn Richards
wrote:

Don't forget - in spite of what some might say on this group - budget
for interconnects and decent speaker cable. Nothing spectacular, but go
for at least Cambridge Atlantic (£10) between the components, and
something like Audio Innovations Silver Bi-Wire speaker cable (£5/metre).

Forget "Interconnects". They are a marketing man's invention. Get
suitable cables with suitable plugs. They are cheap.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Maplin Hi-Fi speaker wire at 0.69 gbp a metre will be fine and
anything more expensive just a waste of money - unless the looks of a
'fancy' cable appeals.

Or you could go into Richer Sounds and buy some Gale XL-105... at
69p/metre. Which will sound better. (I know, as I replaced some of the
cheap Maplin tat with XL-105 in one of the bedroom systems a while ago.)

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

IT consultancy, hardware and software support, broadband installation

Eiron wrote:

Glenn just likes the sound of a hefty price-tag.

Read my other posting.

Gale XL-105 speaker cable sounds better than the Maplin stuff. Both cost
69p/metre.

It's about time he took the DBT challenge. The only investment needed is
a day.

Fine. You pay me for a day's consultancy (£395 plus fuel costs at
10p/mile) to recompense me for lost earnings and I'll gladly take part.
Plus the £1,000 if I successfully tell the difference of course.

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

IT consultancy, hardware and software support, broadband installation

In article ,
Glenn Richards wrote:
Or you could go into Richer Sounds and buy some Gale XL-105... at
69p/metre. Which will sound better. (I know, as I replaced some of the
cheap Maplin tat with XL-105 in one of the bedroom systems a while ago.)

Maplin Hi-Fi speaker cable is 2.5mm and rated at 18 amps - more than
sufficient for most domestic speaker runs. I can't seem to find any such
rating for 'your' cable. All they give is the number of strands which
isn't important performance wise.

--
*INDECISION is the key to FLEXIBILITY *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Glenn Richards wrote:
It's about time he took the DBT challenge. The only investment needed is
a day.

Fine. You pay me for a day's consultancy (£395 plus fuel costs at
10p/mile) to recompense me for lost earnings and I'll gladly take part.

Surely the publicity of being the only person in the world to be able to
tell the difference would be excellent advertising for your company?

Plus the £1,000 if I successfully tell the difference of course.

Of course.

BTW, do you really charge 395 gbp plus expenses per day for broadband
installation? And does anyone employ you to do it? ;-)

--
*Is it true that cannibals don't eat clowns because they taste funny?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Or you could go into Richer Sounds and buy some Gale XL-105... at
69p/metre. Which will sound better. (I know, as I replaced some of
the cheap Maplin tat with XL-105 in one of the bedroom systems a
while ago.)
Maplin Hi-Fi speaker cable is 2.5mm and rated at 18 amps - more than
sufficient for most domestic speaker runs. I can't seem to find any
such rating for 'your' cable. All they give is the number of strands
which isn't important performance wise.

I generally buy the 105-strand stuff in bulk anyway (£18 for a 100m
reel). It's got some Far Eastern name on it, but is identical in
appearance to the Gale XL-105. Also sounds identical from what I can
tell. If you're that interested I could dig the specs for the bulk stuff
out from the supplier catalogue, I'm sure it's identical to the XL-105.

What I can tell you is that the 105-strand stuff sounds better than the
Maplin stuff - punchier bass, smoother treble, more detail and depth.

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

IT consultancy, hardware and software support, broadband installation