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.


I've shortlisted the following combinations which can be had for £600 to
£750, sparing the rest for speakers and interconnects,

Cambridge Audio Azur 640A V2 Integrated Amplifier
http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/summar...Version+2%2 9
Cambridge Audio Azur 640T V2 DAB/FM tuner
http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/summar...e=Azur+640T+V2
Cambridge Audio Azur 640C V2 CD Player
http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/summar...28Version+2%29

Denon PMA-700AE Integrated Amplifier
http://www.denon.co.uk/site/frames_m...detail&Pid=286
Denon TU-1800DAB DAB/FM/AM Tuner
http://www.denon.co.uk/site/frames_m...detail&Pid=230
Denon DCD-700AE CD Player
http://www.denon.co.uk/site/frames_m...detail&Pid=287

Harman/Kardon HK 970 Integrated Amplifier
http://www.harmankardon.com/product_...70/230&sType=C
Harman/Kardon TU 970 DAB/FM/AM Tuner
http://www.harmankardon.com/product_...70/230&sType=C
Harman/Kardon HD 970 CD Player
http://www.harmankardon.com/product_...70/230&sType=C

Marantz PM4001OSE Integrated Amplifier
http://www.marantz.com/new/index.cfm...=comp&type=ose
Marantz ST7001 DAB/FM/AM Tuner
http://www.marantz.com/new/index.cfm...=comp&type=tun
Marantz CD5001OSE CD Player
http://www.marantz.com/new/index.cfm...=comp&type=ose

NAD C325BEE Integrated Amplifier
http://www.nadelectronics.com/hifi_a...EE_framset.htm
NAD C445 DAB/FM/AM Tuner
http://www.nadelectronics.com/tuners/C445_framset.htm
NAD C521BEE CD Player

Anyone have any thoughts on my conundrum? Are there any other worthy
manufacturers that I should add to the list?


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:

http://www.hifibitz.co.uk/subcategory.asp?id=29

http://www.hifistore.co.uk/category.php?qsCat=FLOORSPK2

http://www.hifi4less.com/section.php/16/0

http://www.richersounds.com/productl... NG&sort=price

http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/p.../sort/asc/sc/1


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:

Acoustic Solutions SP150 (£200).
http://www.acousticsolutions.net/product.asp?ID=208 Lacks connectivity,
appears a little cheap, small hard disk means compression, and would
mean buying the rest of an Acoustic Solutions setup.
http://www.acousticsolutions.net/cat...?Cat=Separates

Cambridge Audio Azur 640H (£600).
http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/summar...itle=Azur+640H
Expensive, amounting to £1300 with the 640A V2 and the 640T V2.

Yamaha CDR-HD1500 (£500).
http://www.yamaha-uk.com/hifi_compon...product_id=111 Great piece of
kit, but Yamaha seem to be distinctly lacking in other silver/titanium
audio separates. One of these might go well with a Yamaha A/V Receiver
with DAB/FM, but I would expect the stereo amplifying quality to be
worse than with standalone stereo separates.
http://www.yamaha-uk.com/av_amps_rec...product_id=128

Are there any more available hard disk options?


Any help on the above would be gratefully received.

TIA.

In article , Cuzman
writes

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


One thing I can tell you is that UK DAB is now ****e.. FM's still ok
with a good signal that is....

--
Tony Sayer

"Cuzman" wrote in message
...

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


snip lists


OK.....

Out of that lot I like the Denon gear, but here's another way of stretching
your budget:

Grab this lot from Argos for about 230 quid:

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/argos.JPG

You'll get 3 identical remotes and a pair of ****e silver superslim
floorstanders no good to man nor beast...

The DAB/FM is perfectly OK.

The CDP is quite adequate - sonically indistinguishable from a Marantz KI
Sig I had (and recently got rid of), if a little less 'bold' and it plays
MP3s from CDRW...

The amp is weedy but will drive reasonable sensitive speakers to a high
enough level for most people in the 'average' room.

See them he

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Browse...%3D3677 1.htm


Then spend the balance on the best pair of speakers you can't quite afford.
(Buy mediocre speakers and they will render any electronic mediocre....) I
suspect B&W would do you here...

Upgrade the gadgets at some time in the future, as and when funds allow,
keeping the speakers forever if you made the right choice first time.....


Any help on the above would be gratefully received.


You're welcome, but you won't follow my tip because, like everybody else,
you have an somewhat unrealistic budget for what you want (not enough left
for speakers, really) and you are starting at the 'wrong end! ;-)

In article ,
tony sayer wrote:
One thing I can tell you is that UK DAB is now ****e..

And getting worse... Just treat it as a substitute for AM and you won't be
*that* disappointed. ;-)

FM's still ok with a good signal that is....

Yes - remember to allow for a decent external aerial in the budget if
you're serious about radio listening.

--
*A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking *

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

Cuzman wrote:

Cambridge Audio Azur
Very nice.

Denon
Nice.

Harman/Kardon
Horrible.

Marantz
Quite nice.

NAD
God-awful.

What do they sound like? I have no idea - those were pretty-fi ratings.
(Cambridge wins for me in the looks stakes.)

If modern audio electronics is as good as they say it is, I'm tempted to
agree with Keith, in that maybe you're allotting too much of the budget to
the electronics and not enough to the speakers. In other words, you could
cut the cost of the amp/CD/radio and not suffer much loss in quality; while
adding the savings to the speaker budget could make a *big* difference.


--
Wally
www.wally.myby.co.uk

Keith G wrote:

" Grab this lot from Argos for about 230 quid:
http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/argos.JPG You'll get 3 identical
remotes and a pair of ****e silver superslim floorstanders no good to
man nor beast... "


The offending articles:
http://www.argos.co.uk/wcsstore/argo...5UC256801X.jpg

I was originally thinking more along the lines of a £700 system and
speakers like the Acoustic Energy Aegis Evo 3:
http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/p...roduct_ID/1278

So you really think it would be best all round with cheap separates and
£600 speakers like the B&W DM603? http://www.hifix.co.uk/shop.lasso?shop=B-W

If I spend £600 on speakers, maybe £360 on some Cambridge Audio is a
viable option:

Cambridge Audio Classic A5 Integrated Amplifier (£120)
http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...id=CAMB-A5-SIL
Cambridge Audio Classic D100 CD Player (£120)
http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...=CAMB-D100-SIL
Cambridge Audio Classic DAB300 Tuner (£120)
http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...=CAMB-DAB300-S

"Cuzman" wrote in message
...
Keith G wrote:

" Grab this lot from Argos for about 230 quid:
http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/argos.JPG You'll get 3 identical
remotes and a pair of ****e silver superslim floorstanders no good to man
nor beast... "


The offending articles:
http://www.argos.co.uk/wcsstore/argo...5UC256801X.jpg

I was originally thinking more along the lines of a £700 system and
speakers like the Acoustic Energy Aegis Evo 3:
http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/p...roduct_ID/1278

So you really think it would be best all round with cheap separates and
£600 speakers like the B&W DM603?
http://www.hifix.co.uk/shop.lasso?shop=B-W

If I spend £600 on speakers, maybe £360 on some Cambridge Audio is a
viable option:

Cambridge Audio Classic A5 Integrated Amplifier (£120)
http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...id=CAMB-A5-SIL
Cambridge Audio Classic D100 CD Player (£120)
http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...=CAMB-D100-SIL
Cambridge Audio Classic DAB300 Tuner (£120)
http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...=CAMB-DAB300-S


OK, difficult for me - my table lamp's blown (strange bulbs - no spare) so
I'm in the dark, excuse any spelling mistakes.

Contrary to the old days when speakers were (apparently) much of a muchness
and amplifiers &c, varied wildly, nowadays the 'electronics' are pretty much
a done deal at the various price levels and speakers are where the main
differences lie. The most important thing is room/speaker matching, closely
followed by speaker/amp matching. Put simply, poor speakers or a bad
speaker/room match will knacker any 'electronics' line-up.

The reason I say grab the Argos cheap stuff is that it is plenty good enough
to steer you toward speakers you could live with and which would survive
future electronics upgrades. You say you wanted 'matching' stuff (I can
relate to that), the Argos stuff matches perfectly, is all controllable from
the same remote (including tone controls) and it has nice buttons. Best of
all it is as cheap as chips and you can shove it into a bedroom for a second
system when you can afford a *proper* upgrade, I've no experience of the
modern Cambridge stuff, but I believe it is perfectly OK - 50% more money
though, which will eat into you speaker budget.

Speakers? One here (or not, I suspect, these days) had the Evo 3s and said
they were 'crap' (???), a friend of mine has them but when I sent him a pair
of Needles (the thin blck ones):

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/speakers1.JPG

....he put them out of commission and tells me they have not been used since.
I have no reason to disbelieve him and if (possible) proof were needed,
here's a shot of the Needles now getting elbowed out by a bigger pair of
'firewood horns' he has just had built!!

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/speakers2.JPG

(Note where the AEs are!! ;-)

B&W 603s? My son has the S2 model of the 602s and wouldn't swap them, check
you need the floorstander version, I'm not sure they're always a better
thing!

See my reply to Wally for further info about the Argos stuff, but my answer
stays the same - grab your matching stack (Argos or Cambridge, whatever) and
then partner it with the best speakers you can find. Good secondhand will
double your budget - any half decent hifi shop will allow you to audition a
600 quid pair of secondhand speakers at home. Walk away if they won't!!

"Wally" wrote

If modern audio electronics is as good as they say it is, I'm tempted to
agree with Keith, in that maybe you're allotting too much of the budget to
the electronics and not enough to the speakers. In other words, you could
cut the cost of the amp/CD/radio and not suffer much loss in quality;
while
adding the savings to the speaker budget could make a *big* difference.


Sadly, if you don't want to go eBay/secondhand a fahsand pahn isn't a lot of
money for an *it all* audio solution these days! I'm less inclined to
rcommend secondhand these days as the 'names' have goon loopy for price and
the cheap crap seems to be well tatty, from what I've seen on some eBay
auctions!

(When I wanted a 'remote controlled' SS stack the other say I didn't want
to fart about trying to mix and match shrapnel!!)

My findings with the Argos cheepies:

DAB/FM - perfectly OK on a proper aerial but the DAB works fine off the
supplied wet string aerial - the FM is indistinguishable from a Denon and a
Technics tuner I have here. The DAB is DAB - not as bad as some would have
you believe at times...!! Only 4 presets on each of DAB and FM - plenty for
me!!

The CDP - plays MP3s from CDRW and is much of a muchness at anything like
the price. The cruncher for me was with the 'internal volume' halved on a
Marantz KI Sig CDP, I could not tell them apart and could flick between them
seamlessly!!

The amp - weakest link in the chain but with digital everything. I've
supplemented mine with a Denon but only because I *wanted* the Denon! (For
the pre section which is configured perfectly for my needs - the Argos amp
isn't, it has only Line Out which does not give me remote volume control on
valve power amps!)

(You get the same remote with each of them - so you should never lose
them!!)

VFM - outrageous for brand new 'feature-rich' kit with warranties!

Build quality - you can't help but like them!

Sound quality - fine!

Glad to have them - oh yes!

:-)

DAB/FM - perfectly OK on a proper aerial but the DAB works fine off the
supplied wet string aerial - the FM is indistinguishable from a Denon and a
Technics tuner I have here. The DAB is DAB - not as bad as some would have
you believe at times...


Jeezz Keith you heard it recently?, since they knocked the rates down If
you can't hear the difference something's seriously wrong!....


--
Tony Sayer

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
tony sayer wrote:
One thing I can tell you is that UK DAB is now ****e..

And getting worse... Just treat it as a substitute for AM and you won't be
*that* disappointed. ;-)

FM's still ok with a good signal that is....

Yes - remember to allow for a decent external aerial in the budget if
you're serious about radio listening.


Why not a freeview tuner?

http://tinyurl.com/kmfhf

25UKP, job done?