£200 challenge!!!

My brothers mini system has just about called it a day.
He's asked me to find him something to replace it.

Budget of £200 but possibly stretch to £250.

CD player, Amp and Speakers.

Willing to buy secondhand/ex deMO.

Speakers will probably be shelf or wall MOunted and I doubt he'll re-arrange the room much to accomodate them, so "imaging" and such isn't really too important.

ReMOte would be better.

He listens to a lot of acoustic guitar and vocals stuff, but also stuff that's MOre rocking. And is also partial to a bit of bangin' electro.

So, something that can basically play a tune well. Looks half decent.

Basicaly I'm just trying to get someone else to do the searching for me

Any suggestions? Links? etc...

Many Thanks

MO

 

Would you be willing to put a volume pot in a box for him? (hell, I'll do it if you ask nicely!)

If so then the answer is pretty easy..

A pair of these - http://www.dv247.com/invt/20399

One of these - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Acoustic-Solu...5848130936QQcategoryZ3272QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

and

one Dale Vishay Stepped attenuator to be put in any box you like with a few phono plugs - http://www.hificollective.co.uk/components/potentiometers.html

Personally I would get a second hand CD player and save £20. The Pioneer stable platters are good I think, at least as transports.

All in all it should come out to £260 but if you are good at finding a bargain (maybe you can find second hand monitors?) it could be a fair bit lower.

 

I'd spend £199 on a RA Rave amp plus speakers and play my music on an existing portable, or spend the 'flexible £50' on a portable CD from Richers / ebay.

This will sound tight and rocky if needed but is fine for acoustic too.

 

RA Rave amp?

Tenson, I was thinking Active speakers as a possibility.
Any thoughts on there http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/wharfdale-Act...5849937845QQcategoryZ3276QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

Amp: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PIONEER-SA-61...oryZ4784QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

CD: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MARANTZ-SINGL...5850116096QQcategoryZ3272QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Speakers: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/JPW510i-Kef-a...850160869QQcategoryZ14991QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

OR

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Excellent-Wha...50571616QQcategoryZ112516QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


That comes in under £200 and should sound pretty good

 

Russ Andrews Rave system.

I haven’t heard those but personally I don't like walfdale. Those will be nowhere near the Samson as I'm sure you know. The woofer is tiny and they are not Bi-amped, nor have active crossovers. They look just like cheap PC speakers to me. Probably not bad for a PC but not Hi-Fi by any means.

If you can find them second-hand, the Alesis M1 Active mk2 are a good'n I think. They are about £250 new so they would have to be a good second-hand deal. The Samson are good though. I think the cabinet is based heavily on the HHB Circle 3; a very good monitor design. They are not as exciting a sound as the Alesis but probably more easy on the ear.

I don’t think you can beat active monitor for value for money in this price range. The ‘Make Music’ shop in Bluewater shopping centre has the Samson, maybe there is a shop near you?

 

The CD player Andrew had dug out looks good. Pair that with the Samson monitors and the stepped attenuator (as used in Audio Synthesis gear and others) and you are dancing! :MO!: :boogie: :drum:

 

Computer troubles, so not been able to check for a few days....

bump

 

Well I'm pretty certain I've got some B&W 601s lined up. £60, and front ported.

So, amp and cd...

I've not really had a look at amps yet, but for cd player my options seem to be:

Possibly an arcam alpha (various models depending on price).

Marantz CD63 & 67 in their various guises, SE/MKII/MKII SE.... Or possibly a 6000 ose if I can spot one cheap enough. Any opinions on the 4000, 5000, and such?

NAD 520/1/2 and 540/1/2 in their various guises.

Rotel RCD 965 BX. Seem to go quite cheap, but with their age and comments about skipping, I'm not too sure about this one?

Sony - various players.

Any thoughts on any of the above, or anything else I should be considering?

And how about amps?

 

How about one of the lovely old NAD 5320 or 5340 CD players?

 

Have a look in Richers. http://ws1.richersounds.com/showproduct.php?cda=showproduct&pid=SONY-CMTNEZ3

Sony Mini there for £99.00. Of course if its a)any good and b)they have any in stock then could be laughing.

 

I would probably be inclined to spend most of the remainder on the amp. Higher Arcams can go quite well with B&Ws, something like a Delta 290 integrated can go for £100 or just over. This would go well with the 52 SE above (spotted that myself but andrew posted it first ).

The Marantz and the Rotel 965 have very similar internals, they use the same mech - CDM4/19. These can easily be cannibalised from other players and replaced should one start to skip. (although personally i find them to be miles more robust than the 53/63 etc and many others cd players using the CDM12.x which is an appalling mechanism)

As an alternative the kenwood KA-3020SEs seem to go for very reasonable money on ebay and were once considered pretty decent. Theres also a KA-F3030R on there:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Kenwood-Stere...5855026139QQcategoryZ3280QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


This route would leave more to spend on a CD or even a CD and dac.

 

So far I've managed to get the B&W 601s for £60, and last night I managed to add an Arcam Alpha 7 cd player for £67

So that's about £150 after postage/petrol costs.

So, £100 for an amp. I've not realy looked at amps at all yet. I'd be interested to hear what to expect from the 601 & Alpha 7 combo, and what would work well with them amp-wise.

 

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5129199.htm

Cheap and cheerful Acoustics solution amp for around £60.00?

 

I'm hoping for something a bit better. Rotel seem to be strong S/H at this price.

 

Also MO, if your mate does not mind buying DIN to phono converters, theres an A&R Cambridge A60, which I'm told are very nice as well.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/A-R-Cambridge...oryZ3280QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

The Rotel's are a good buy too. Look for the likes of the RA-820 BX, RA-930's, RA-931's, and RA-971's should all be within price range, although arguably the RA-820 BX's may be a little overpriced considering their age, as they are a bit of a saught after model.

The Pioneer A400 is might be worth a look, although to be honest, I'm not sure this will be the best match for the Bee'Dubs.

I guess a NAD 3020 might be a look if you can get your hands on one, but again a little overpriced for its age due to the hype, and I'm not sure how well these stand out against more modern competition.

The Creeks are worth a look at this price too, the 4040 or 4140 would make good buys.

IIRC My Name Is Ron has (or did have) a Cyrus One, now this may be a nice little buy as well as the early Cyruses were supposed to sound very fun.

 

Did well with the Alpha 7 there i reckon. A friend of mine once had the 7se running into an alpha 8 and 8p and the B&W 601s. This sounded pretty decent i must admit (not spectacular but nice). So i would still expect the Delta 290 to work well with them.

A Rotel would probably work well with them - Ra-970/971. Another alternative might be one of the slightly older NADs such as the C340.

 

yeah get the biggest best rotel for the cash. I would coco.

 

Well it's all arrived and been running for about a week now.

In the end:

Arcam Alpha 7r CD - £77 inc p+p
Amp Alpha 7r Amp - £100 collected
B&W 601 Speakers - £70 including petrol costs

So, £247 all in!

All the kit in excellent condition and sounding rather good.
Just need to sort out the speaker positioning (going to be wall MOunted I think), and he's got a pretty decent system for the MOney I'd say.