Gorgeous hifi for £5k

M8 of mine wants to buy one of those B&O systems with the pencil speakers and daft multichangers..
I assured him it was possible to get something better looking for the same money..
Is it possible for cdp, amp, speakers and radio with DAB?
He wants look first and foremost (I know..), but good sound would be a bonus, and he might go higher than £5k for something suitable..
I suggested something like the Bow Wizard/Wazoo combo with Sonus Faber Cremona or similar - waddya think?

 

chord equipment perhaps? roksan? cyrus of course???

a full rig of top end cyrus on a nice tri-arbour rack thingy will sound a fair way better than a B&O system and it looks gorgeous esspecially in the silver finish.

for 5k he could have monoblocks pre amps DAB cd the whole works.

 

I think Chord stuff looks lovely but if it within budget?

I'm not sure about the DAB part but how about Shanling? A lot of the Chinese stuff looks great IMO. The CD player has a volume control so you don?t need a pre-amp.

T200 SACD player -
SP-80 mono blocks
Monitor Audio Gold Reference speakers? Pure DAB radio?

 

The only minor problem is he hates cds..
He's got one of those Sanyo 250 disc jukeboxes... But he might be persuadable with a handsome beast of a thing.. Not sure about the Shanling, it's too bling for him - he likes "understated hi-tech Scandinavian looks", but might go for the Cyrus.
Just out of interest, has anyone heard the Linn Kivor cd/harddrive thingy? Worth £12000 for a multiroom jukebox?

 

If he hates CDs why not go the Squeeze Box route? A computer may be ugly but he can hide it away. All he needs then is some good active speakers. Would he need a pre-amp?

Does he want the Hi-Fi to be good looking so people will look at it and go 'wow' or does he want it to be good looking so as not to stand out so obviously as a hi-fi? A Squeeze Box and active speakers would not stand out but that might be bad if he wants it as a status symbol.

Cyrus Link?

 

I like this kind of thread its fun.

Given his dislike of CD's, how about putting together a music server - say 3 x 250 gig hardrives in a dedicated PC. A squeezebox 2... all of that should come to well under a grand, leaving 4,000 just for amp and speakers.

If he's mad keen on B&O, he could go for the ones below. These are REALLY good!! - they have Tact style room correction, and are fully active. Talk about minimalism, all he'd have visible is a squeezebox 2 (looks cute anyway), and a pair of cool looking actives..

These have been round long enough for ex-dem or even used deals to be had..



If he wont listen to you and must have a full B&O system, then he could save some money here:

http://sales.beoworld.co.uk/classifieds/index.php

Active Meridian or active Linn speakers could be used in the same way of course, and have a minimalist chique to them.

I think the squeezebox idea sounds ideal for someone who obviosuly already likes the dukebox idea, and either some passive speakers with an amp or an active pair would be a good match... and for a minimalist such as he, active looks ideal.

Active ATCs or PMCs (or other) would do the trick, all depends on the sound he likes. Being a scandanavian chic sort of bloke, he may not like the proffessional appearance of a studio monitor, although I think the active ATC's I've seen have sometimes been in quite nice domestic finishes.

Those beo's I mentioned above though - really quite impressive - certainly better than pencil ones.

Just some thoughts

 

They cost more than £5k on their own though don't they?

 

Possibly with the Squeezebox route you'd want to spend some of the money on a better DAC too?

 

Wizard2 (£2k if you can find one)Or new Ayre CX7e (£2100 Pricw reduction)/wazoo xl (£1400 again if you can find one) Or Ayre Ax7E (£2k) /ART Stiletto apeakers, pencil thin narower tHan CD box, either one sublime and around £5k, look great too.

 

What, the Beo 5's?

Yeah, but they came out in 2003. I was thinking ex-dem or used..

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=14993&item=5787573863&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

 

They're hardly discrete, or particularly good looking though!

 

If good looks and sound are important - why not try Meridian, something like the G91+G56+speakers or G91+DSP33 (digital loud speakers) or G07+G51=speakers, only a thought, but will sound infinily better than 'most' style systems

Mr Perceptive

 

I think so too Mr Perceptive.

Check out this for an easy start:

http://www.technosound.co.uk/nav.php?pageid=offers

 

worldsbestloudspeakers!!!!

STOP PRESS APRIL 2005 now available in gloss black £1400, digital and analog tone control boxes for owners of amps without them please ring for details.

(sorry)

hows about gryphon gear?

 

bottleneck

some of their Meridian gear is quite expensive even as ex-demo or s/h. I bought an ex-demo 2003 Meridian 568.2 MHR last week from a Meridian Dealer rrp £4350, I paid £2000 and its got a full two years warranty. This unit with a software upgarde I got from Meridian does everything a G68 does but without some of the fancy room correction.

The cheaper units their offering are quite old versions.

I still reckon if style's important the G series is the way to go. http://www.meridian-audio.com/welcome.htm but if you want the fancy DSP speakers then increase the budget by quite a bit!!

But a G91 with DAB is £4250 + G56 (£1495) + speakers is only going to be a bit over budget (will do DVD as well). Discounts are available at this time of year, its the slack season in hi-fi retail

And a G07 + G51DAB is going to cost less than £4K before any discount so comes in under budget (doesn't do DVDs though)

Should crap on a B&O system from a great height.

Mr Perceptive

 

did you see the DSP 5000 speakers for 2.5k at the link above? - there are digital pre-amps and DVD players all ex dem and used aswell.

I'd never buy anything new, but thats just me.

You should hear the Beo 5's if you havent had the chance. They are 10k speakers when new, and good value considering they have inbuilt digital amps and digital room processing in them. How much for a belcanto, a TACT processor and a 3 way pair of speakers? Used at less than 3-4k they offer a lot.

 

bottleneck

I'll concede that the DSP5000's are good value, but the other kit can be easily bettered in price via ePay, though it may not come with a warranty unlike buying from a dealer. You could just build a base CD/DVD system with just the 596 and the DSP5000's , but if you want to add radio you would need a pre-amp.

Music Matters the Birmingham chain have quite a bit of s/h and ex-demo 500 series kit across their dealers, including a 561 for £1500 (I believe).

You have to be careful with some of the Meridian versions, as the upgrade costs to later specs can be quite expensive.

I agree with you and don't buy much new, s/h is definitely the way to go, and the Meridian 500 series kit I've been buying has all been around 40% of new cost.


Mr Perceptive

 

Sugden Bijou?
http://www.sugdenaudio.com/range/bijou.htm
Don't think it has a DAB radio but it looks and sound great especially with an AmpMaster. And with the purpose designed stand screwed into the corners it looks great.

If he likes understated then recent Densen is an option


Cheers

Jason

 

Jason,

Have you not had one on test, how did you find it? T.

 

What's a Squeeze Box?

:Quad: CambshireGordon