Help with first Hi-Fi

At the risk of sounding like an idiot, I think I'd rather do it the old fasioned way with an amp rather than active speakers. It just seems a bit more fun.

 

Fair enough, but bare in mind active speakers have a number of advantages in sound quality. A good 'normal' speaker and amp can still sound superb though of course.

 

can have Simon, but also not necessarily too.

pros and con's you probably would agree.

like.. pro - no power sucking passive crossover, the amp drives the drive unit directly
con's - amp is in most vibrating place possible, usually a really shitty amp aswell.

 

I wouldn't really agree about the cons, lol. Vibrations don't matter to most solid state amps, and most of the amps have perfectly good specs.

 

Fun is over-rated.

FWIW I agree with Tenson.

 

On your budget, spend most on a pair of active speakers from a music shop - note they are usually priced per unit rather than per pair.

Connect to your laptop or PC with a

http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/produ...sb-hi-resolution-mobile-audio-interface-.html

(If the budget will run to it use instead

http://www.hificables.co.uk/11839/M...ogle&utm_medium=froogle&utm_campaign=pid11839

but its more than twice the price, and you might not hear the difference)

Rip your CDs to hard drive and off you go.

You have access to internet radio and services like Spotify as a bonus.

Internet radio above 128Kb/s will beat an FM Tuner.

 

Hi Simon

I cant agree on the specs thing. I've got five amps here at the minute..

Audio Synthesis Power
marantz integrated
Sansui integrated
EL34 power
300b power

I've listed them (above) in terms of specification..descending

300b power
Audio Synthesis
EL34 power
Sansui power
Marantz integrated

I've listed them above in terms of how I 'rate them'.

 

p.s. Lindsay - if you live near reading you can have the marantz or sansui for £50 if you want. 5 is probably one too many!... (or 4 too many if we're being harsh)

 

If want a good seperates system I have just come back from Kevin @ Talk Electronics from its annual service the Talk Electronics Thunder 3 CD player, Hurricane 3 pre amplifier and Tornado 3 power amplifier in black, a very very good matched system, I can include all cables incl, chord speaker cables, interconnects and some power cables. delivered for £600 which is a bargain!

Here is a bit of blurb on them:
http://www.audiophilia.com/hardware/talk.htm

I also have some floorstanding Focal 806's I may be able to do a deal on too.

I have put this here instead of pming as it is probably best for others to give u their opinion on the setup as u are new to all this.

 

Thanks again to everyone for the advice.

The A60 (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/A-R-Cambridge..._HomeAudioHiFi_Amplifiers&hash=item1e5ed75218) finishes in a couple of hours. How much do people think its worth? I'm temped to go for it, but I don't want to pay over the odds.

 

well the last 2 that sold on ebay went for £40 and £34 as to its real 2ndhand value Im not sure!

 

There is also this:
ACOUSTIC RESEARCH AR-05 INTERGRATED AMP
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ACOUSTIC-RESE..._HomeAudioHiFi_Amplifiers&hash=item45f5f6a18c

Also
vintage AR turntable/rega arm Acoustic Research
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/vintage-AR-tu..._Consumer_VintageAudio_RL&hash=item3cb184c6ac

And
AR (Acoustic Research) EB101 Turntable and Tone Arm
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AR-Acoustic-R..._HomeAudioHiFi_Turntables&hash=item3cb1844e8f

And
The AR Turntable Acoustic Research Linn Basik LV X Arm


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AR-Turntable-..._HomeAudioHiFi_Turntables&hash=item3361bd0429

 

Reasonable price these days for the A&R A60 is somewhere between £40-£75 depending on condition.

Good amplifiers with nothing unusual or obsolete inside so easy (and cheap) to service.

 

Right. I've spent quite alot of my free time lately trying to get to grips with what I should go for and whats available. Here's where I am at the moment:

I have bought some Tannoy 603s, they seem to be fairly well thought of and will probably end up being a stop gap while I'm living in a shared house (and therefore only have one room to hold all of my stuff).

I have my heart set on an A&R Cambridge A60 and will buy the next one which comes up on ebay at a reasonable price, they seem to be going for alot at the moment.

A thorens TT looks to be the way to go, but I'm struggling to work out which is best. There seem to be alot of different types (125, 150, 160, 166 etc etc....) with Mk1 and 2s. 160s seem to go for the most money, are they streets ahead of the rest or are they all fairly equal?

CD players are also difficult, everyone seems to have a different opinion. A Marantz CD63 Mk2 KI Signature seems to be very highly thought of, but is it wise to pay over 100 quid for such an old cd player? I'm also watching a sony x77es on ebay, but i think that could end up going for alot as well.

Again, all help would be much appreciated.

Chidge

 

Good choice on the amp and speakers.

For the TT, if you want a Thorens belt drive I'd stay with a 160BC or 160S. Quite common and very serviceable. Personally I'd choose a Rega Planar 3 (with the RB300 arm) but then I like Rega TTs. Good sound and last for decades with nothing more than a new belt now and then. A Thorens will require set-up and a little more fettling, and arguably doesn't sound any better.

For CD, I'd look at more recent machines as older ones will likely develop problems with the laser/mech. The Cambridge 540C & 640C are excellent and being only a few years old should last a good few years more. They also sound great.

 

Excellent, Thanks. I hadn't heard of either of those before and the TT looks fantastic, very cool and minimal.

 

You are very welcome. If you go for a Planar just make sure it has the straight black arm and not the earlier silver one. Both are excellent but some rubber parts in the earlier arm degrade with time and cannot be replaced unless you are very into audio diy.

 

Hi Chidge

I think those are good items. Others will know, but I believe the Cambridge has a good phono stage. A huge number of amps have extremely crap sounding phono stages in them. This will ruin the sound of vinyl making it thin, unpleasant, and not even as good as CD. If you experience this from vinyl - the phono stage is a good place to look.

Do consider a used 'squeezebox' from ebay. These are under £100 used, sound as good as any basic cd player you will buy and offer a lot more.

Essentially if you have a wireless router on your computer, you 'rip' your music to the hard drive and stream it to the device. You can do all the album changing from the sofa without changing discs.

Not only does it 'open up' your collection making it easy to hear everything at a button press, but also you get internet radio through it, and you dont have to worry about lasers/ mech's breaking down on you.

If you have to buy a cd player, I wouldnt spend much, more on the turntable will help you more.

 

So Chidge,

did you manage to bag that A60? *edit* just seen that you probably missed that auction

Nice vintage look to it and should sound reasonably good for starters, myself started out on Arcam (or A&R Cambridge) Alpha gear few years ago, and though long outgrown it, it gave many good hours of enjoyment

How come no one is recommending the Rega P1? FWIW it has all you need to get started for a fair price (brand new), the stock setup is decent, cartridge or arm upgrades can always come in much later?


Kenny

 

For £170 give or take £100 I'd much rather have a Lenco or a Pioneer PL71 or a Technics 1210 than a new Rega P1.