My first hifi help

leave them alone
there has to be better out there

also if you are using near computer consider shielded speakers .. I don't think the Mission 760i are shielded though they are excellent little performers for bookshelf situations

 

I have a pair of Mission 751's sitting on my desk, and they're not half bad and would sound ok on your arcam.

I'd rather have a pair of little dual concentric Tannoy sixes - and would reccomend you buy the same.

To help prevent you buying a boggo Tannoy speaker with naff drive units - the centre should look like this -

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3070/3036452616_3b5b3d855e.jpg

If you'd rather have a pair of mission 751's - you can gladly swap them with me!

Dont be put off by the rather plain looking black exterior - its a question of 'judging a book by its cover' - there are a great many pleasantly packaged and ordinary sounding speakers out there.


NB
Forget about the DAC - just plug the PC/laptop soundcard into your Arcam, and plug that into some speakers - job done.

At the budget you have, trying to get a better DAC into the equation just doesnt work. Get the best speakers you can.

Cheers

 

I cant seem to find any tannoy 6s in my budget but i have found some red tannoy reveal studio moniters for £100+ p&P? are they similer? or there are some tannoy system 600 moniters which seem to have the concentric thing you mentioned i might be able to stretch to them are they the kind of thing that you meant?

 

Hi iiee,

Unfortunately not the same thing IME.

They do pop up regularly on Ebay

Like these -- http://img02.taobaocdn.com/bao/uploaded/i2/T1PM0nXmXhXXXfxznX_085629.jpg

The bigger Tannoy dual concentrics are even better, but you just wont get them south of £100.

Tannoy 628's are the best I've heard in this price range..


nb the bigger Tannoys in this range looked like this

http://slovenskainzercia.sk/x-sk/inz/1096/1096106-predam-repro-tannoy-638-cierna-farba--4.jpg


In a little room, the standmount ones will sound great.

 

Ok my friend has found a pair of mordaunt short 902 for £60 is this a good deal???

The other thing i was wondering was if I should get Q ACOUSTICS 2010 SPEAKERS they seem really well reviewed and are seem good for my purpose? will i lose alot in sound quality

*Edit on further investigation*

Ok this one is slightly left field but i am looking at a KEF reference 102/2 for around a £100 in what looks like good condition is this a good deal it seems about the right size if a bit heavy and Kef is one of the brands which i have actually heard of along with arcam, cambridge audio, and mission and reference to me sounds high end. Feel free to disabuse me of my illusions.

I also still have the tannoy system 600 near field moniter offer at £125 (the very limit of my budget) and tentatively Tannoy sixes (maybe haven't seen any photos and still waiting for a call back) of unknown model and size for around £50 Im really looking to get something in the next week or so and to be honest im happy to learn by failure (so long as i can ebay failures) and have no real idea as to what im looking for in a sound as it tends to all sound great to me.

I realise that lots of people recommended mission speakers but i have had real difficulty trying to find the models that they quoted ( i think all you evil hifi people are hoarding them during this "age of austerity" )

Any opinions on all or any of these deals would be great and again thank you for looking and bothering to answer this poor hifi beginner who has no idea what he wants.

 

ilee, the Studiospares speakers are being discussed here

http://theartofsound.net/forum/showpost.php?p=138235&postcount=27

but remember their size.

Let me reinforce advice given above. Forget the DAC. Use the soundcard. Get the best speakers you can.

 

Ok guys i got a little scared about buying used in the end. So i found the Q2010s at super fi for £90 and decided that because they had picked up so many awards and after having a listen that they where perfect for my room which is only small. I had a look at some wharfedale 9.1s while i was there and they were really too big for me at the moment let alone some of the others. Thank you for all your help and i will be sure to check back when i upgrade (hopefully with more space and a bigger budget).

 

Don't be in a hurry to upgrade. Enjoy what you have. Enjoy the music.

And do report back soon. We want to know what you think of your new system.

 

Ok just got my system up and running and i could be happier.

I dont have that much experience with hifi equipment but in the space i have i really dont think i could have gotten much better in this room than i have in here now. I did get the DAC in the end but before you shout at me i needed it to run the Xbox and PS3 (they all run into the same moniter) into the speakers through the toslink and I figured i might as well use it for the pc as it gives me an easily accessible source switcher while the amp is round the back.

I have been really surprised by the sound quality of the little Q acoustic 2010s and recommend that anyone has a look at them if they want some small bedroom speakers for under a hundred. They are small trendy and easily manageable. At least they where once i realised that i and ffed up the wiring first time round and managed to lose the bass completely. I would just like to say thanks for the help (i know ignored you all completely and did my own thing but i appreciate the time taken to help out anyway) and i will definitely drop in from time to time even if its just to lurk and learn.

 

I'm glad you've got a nice sound that makes you happy. Yes, a Beresford DAC is a convenient way to switch digital sources.