Help buying a Hi-fi

stereo_steve

Hello all,

My friend is buying a hifi and I told him that I would post a message here. See if you guys can help out.

He has about €1500-€1600 to spend. His criteria is; cd player, tape deck and tuner. He also only wants two speakers, not giant ones just your average size hifi speaker.

Can you guys recommend him something? Where is the best place to look for it? Any good cheap online retailers?

Any help you can give would be very much appreciated! Thanks

John R

If he is spending that much then I assume he wants seperates, spending that much on an all-in-one is nuts.
http://www.richersounds.ie is always a good start for cheap prices on quality seperates.

stereo_steve

He does want separates. Can someone suggest a few models? I'm clueless about it!

Wertz

With that kinda money he can probably afford a Bose lifestyle system or similar. I've only ever heard one in a shop but it was quality...

Personally if he's going for a non-separate set up I'd choose the likes of Technics or something. Get a top system for around 800 or so.
I have an old EH600 that I bought about 3 years back. Cost me a lot at the time but it's never failed me and it still annoys the hell out of the neighbours

robbie1876

stereo_steve wrote:

He does want separates. Can someone suggest a few models? I'm clueless about it!

Here's a some models so:

All from Richer Sounds

NAD C352ct Amplifier
Monitor Audio Bronze 4 Apeakers
NAD C521Bee CD Player
Denon TU260L Tuner
TEAC V615 Tape Deck
Cambridge Pacific Interconnect x 3

Total cost: €1524.80, plus some speaker cable and delivery charges.

There ya go! There's a starting point for you!

irlirishkev

...and no seperate system should be without a turntable IMO. And if you're not willing to spend too much money on one, get over to this thread.
Thing to remember though, if you're getting a record player, you'll need an amp with a phono input, or you're going to need either a pre-amp, or a turntable with a pre-amp built in..

Kevin.

commited

Is your mate in Dublin?

If he is, tell himself to get over to cloney audio (www.cloneyaudio.com) and demo some gear - they'll usually throw in a decent interconnect, some speaker cable & some stands if you ask really nicely

How big is his room? If its less than 4mx4m - he should really avoid floorstanders, and go standmount.
options:
CD Player
Arcam CD73T €630.00
Rotel RCD-02 €595.00

Amplifier:
Arcam A65 Plus €565.00
Rotel RA-01 €395.00 (the RA-02 is €545 but is the EXACT same apart from a remote - and a remote isnt worth €150!)

Speakers:
B&W DM601 S3 €399.00
B&W DM602 S3 €479.00
System Audio SA 505 €299.00

The advantage of Cloney Audio is that they usually have some decent cheapish pre-owned stuff (amps and speakers make excellent used buys). I got my NAD Tuner second hand there for €50!

Those B&W 602 S3s are awsome speakers - I love them, plant them on some decent speaker stands and you have the best bargain speaker out there! I have the 602 S1s and they are really nice - but the S3s are just so much nicer to listen to!

A nice system out of the above would be:
Arcam CD73T €630.00
Rotel RA-01 €395.00
B&W DM602 S3 €479.00
Total: €1504

As for speaker cables and interconnects, if they dont throw one in free - I find the Pacific to be really really bass heavy - it's a good cable, but try and get a decentish Van den hull for the CDplayer - amp.

if he spends a bit more now on the CD player, amp & speakers, he can add the tuner and tapdeck when he needs it. I used my old Minihifi connected by a headphone output into the back of my amp as my tuner and tape deck until I bought a tuner (I dont really need a tape deck!)

In my opinion - when you have that much to spend you shouldnt go near richersounds for the CD/amp or speakers.

Anyway - just some ideas