Advice needed on hi fi set up please

Andy 03

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Hi, i need some advice please on buying my first hi-fi set-up, my budget extends to about £600. Ive read through the thread below "advice on entry -level stereo, however i'm still confused and my budget is £400 less. The stroy so far... I've been considering buying the denon 201 mini system with SC-M201 speakers.
Would i be better off buying separate components? would this set-up be better or worse?- NADC521i cd player, NAD320BEE amp, and Acoustic Energy Evo speakers (any other combination suggestions would be very welcomed)
Any advice would be appreciated :confused:
 
Best advice I can give is:
1: Yes, buy separates. Definitely.
2: Buy from a store that will demonstrate. Some better stores will often let you borrow their demo kit to try at home. Can't speak for the components you mention. However - especially as regards loudspeakers - it is VERY MUCH a matter of personal preference. One man's clarity is another man's harshness. One man's warmth is another man's softness. Get demonstrations - yes - even at your price point. Take music with which you are familiar. Spend time before you spend money. A good retailer will be patient.
 
Originally posted by Andy 03
Hi, i need some advice please on buying my first hi-fi set-up, my budget extends to about £600. Ive read through the thread below "advice on entry -level stereo, however i'm still confused and my budget is £400 less. The stroy so far... I've been considering buying the denon 201 mini system with SC-M201 speakers.
Would i be better off buying separate components? would this set-up be better or worse?- NADC521i cd player, NAD320BEE amp, and Acoustic Energy Evo speakers (any other combination suggestions would be very welcomed)
Any advice would be appreciated :confused:

Very good speakers, very good CD Player, not sure about Amp but sure it'll be good also. The Rotel RA01 is also a good amp in your price range. Also consider Mission M72i speakers or M73i floorstanders, and Arcam A65+ or A75+ amplifiers if you can stretch your price range a bit.

But as Nigel says, demo, demo, demo and then demo some more!
 
For £600 you get yourself a collection of used separates with an original retail in the £2,000 region, which obviously is a far better system, and one that when the inevitable upgrade bug ensues won't have lost hardly any value when you sell components off.

Buy cheap and even if you haven't been able to audition, you don't lose much money and often I've made a profit.

The internet makes finding information/reviews of any given component simple and quick, and sites like Ebay/hififorsale/loot are sources of great bargains; last week for instance I bought a Sony discman and active speakers for the kitchen on Ebay for the grand total of £7.50 + P&P.

If you don't have the confidence to buy second-hand however just take your cash to somewhere like Richer Sounds and ask them to compile a system within your budget; they usually throw in the cables for free and do deals on full systems.

Best of luck!

Best Regards,
Chris Redmond.
 
I would be careful about going to RS cash in hand and saying give me a system, never had problems myself but there are threads on the forum from people who have and regretted it.
 
Agree with pwiles here - the PM7200 is very VERY good, and an absolute steal for £235.

Mine was on order for over 2 months before it shipped however, so no good if you are in a rush.

BTW don't be fooled by the Class A hype about this amp - pressing Class A does nothing apart from light a Red LED - no perceptible change to the sound at all... :)

But its really, really good!
 
I've just bought the NAD C320BEE amp (£175), NAD C521BEE cd player (£165) and Mission M74 speakers (£125 ex-display) all for £465 plus £120 on speaker cable (QED Silver Anniversary BiWire). It's fantastic!

I listened to the Mission M73i speakers and they were very good, but compare them with the M74's and they are nothing special.
The new Marantz CD5400 (£150) and PM4400 (£180) were very dissapointing in my view. I had heard that the CD5400 cd player was a great rival to the NAD C521i, but after listening to the two I don't understand this at all - the NAD is far more revealing, more detailed and has a far tighter bass.
I also tried the Rotel RA-01 amp (£250), but sounded very similar to the NAD to me.
Even swapping the M74's for Quad 11L's (£380), didn't gain much - sure the mid-range and high frequency were very good, although they were only comparable to the M74's - probably with better electronics the Quad's would have been better, but for the price a decent pair of floorstanders is a much better bet in my view.

I'm very pleased with my system especially for the price - I bought the lot from Audio T who price matched the NAD's with PRC Direct.

Hope that helps,

James
 
Originally posted by Boxinghris
For £600 you get yourself a collection of used separates with an original retail in the £2,000 region, which obviously is a far better system, and one that when the inevitable upgrade bug ensues won't have lost hardly any value when you sell components off.

Best Regards,
Chris Redmond.

That's exactly what I did. I bought a Cyrus daD7 CD player along with a Cyrus 3i amp and XPA power amp. They bi-amp my Mission M73i's which are the only new part of the system. I think in total it all came to about £750. I bit over your budget I know, but it will knock the kit mentioned up to now in this thread into a cocked hat sonically, it really is something worth thinking about.
 

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