Beginners System

grizza603

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Hi All, I'm new year, so please be kind!

I am starting tis great hobby, but I am on a limited budget of about £1200.00. this is what I was thinking of buying and would like your thoughts and suggestions:

Pioneer SX 20DAB Stereo Receiver
Audiolab 6000CDT CD Transport
Project Debut Carbon DC Turntable
Acoustic Energy AE100 Speakers
Atacama Moseco 6 Speaker Stands
QED Silver Anniversary XT Speaker Cable Per Metre


I want a DAB Radio and obviously a Turntable. I did think about buying an Arcam Solo Music, which although discountinued are still for sale brand new from Peter Tyson.

Thoughts and opinions please?
 
Hi. Just my 2 cents, but I'd spend more on the speakers and less on the rest (There are some cracking deals on Q Acoustic Concept 20's around at the mo for eg). Also, there's no need to spend that much on speaker cable. Any well constructed, copper, 2.5mm cable will do you just fine.
 
Are there any reason to buy the Pioner SX 20DAB stereo receiver? There are better options out there. Marantz, Cambridge, Arcam. As for the turntable without out doubt change it to REGA. The rest of system sounds fine. But as always there are other options out there always well be. Regarding your speakers I’m not familiar with them. But I’ve read they are good. Regarding speaker cables if it’s just a start up system you don’t need that fancy speaker cables. Just buy the cheapest 16 AWG gauge you gan get at the start then perhaps use that money for other equipments. But cables are important. But I would skip them temporarily, then buy them later. But the other options you mentioned seems nice. Good luck.
 
Project Debut Carbon +, MaiA DS2 & Speaker Box 5
if required add matching CD player/transport & Radio
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If you are looking at a one box type unit consider the Yamaha RN602, which was my selection getting back into owning a proper music system. Its done me proud until I started visiting hifi shops and got upgrade fever :cool:
Agree with the Rega turntable and cheaper cables.
 
Yes, Pioner have never gotten my intention when it comes to hifi. But if we’re talking about the vintage models then all bets are off. Those are supposed to sound superior. But of course we’re talking about a modern Pioner model. But I agree above the Yamaha may suit your speakers fine. It’s fine hobby your getting into, and I do think you well get a very fine system that can handle all music. Good luck.
 
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Looks very smart but these fancy promo shots always make me laugh "Unless they work on AAA's where are the ferkin power leads " :rotfl:
hide/ the cables in audio rack
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ppplp.png


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Thank you guys for the feedback. The reason for the Pioneer was it has a DAB Tuner as well as being an Amp. As I’m on a limited budget I didn’t want to buy a separate amp and tuner. I user to have Pioneer before, years ago, and they were good. I also had an Arcam Solo, but I thought a separated system would be better. I also heard the latest Arcam Solo, now discontinued, wasn’t that great?
 
What's your internet connection like?
Personally I'd forgot DAB, in the UK at least, it's poorly compressed and a bit shite. All the stations you could want and need are available for streaming.
 
Good, ok guys you have £1200 to spend on a system, which must include the following:
Turntable
CD Player
Radio (Internet or DAB)
Speakers

What would you go for?
 
Hi Grizza.

Some questions:
What sound do you like? warm, neutral, bright; smooth, crisp?
What room will you listen in? large, small; hard surfaces (glass, wall), soft surfaces (setee, curtains, carpets)?

General guidance:
1) Spend most on your speakers.
Audition 3 or 4 options in a hi-fi shop and preferably audition a final 2 in your home.
Follow your ears, not magazine reviews.
2) Next pick an amplifier that works well with those speakers.
Consider combining steps 1 and 2 buying active speakers with amp built in.
3) Next pick your sources.
How much you spend on each should be influenced by how much you listen to each source type. However each source type benefits to varying degrees for increasing budget.
e.g. In general digital sources improve less than turntables for the same budget increase.
Consider a streaming solution for listening to radio rather than DAB (which can have quality problems)
(Do you have home wifi, do you use a smartphone?)
 
With £1200 to spend I would probably go for:

£600 on speakers (KEF Q350, Monitor Audio Silver 100 or similar)
£350 on amplifier (Marantz PM 6006 or something similar by Cambridge or Yamaha with a MM phono stage)
£250 on record player (Rega Planar 1)
£150 on CD player (Tangent CD II)
£40 on Streamer (Chromecast Audio)
Cheapest speaker cable within spec that you can get.

£140 over budget but you should be able to get the amp second hand to save that.

This approach has future proofed my speaker and my amp should be good for a while too.
I would likely end up upgrading the record player in the future, but if you are only an occasional record listener then the Planar 1 is fine.

However - This is only what I would do with that budget and requirements.
My taste could be different to yours.
Best advice is to start by auditioning speakers in the £300 to £600 range and learn what you like and don't like.
Don't rush.

Good luck!
 
CD player is easy: Philips CD 753 or Marantz CD 48 for about £50 off ebay.
Turntable's a bit trickeier. I'd get a Japanese 1970's to 1980's direct drive, such as a Pioneer PL71 or one of the Sony PSX's for about £500 - off ebay, maybe German ebay.
For radio, I'd get a lead to plug my laptop or desktop computer into the hi-fi, and I'd turn off all the alert noises that the computer makes as these can be very loud and annoying when played through a hi-fi.
Amplification: probably a used Japanese integrated amp with a built in MC and MM phono section - hoepfully for less than £100 on ebay for something not too tragically bad.

Speakers, I'd buy a pair of tweeters, a pair of midrange drivers and some woofers, plus some wood and inductors and resistors and capacitors to make the cabinets and crossover.

Now is not a good time to be buying hi-fi on ebay. Give it a while and there might be some good deals on there after Coronavirus restrictions are lifted...
 
It sounds like you're slightly heading in this direction, but if funds are limited, I'd buy in a stages. If you are confident about knowing what sound you like, I'd start with some solid speakers you're really happy with, possibly for £1K. If you don't have an old amp or any sources around, I'd spend the rest on a good quality but cheap second-hand amp and one (probably second-hand) source (whichever you'll use most).

If you're able to, buy a good quality component once a year for the next few years, and you'll have a ~£3k system in a few years, rather than a £1k system now.
 
Surely the goal shouldn't be to have a £3k system? Surely the goal should be for grizza603 to have the system that he is happiest with for the least amount of money.

There is almost no correlation between price and sound quality in hi-fi - especially when you throw used or DIY into the mix.
 
Surely the goal shouldn't be to have a £3k system? Surely the goal should be for grizza603 to have the system that he is happiest with for the least amount of money.

There is almost no correlation between price and sound quality in hi-fi - especially when you throw used or DIY into the mix.

Hey Lindsayt, I'm certainly with you on the goal being to have the system you're happiest with. What I was meaning was that hifi, as with anything, conforms to the law of diminishing returns. Through experimenting with new floorstanders in the past few years, I found that to my ears, £1-2k was noticeably better on average than £500 to £1k. However, I didn't find this to be the case beyond about £3k. It obviously depends on lots of factors (e.g. speaker size, manufacturer, desired sound). Indeed DIY and secondhand would be useful avenues to explore too.

Matt
 
If you mostly lean towards vinyl the Rega System One might be of interest?


Obviously you would still require adding a cd player and streamer (for internet radio, tidal, spotify etc)
 
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Is that your setup? Looks great :eek:
Used to have a full DS system but upgraded to the Project RS range
CD/Streamer/Dac/headphone/pre/power/phono stage & Turntable + Klipsch RF7 III
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Klipsch do make excellent gear for 70years
not your typical hifi sounding speakers flat & lifeless
Huge Soundstage , Scale , Dynamics , Punch
& turn them up and music becomes a live Event
Dubbed ‘fire-breathing monsters’ by Klipsch my neighbours love them !!
 

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