nodin2000
Established Member
Hi everyone. I'm putting together my first hifi system. I just moved to Portugal, and am finding myself going around in circles trying to plan the system. The main issues are that there are no hi-fi stores near me where I can try out speakers before I buy, and the products I get get online don't do returns (or very expensive to return). So I've bascially got one shot at getting it right, without having heard anything first. It might be easier if I'd had a 'proper' hi-fi previously, but I'm coming from a Klipsch 2.1 computer speaker system for $150 ProMedia 2.1 Bluetooth Computer Speakers | Klipsch
The room set up is for my office (photo attached is current layout - we are buying this place, so it will look different, I will have my desk at the back of the room facing the door, so I have room to place speakers closer to the door some distance from me. Room dimension are roughly 3.5m (11ft) long, 2.5m (8ft) wide. The ceiling slopes down towards where my desk is from about 3m (10 ft), to 2m (7 ft), so I'm estimating about 750 cu/ft or 22cu/m of air.
So the room is of modest size, I want to feel to power and soundstage of an orchestra and it's low notes, but not have the bass overwhelm things. I've not come to a conclusion on floorstanders vs bookshelf, vs bookshelf+sub. Just trying to get a decent speaker stand is a challenge here!
I listen to all types of music but I most care about the sound when listenting to classical (piano/orchestral), and opera.
Budget is around €1000 ($1100)
All my music in on Apple Music that I play from my Macbook Pro.
I've watched countless YouTube videos and read lots or articles and posts, but common issues I come across are lack of availability (Portugal is a small market and a lot of product is not available/sold here), and even when they are sold here, the prices/MSRP varies massively from those in the USA/UK. For example, a NAD C328 is the same price as a Cambridge Audio AXR85 (€450) but in the USA the NAD is over 50% more expensive. Similarly, the Jamo S800 series are well reviewed, but normally in the context of their low price, but they cost about 50% more in Portugal than the USA.
For getting the music out of my Macook into the amp, there are wireless and wired options. I'd favour a wired solution as being more stable and presumably would retain more signal. That means either using the Macbook DAC with a USB-C to 3.5mm converter, then a 3.5mm to RCA line-in to connect to the amp, or getting something like the iFi Zen v2 with a wired USB connection from Macbook to the external DAC, then RCA-RCA to the amp. Spending money on a bespoke streamer seems unnecessary to me given the limited budget.
Below is a list of what I CAN get in Portugal and the prices in Euros.
I'd be really grateful for any help narrowing down the best approach, especially regarding speaker configurations. I even saw a post on oen forum that suggested active speakers for this price range - instinctivly I didn't love this idea as it doesn't leave much room to tweak or upgrade, but welcome thoughts on this too.
Thank you
The room set up is for my office (photo attached is current layout - we are buying this place, so it will look different, I will have my desk at the back of the room facing the door, so I have room to place speakers closer to the door some distance from me. Room dimension are roughly 3.5m (11ft) long, 2.5m (8ft) wide. The ceiling slopes down towards where my desk is from about 3m (10 ft), to 2m (7 ft), so I'm estimating about 750 cu/ft or 22cu/m of air.
So the room is of modest size, I want to feel to power and soundstage of an orchestra and it's low notes, but not have the bass overwhelm things. I've not come to a conclusion on floorstanders vs bookshelf, vs bookshelf+sub. Just trying to get a decent speaker stand is a challenge here!
I listen to all types of music but I most care about the sound when listenting to classical (piano/orchestral), and opera.
Budget is around €1000 ($1100)
All my music in on Apple Music that I play from my Macbook Pro.
I've watched countless YouTube videos and read lots or articles and posts, but common issues I come across are lack of availability (Portugal is a small market and a lot of product is not available/sold here), and even when they are sold here, the prices/MSRP varies massively from those in the USA/UK. For example, a NAD C328 is the same price as a Cambridge Audio AXR85 (€450) but in the USA the NAD is over 50% more expensive. Similarly, the Jamo S800 series are well reviewed, but normally in the context of their low price, but they cost about 50% more in Portugal than the USA.
For getting the music out of my Macook into the amp, there are wireless and wired options. I'd favour a wired solution as being more stable and presumably would retain more signal. That means either using the Macbook DAC with a USB-C to 3.5mm converter, then a 3.5mm to RCA line-in to connect to the amp, or getting something like the iFi Zen v2 with a wired USB connection from Macbook to the external DAC, then RCA-RCA to the amp. Spending money on a bespoke streamer seems unnecessary to me given the limited budget.
Below is a list of what I CAN get in Portugal and the prices in Euros.
I'd be really grateful for any help narrowing down the best approach, especially regarding speaker configurations. I even saw a post on oen forum that suggested active speakers for this price range - instinctivly I didn't love this idea as it doesn't leave much room to tweak or upgrade, but welcome thoughts on this too.
Thank you
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