Question Help with 1st setup, please! 1000€ budget - small living room

PLSTR

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Hello! I spent the last couple of weeks reading tons of info online and watching lots of videos of people reviewing Hi-Fi products, but it keeps getting more and more confusing to make a choice.

Everyone has a different opinion about "the best budget speaker" or "the best speaker under 500€" and that's making me anxious about making this decision by myself as a complete newbie on the Hi-Fi world. Also, many recommendations are USA based and sometimes a speaker that costs 400€ in Europe costs 650$ in the USA, so they don't even "consider" it or they don't compare it to the real "competition" (the 450-500$ ones, instead of the 650$-700$). This reverse situation can also happen on some speakers that are made in the USA and that are 350$ but we can only find them for 450€.

So, after some research, I've gathered this list and the prices that I could find in my country and in Europe (outside of UK, due to brexit we started paying custom fees):
  • Dali Oberon 1 - 400€
  • Q Acoustics 3030i - 385€
  • Monitor Audio Bronze 100 - 429€
  • Wharfedale 12.2 - 470€ (12.1 also an option for a bit cheaper)
  • Wharfedale 11.2 - 500€ (11.1 also an option for a bit cheaper)
  • Triangle Borea BR03 - 400€
  • KEF Q350 - 400€
  • ELAC DEBUT B6.2 - 345€
  • ELAC Debut Reference DBR62 - 478€

I'll try to give you all a bit more insight on my specific situation:

I moved to a new home and want to build my first Hi-Fi setup with a 1000€ budget (cables + stands not included, those will be offered to me).

The living room is 16m², the ceiling height is 2,5m and this is how it looks like.
The TV is on the wall above the Hi-Fi furniture. I wanted the bookshelf speakers to be either on top of the Hi-Fi furniture (that has only 1,8m, so the speakers would be like 1,6m apart) or right next to it on top of speaker stands (making the distance between speakers around 1,9-2m but the right speaker is going to be only 0,8-1,1m from the right wall, the one with the window). What's the best option?
Due to the size of the room they can't also be too far from the back wall.

  • 90% of my listening is hip-hop/rap music. The other 10% are jazz, classical, etc.
  • Would like to be capable to listen to TV/movies on this setup, but don't want it to be optimal for it. My main focus is music.
  • It will be mostly digital/streaming. As I said, this is my first system, so I don't have a turntable and don't want to get one now, but I want to have the option to get one in the future and be sure that this setup is capable of having one connected.

Having that in mind the options that I gathered from what I read/listened were:
DAC:
iFi ZEN DAC - 150€ (+ upgrad power supply - iFi power 50€)
NAD DAC 2 - 195€

Amplifier:
Rega Io - 349€
Cambridge AXA35 - 350€
Camnbridge AXA25 - 250€
Marantz PM5005 - 350€
Pioneer A-40AE-K - 307€
Pioneer A-30-S - 258€
YAMAHA A-S201 - 195€
NAD C 316V2 - 369€


Do you think that the better option for me to have is Chromecast Audio + DAC + Amp + Speakers? Or a streamer like Marantz NA6006 or BlueNode 2i + Amp + Speakers (this option might force me to stretch the budget a bit more)? Or any other option?

Thanks in advance to whoever helps me with this subject that's driving me crazy for a couple of weeks!
 
In that space and for use close to walls then I would go with the following -

Yamaha wxc50 streaming preamp - has the streamer built in (Spotify connect, tidal, file streaming), optical input for the tv, analogue input for turntable later (may need a phono stage depending on turntable) and sub output if required also later, dac is pretty decent built in. These look like around 400euro in europe.

example - Yamaha WXC-50 - Streamer e Pré Amp

Add a pair of active monitors, as you like hip hop etc. Some with an 8” bass may be worth looking at (or at least 6.5”+).

The Tannoy Gold 8 (240euro each) have a front port as well to help room integration I also quite like the look, alternatively the Adam T8V (270ero each) with rear port are getting good reviews.

If these are too large then the 7” version would be almost as good, maybe better along with the Focal Alpha 65 . Thomann is a good place to look for European prices.

If you can stretch another 200 euro then adding these Dynaudio BM5 would bring a jump in performance (Great sale price noting you need two).

 
Above is great if you are happy to go with the active speakers route.
If not

Amazon product ASIN B07V6GV8XDThis will do all your streaming needs, you can connect tv up if required and it is well rated.
Add to that speakers (personal choice for me would be q acoustics) and you'd be set, just try to use speaker stands if possible

Ps- the marantz is marketed here as an av receiver, it's not, it's a stereo unit
 

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