Newbie looking for first setup

CJ1892

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Hi, sorry if I am posting in the wrong place but I am new and need to really get my finger out and get myself sorted with a half decent home audio setup.

So any advice gratefully received I hope to get something to start for 300 or under, is this realistic?
 
Whilst £300 is not a vast amount of money you can put together a decent basic system for that amount :

The DENON X500 AVR (£120) + Tannoy SFX 5.1 (£170) speakers come in at around £290.

Denon AVR - Denon AVRX500 Black | AV Receiver | Richer Sounds
Tannoy SFX - Tannoy SFX5.1 Black | 5.1 Speaker Package | Richer Sounds

Alternately if you can stretch a bit look at the Boston Accoustics SOUNDWARE XS SE (£200) - Boston SOUNDWARE XS SE Black | 5.1 Speaker Package | Richer Sounds

Paired with the Denon they will be around £320 and that would probably be my choice at that price point.

Depending on how many HDMI sources you have and want to connect you may also want to look at the Pioneer VSX 323 AVR (£140) - Pioneer VSX323 Black | AV Receiver | Richer Sounds. Both this and the Denon have 4 HDMI inputs but on the Pioneer they are all rear mounted whereas the Denon had 1 front pannel HDMI input.

This is great for connecting occasional equipment but not that great if you need 4 items permanently connected.

The Pioneer VS323 + Boston Accoustics are the most expensive option at £340.

You have to factor in a few quid for speaker cable as well of course.

Hope that this helps.
 
Are you looking at AV receivers and surround sound setups or more interested in a stereo setup?
 
Sorry for the delay and thanks so much for replying. Due to the size of my place I think a combined setup which would run my TV etc through as well as being good enough to hook up my media player FLAC files. The question would be do I need a DAC if they were being played via my phone or computer.

However looks like I have a set up if I can arrange shipping/collection. If that sells prior to my arranging something I will still have to look elsewhere.
 
Whether you need a DAC or a device that incorporates one will depend upon how you intend to connect the source devices or devices being used to access audio over a network. If using analogue audio connections then no, if using digital connections then yes you will need a DAC.

The issue isn't so much what you want to connect, but more what you want to do with the audio oncee connected. You can connect all the devices you list to either a stereo or a multichannel setup, but if only wanting stereo audio then you'll get better stereo performance for your money with a dedicated stereo setup. A multichannel AV receiver will enable you to just use two speakers and use it as a stereo amp, but it will not perform as well as a dedicated stereo amplifier when it comes to the quality of its stereo performance.


If wanting something that has reasonable stereo performance and digital inputs then maybe something like the Denon DRA-N5 Ceol Piccolo would suffice?

Denon DRA-N5 Ceol Piccolo with SC-N5

This also has inbuilt network audio player capabilities.
 

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