Question Questions over Hi-Fi seperates vs Mini HiFi - Help please

Good morning,

Never heard them but assuming they live up to the many good reviews, they’re worth a risk - distance buying - unless you you can get to Audioaffair and listen. There’s a lot of connectivity built in too which would tick my boxes.
 
Then I wouldn't spend on separates or the LS50.

Russelkhan's suggestion to go for a Sonos (or equivalent) multi-room set-up probably makes the most sense, unless the idea does not appeal or you already have multi-room covered.


I don't think you could get much "clarity" or instrument separation with any speakers, positioned the way they are now, so before you spend your hard-earned cash I'd try moving them away from the sideboard. ;)

Yeah, multiroom doesn't appeal to us really mate to be fair. It will never be on. When I say music is always on in the house I don't mean all over the house. It is only kitchen/diner extension where we spend the most time where it will be on.

Ha I actually tried moving the speakers last night and I couldn't tell a difference.

I'm surprised you think it wouldn't sound any better going for separates then
 
I'm surprised you think it wouldn't sound any better going for separates then
I'm not saying it wouldn't sound any better, I only question the fact that you could tell the difference while moving about the house, not being seated in the "sweet spot" in a fairly quiet environment etc etc. ;)
 
P.S: maybe a very good soundbar (with bluetooth, wifi, etc etc), with or without an accompanying sub, would be better at spreading the sound into your room, helping separate the instruments amongst other things.
 
A few thoughts:

At its current price the SR250 is quite compelling for your situation. It has Spotify Connect so as long as you have a premium account, goodbye bluetooth. Should be better quality & no drain on the phone. It also has Internet radio. The implementation isn't great (I actually use an Echo Dot on mine) but if you're pretty much locked into a single station, that would be less of an issue. Dirac has already been touched on & while it doesn't require professional setup, it does require a fair bit of time & effort to both fully understand it & get the maximum benefit. You also get HDMI switching which may or may not be beneficial depending on what other devices get incorporated into the room. Downsides are it's VERY big so would probably be best hidden in that sideboard unit with an IR relay to control it.

With regard to your missus' aversion to floor standers, it may be worth showing her some examples finished in a matching veneer to the sideboard, assuming that's staying? Would look far less intimidating than your current black stands IMO. With a little bit of effort you could probably mock up something on the PC to show how it would actually look.

But as others have alluded to, if you're never going to sit down & listen critically, I do wonder if a simple upgrade to the all-in-one would suffice. Something like the Marantz MCR612, maybe even the 412 if you don't need CD.

One thing to bear in mind & I may have missed, does your TT have an inbuilt phone stage? The Arcam doesn't have one so you'd need an external pre-amp.
 
Do also have a look at this gem which I keep (inadvertently) plugging. It has most of the connectivity you’ll ever need, both physical and wireless of different variations. It also includes pre-out and a phono stage input although I haven’t tried either yet. It’s certainly not an Arcam but it sounds sweet is only £499.00 right now. Denon DRA-800H Stereo Network Receiver Review
 
Evening - Thread's 43,44, 53 & 54 make some very good points.

You say you listen to music "religiously" but how much of that time is actually yourself sat in front of the system ? Its not a criticism more advice as I'm in a similar situation as yourself, kids, busy life etc. I've spent around £1000 on upgrades in the last few months, however, my main source of music at the moment is downloaded LP's via headphones to iPhone.

Focus on the music the bands you're into and discovering new bands.
Let your missus and the kids enjoy their music plus sure you educate the kids in the decent stuff :D
Don't be too preoccupied with looking for a perfect sound or the guitarists 2nd note on the 3rd verse.

The Sonos options or another higher standard active speaker eg KEF LSX may be your solution.
 
Given you move around in the space and it's more background listening, thought about ceiling speakers? 4 of them over the area would likely create a very good effect? Worth having others with ceiling speakers chime in though, I've never had any but have thought about them before for my kitchen area.

E.g: 4 x KEF CI160QR ~£800

Amp/Streaming wise: A Yamaha RN803D for £600. Has outputs to drive the 4 speakers, built in MusicCast to cover streaming, and lastly even has room correction with YPAO!

Total spend at £1400 and I would think covers every base, and hopefully the 4 ceiling speakers will fill out the space better than a pair of speakers ever could?
 
Ceiling speakers requires major work and cutting holes and extra cabling adding to the cost. Pound for pound a traditional pair of speakers will still sound better than 4x ceiling speakers and will still be able to fill the space with sound. Alterations to the house should be declared to the insurance or at least mentioned to the insurance company if in doubt to be on the safe side. Then youve got the extra cost and hassle of fitting fire hoods and routing all the cables through under the floorboards and finding/ channeling a way to the amp. Not to mention health and safety, all the dust created in a family environment. If it's an older house you may need to get a specialist asbestos removal company.
Running two pairs of speakers will put extra strain on some amps, lowering the impedance, some amps will run hotter, some amps will be fine but a pair of speakers will always be easier to drive than 2 pairs for most amps.
 
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Agreed, re Ceiling speakers plus it starts becoming a house revamp then 🤣
 
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Hey guys, hope you are all well. As always, thank you for the advice. Yeah we don't want ceiling speakers. Maybe we should have put these in when we did the build originally but decided not too. Thanks for thinking about other options though.

We do just want a traditional hi-fi with speakers in the location where it is now.

I have resigned myself to waiting until Richer Sounds is open again locally to go in for a demo (we live in Leicester which is on local lockdown!!)

Will be demoing the kit mentioned if they have it. I know this takes a lot of time to do.

I will certainly reporting back on here though with what I find ! :)
 
Yep fair enough just thought be worth a mention.

It's an obvious one that's either going to work or it isn't. I was actually hoping the 'chime in' comments would have be useful information about how ceiling speakers compare with filing an area with sound, as opposed to the physical aspect which is of course beyond bleedingly obvious as to the work to be entailed 🙄

Anyway be interested what you go for.
 
Hi @DJTipster ,

Your thread really started a massive discussion. Wow! One thing I noticed is that in spite of all the suggestions, Unless I’m mistaken, you still want to focus your system, whatever it may turn out to be, at that position in your room that you showed us in that photo you uploaded. Makes me think that you may be best to simply upgrade your all in one to something like the Denon Ceol n 10 (I had a Ceol n 9 with Q acoustics Concept 20 Standmounts - very good combination) or a Marantz MCR 612. They can both be found with all in speaker packages at places like Peter Tyson. They have virtually anything you need in terms of source, connectivity etc, both ancient and modern. I haven’t heard the Marantz but my Ceol N 9 and those Concept 20s really used to sing. Just a thought.

Anyway, have fun with whatever you choose.
 
Lads, another one to chew the fat over over as I am about there in decision making after narrowing the list down even more...

some of you recommended Yamaha amps originally with built in network streaming/internet radio etc. So that got me thinking....would an AV receiver (as these normally have all these options built-in) be a decent enough path to go down?
 
I’m intrigued to know what your latest shortlist is now made up of.
 
I’m intrigued to know what your latest shortlist is now made up of.

Haha! I'm not saying yet until I know the answer to my question as an AV receiver has somehow made it on to my list ! 😂 😂 😂😂
 

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