Set Up for around £2k

Sneepjosh

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I have been planning to buy a Hi-Fi i the summer and have been looking at buying from richer sounds as i know some staff and will get a discount. I have a budget of around £2k. I have been looking at:

Cambridge Audio Azur 740c CD player (£300)
Cambridge Audio Azur 840a V2 stereo amplifier (£750)
Cambridge Audio 640p phone pre-amp (£80)
Mordaunt Short Mezzo 8 floor-standing speakers (£1000)

I don't know if i need this pre amp will it improve sound quality? Otherwise any suggestions on the line up? Any improvements on parts or does it look fine?

Cheers, Josh
 
I have been planning to buy a Hi-Fi i the summer and have been looking at buying from richer sounds as i know some staff and will get a discount. I have a budget of around £2k. I have been looking at:

Cambridge Audio Azur 740c CD player (£300)
Cambridge Audio Azur 840a V2 stereo amplifier (£750)
Cambridge Audio 640p phone pre-amp (£80)
Mordaunt Short Mezzo 8 floor-standing speakers (£1000)

I don't know if i need this pre amp will it improve sound quality? Otherwise any suggestions on the line up? Any improvements on parts or does it look fine?

Cheers, Josh

I think the 640P is a Phono-Pre Amp (for turntables) - You havent mentioned a turntable so I'm guessing the system won't have one? If not then you have no need for the 640P as far as I'm aware.
 
Is your room large? If not then I would get the mezzo 6's and an 840c instead.
 
sounds like a good idea but i'm a drum and base fan, also like my RnB and dance. Would the loss of the two bass cones from the 8 to the 6 still be able to handle the bass and still give the all round experience?
 
You'll only be losing one bass driver. In a regular sized room the 6's should be plenty.
 
CAMBRIDGE AUDIO AZUR-740A-SIL at Richer Sounds - HI-FI Separates, Home Cinema, Speakers, MP3 DVD Portables, Plasma LCD, etc. that's a bargain if you can get one.

Although I can't help you with the speakers since richer sounds don't exactly carry the widest range of speakers but I am sure you will be impressed with that is there, demo a few of the Mezzo's. Also (don't laugh) demo the Tannoy F4's because yes i know they are now 150.00 but that represents an absolute bargain. I am going on the assumption that they have that one of course.
 
i have been looking at the 840c cd player and the 840a v2 amplifier and they can be connected through phono or through XLR, which one out of those two would give a better connection because i know XLR does high mid and low whereas phono just does all through one cable. what do you think?
 
sounds like a good idea but i'm a drum and base fan, also like my RnB and dance. Would the loss of the two bass cones from the 8 to the 6 still be able to handle the bass and still give the all round experience?

I'd go for fewer, better quality cones to be honest.

For £1,000 you could get some top-notch standmounts (particularly if you buy second hand or ex-demo) and a BK XLS200 sub (for example) that would give you more bass than you can shake a stick at!
 
Demo the Kef IQ 30's, they have fantastic kick and clarity, you can't get them from richer sounds but are well worth hearing. In fact for a regular sized room these would be perfect as they can also go extremely loud with distortion.
 
I would get as much of the CA 840 range as I could afford and then match a speaker.
 
I'd go for fewer, better quality cones to be honest.

For £1,000 you could get some top-notch standmounts (particularly if you buy second hand or ex-demo) and a BK XLS200 sub (for example) that would give you more bass than you can shake a stick at!

I agree completely! When you buy second hand you are able to get "more or better" for the same price. I don't know if this is an option for you?
 
I would suggest that you have a look around a few dealers for ex-dem gear, you have a chance of getting a lot more for your money.

If you feel you would prefer to buy new, which is understandable, the search out a few dealers and have a listen to something like the Rega apollo/Mira.and Rs3's or Rs5's. The bass may not go as deep, (although having heard some Mezzo's, (6 or 8) in a brief visit into Richers the other day) the probably do, they certainly make a hell of a lot more sense of what is going on at the bottom end. Much more impact, very tuneful, they start and stop on a sixpence, and make it easy to sort out what instrument is doing what.
 
I would suggest going 2nd hand with this price range, you will get a hell of a lot more sound for your pennies.

My 4yr old ATC standmounts cost £500 (£1200 RRP), and my amp cost me £600 and now actually retails towards the £1700 mark.

Check out the avi labs series integrated amp at around £800, they can be found especially on ebay, maybe their matching cd player at around £500, leaving you £15 for some speaker cable and about £700 for some very very capable standmounts and heavy duty stands.

I can't say for certain, but I'm confident that a 2nd hand system of that calibre will make the CA + MS system you specced up sound very ordinary indeed.
 
+1 for the second hand route. All my Hi-Fi equipment was bought from Ebay, and is like new, I have...

Xbox + Pink Triangle Ordinal Dac - I paid £124. Cost new £1000.
Technics SUA900mk2 Amp - I paid £60. Cost new £500.
Mission 752 freedom floorstanders - I paid £150. Cost new £580.
XLO Reference speaker cable - I paid £40 for 4 metres. Cost new £100+ per metre.

Basically I spent around £374 for nearly £2500 worth of equipment. So for 2k on the second hand market you should be able to get a fairly high end setup.

Obviously buying preowned does have it's drawbacks. It can be very time consuming tracking down the right deals, and you don't get a warranty. There's always the risk that the goods aren't in good condition. However, if you do your homework and stay savvy, you should be fine.

Buy from old people, they tend to take care of their kit and never drive it hard.
 
how do i know if a product is in good condition though, apart from the outside condition? Wont amps, CD players and speakers get worse with time or do they get better? And theoretically isn't new technology better than old?

(i have always been into my music but i have never actually purchased a HiFi so i am kind of new at this, also being 18 years old i haven't got the money for it to go wrong)
 
Some stuff has moved on, other not, but not in huge leaps. Being that it is your first system, and like all of us need to get it right, why not have a look for local dealers. Tell us where you are, we may have some suggestions. Ring up, or call in for a chat, tell them what you are looking for aand arrange a demo or 3. Turn up with a few well known discs and LISTEN, to the kit much more than to the dealer till you get to know him.
 
how do i know if a product is in good condition though, apart from the outside condition? Wont amps, CD players and speakers get worse with time or do they get better? And theoretically isn't new technology better than old?

There is always the risk, but most hi-fi equipment isn't bought by young kids, or thrown around and abused. Hi-fi kit generally treated like an extra child and every piece of 2nd hand equipment has always been in great nick for me. My first amp was a 10+yr old arcam delta 290 that I bought about 3yrs ago. It's still going strong even with a bashed up case.

Technology hasn't advanced that much, for example I'm using a £12 marantz cd-63 cd player (bought it broken and fixed it), and with a few select modifications it sounded better than all these £300 entry level players. For example a 3-5 yr old amp for £500 that cost over £1k when new will be better than some overpriced and brand new NAD around the £500 mark.

It is harder to audition 2nd hand kit and sometimes find it, but the rewards really are worth it.

(i have always been into my music but i have never actually purchased a HiFi so i am kind of new at this, also being 18 years old i haven't got the money for it to go wrong)


I started at 19 with my 2nd hand hi-fi hobby (now nearly 24) and when I upgrade again from this kit I will probably still buy some 2nd hand parts as there are massiv savings to be had over RRP. Plus the pound is very weak these days so prices willl have gone up.
 

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