c. £250, CD player, decent sound for a small living room

[TVR Sagaris]

I'm sure there's been a similar topic in the past so sorry for the repetition although I think this may be slightly unusual given how rare CDs are these days.

I need a soundsystem for my c. 10ft by 15ft living room. I need a CD player (I'm old fashioned) but also ideally a laptop-connection (I don't mind if it's just through a jack output). I have absolutely no idea where to start - do I put something together myself (amp etc), or buy a package?

I've put a fairly arbitrary figure of £250 on it but I don't mind spending more than that, nor do I mind buying something secondhand. It needs to be reasonably bassy.

All suggestions welcomed.

[Sharted]

At this price point you could do OK at Richer Sounds.

Their Cambridge gear is pretty good.

[probedb]

Anything at that price will be fine, Richer Sounds is a good call. If you want more bass then turn the bass up on your amp. The CD player shouldn't be altering the sound, you use the tone controls or EQ for that.

[selym]

Secondhand is the way to go, in my humble opinion. You can build a pretty decent starter system for £250-300, as long as you choose carefully. Sign up to the hi-fi forums, perhaps Hi-Fi Wigwam, and ask the same question there.

[P700DEE]

Why not use the laptop as your CD player and for streaming. Get a decent USB Dac and away you go. (Decent DACs are £100 )If your total budget is £250 go second hand especially for speakers.

[selym]

P700DEE said:

Why not use the laptop as your CD player and for streaming. Get a decent USB Dac and away you go. (Decent DACs are £100 )If your total budget is £250 go second hand especially for speakers.

That's a decent idea. If you go the way of a DAC you can get a transport of any kind for cheap. As regards DACs, I have always been impressed with Beresford's offerings. I'm not sure what the latest iteration is, but it's worth looking for a 2nd hand one.

[TVR Sagaris]

Thanks for the help. So ignoring the CD player question for a minute (I would prefer a standalone player but as you say I can get round that fairly easily), this http://www.richersounds.com/product/amplifiers-rec... and these http://www.richersounds.com/product/standmount-spe... get good reviews at this price and I could have a proper look/listen at Richersounds as suggested.

Any better options?

[Crackie]

selym said:

P700DEE said:

Why not use the laptop as your CD player and for streaming. Get a decent USB Dac and away you go. (Decent DACs are £100 )If your total budget is £250 go second hand especially for speakers.

That's a decent idea. If you go the way of a DAC you can get a transport of any kind for cheap. As regards DACs, I have always been impressed with Beresford's offerings. I'm not sure what the latest iteration is, but it's worth looking for a 2nd hand one.

I like that plan too............

Laptop to feed this £90.00 DAC

http://nwavguy.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/odac-release...
http://epiphany-acoustics.co.uk/products-page/dacs...

to one of these £190.00 amps

http://hifipig.com/temple-audio-bantam-gold-integr...

and a pair of these

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Denon-by-Mission-SC-M5K-...

[TonyRPH]

My suggestions:

Amp options:

Tibo Amp410 with Bluetooth 2x50w - £115

or (better option)

Pioneer A10 2x50w (4 ohms) - £129

CD Player:

Tibo CD420 - £89.90

or (better option)

Pioneer PD10 with USB - £174

Speakers:

Wharfedale 9.1 - £99.95

You'll probably need some decent stands for the speakers, so factor in another £100 or so if that's the case.

The Wharfedale speakers are 6 ohms - so you'll probably be looking at around 40w per channel with the above amps - more than enough for the size if your room.

ETA: Forgot the DAC - Muse Mini 192Khz 24Bit Coaxial Optical USB Input DAC - £32

Edited by TonyRPH on Wednesday 22 October 11:12

[Funk]

selym said:

P700DEE said:

Why not use the laptop as your CD player and for streaming. Get a decent USB Dac and away you go. (Decent DACs are £100 )If your total budget is £250 go second hand especially for speakers.

That's a decent idea. If you go the way of a DAC you can get a transport of any kind for cheap. As regards DACs, I have always been impressed with Beresford's offerings. I'm not sure what the latest iteration is, but it's worth looking for a 2nd hand one.

A USB soundcard would be perfect for this. The built-in soundcards/jacks on laptops are usually shocking so avoid that route.

I have a Creative X-Fi HD USB soundcard which was about £80 and sounds great. The Asus Xonar also gets very good reviews so may be worth a look too.

At this price point I doubt even highly-trained ears could spot significant audio differences between a CD played from the laptop through an external soundcard and a £200-250 CD player...

[legzr1]

Almost new at less than £250:


http://www.hifiwigwam.com/showthread.php?110996-Ya...

[Golaboots]

Interesting thread.
I was in a similar position looking to upgrade the sounds from my PC/Amp set up.

Initially I bought a budget (but great sounding) CD player - I'm also old fashioned enough to use them.
This website is worth a read, especially if you're handy with a soldering iron:
http://lampizator.eu/LAMPIZATOR/CD_ALPHABETICAL.ht...

Essentially most CD players are alright but the DAC and output stage make the largest difference. Buying a cheap one that has a good DAC and applying his valve circuit to the output is a decent plan.
The Philips 753 is a good base for this being super cheap on ebay with plenty of space inside and a well regarded DAC.

I also bought this USB DAC which is very well regarded for the price. The case is cheap and nasty, all the cost goes to the receiver and dac chips which are usually found in far more expensive models.

http://hifimediy.com/sabre-dac-uae23

That lot leaves a fair chunk left for an amp and speakers.

[Funk]

Yet the DAC then uses a 3.5mm jack which completely negates the spec of the innards..?

[Golaboots]

What's so bad about a jack plug? It's only got to deal with 2v rms and next to no current.

[legzr1]

If you're prepared to add harmonic distortions from in-line valves to an output stage I'd guess the output jack implementation would be the least of your worries

[TVR Sagaris]

Appreciate the advice and suggestions. I can see the advantages of buying secondhand from Ebay but it also seems to have become such a hassle now (especially with something that could easily end up being damaged/not as described) so I'm wary.

[CoolHands]

I bought an older Arcam cd player secondhand off av forums. Lovely sound, decent make, and basically older cd players don't go for much money so I'd do the same again.