First pad requiring budget friendly Hi-Fi!

[T.redders]

Evening guys!

I have just purchased my first house, with a moving date next week! Mega excited, although with an ever growing list of items that need fixing up or re-doing on my week off, I am trying to formulate a plan of action!

Scrolling through my list of must buy and must fix, a decent Hi-Fi is in order for parties and general listening!

I am a single guy, who is into his music, anything ranging from Brit-pop/Rock to old hip-hop would be my desired taste in music.

I am looking for:

- A set-up *around +/-* £300
- Aux connection
- DAB would be handy although I can use the AUX (via iphone)
- Speaker/amp separates
- Strong bass
- Clear
- CD is not necessary

I appreciate that £300 is most probably towards to very low end of the market, more reason for my question to you all, but I feel I can do better than a typical BOSE Dock or similar. I am very open to styles etc.. as I have a minimalistic theme going on, the hi-fi would be great as a focal piece if something sleek or funky fitted the bill.


Many thanks to ANY opinions!

[philv]

Have a look at www.hifiwigwam.com.

Very good prices on used gear in tne classifieds.

Very helpful lot.
You'll get the best out of your 300 spending on used gear there.

[RedWhiteMonkey]

http://www.richersounds.com/package/system-savers/...

[anonymous-user]

This should be nice, plus has a DAC

http://m.richersounds.com/#!/product/PAH012913

[Ultuous]

I'd second something like the above -add in a Chromecast Audio (15 quid last I looked) and you should have a very nice inexpensive setup!

[Fermit The Krog and Sarah Sexy]

I would suggest the following, eBay will sell the bits within budget I'm sure: Arcam Alpha 7 CD player, Arcam Alpha 7 amplifier, and Kef Q15 or Mission 760 speakers. Will fit your brief and give you great sound quality for the money.

[INWB]

Fermit The Krog and Sarah Sexy said:

I would suggest the following, eBay will sell the bits within budget I'm sure: Arcam Alpha 7 CD player, Arcam Alpha 7 amplifier, and Kef Q15 or Mission 760 speakers. Will fit your brief and give you great sound quality for the money.

Yep this. You may also want to look at an old pair of B&W 602's - stonking bass (warm sound and not as neutral as the Kefs but still cracking)

[T.redders]

Fermit The Krog and Sarah Sexy said:

I would suggest the following, eBay will sell the bits within budget I'm sure: Arcam Alpha 7 CD player, Arcam Alpha 7 amplifier, and Kef Q15 or Mission 760 speakers. Will fit your brief and give you great sound quality for the money.

Cant believe how cheap the amplifier is on Ebay, around £20! Would I be able to drive the speakers without the 7CD player and only use the amp, entirely from an aesthetics point of view, I am not too keen on the changer and would generally use AUX.

INWB said:

Yep this. You may also want to look at an old pair of B&W 602's - stonking bass (warm sound and not as neutral as the Kefs but still cracking)

Thanks for the replies so far chaps!

Really liking the look of the B&W 602's, seems there are a few for sale, mostly collection only and a bit too far away, am going to hold out for a few days and see what appears.

Also, thanks for the pre-packages above, if I cant source the parts I am after I will head in store I think.

Any more suggestions or anyone selling their kit welcome

[Fermit The Krog and Sarah Sexy]

T.redders said:

Fermit The Krog and Sarah Sexy said:

I would suggest the following, eBay will sell the bits within budget I'm sure: Arcam Alpha 7 CD player, Arcam Alpha 7 amplifier, and Kef Q15 or Mission 760 speakers. Will fit your brief and give you great sound quality for the money.

Cant believe how cheap the amplifier is on Ebay, around £20! Would I be able to drive the speakers without the 7CD player and only use the amp, entirely from an aesthetics point of view, I am not too keen on the changer and would generally use AUX.

INWB said:

Yep this. You may also want to look at an old pair of B&W 602's - stonking bass (warm sound and not as neutral as the Kefs but still cracking)

Thanks for the replies so far chaps!

Really liking the look of the B&W 602's, seems there are a few for sale, mostly collection only and a bit too far away, am going to hold out for a few days and see what appears.

Also, thanks for the pre-packages above, if I cant source the parts I am after I will head in store I think.

Any more suggestions or anyone selling their kit welcome

The 602's are also a very good speaker. I've only ever used my set ups (of which many years ago was an Arcam 7 set up) so couldn't conf your question - this said though Arcam (historically at least) offered excellent support services, they should take a call from you to advise. Failing this search for one of the UK hi-fi forums and ask the question, they should know for sure. Another benefit of the Arcam stuff is upgrade paths (presuming still offered) for the CD for EG you could pay to upgrade it overtime all the way to an Alpha 10, a pretty serious CD player.

[bungz]

When I had my own pad I had a pair of S2 602's with a NAD 320BEE amp.

Propper set up, not soft sounding but the amp compliments the speakers very well.

Absolutely the best £150ish I have ever spent and will never part with them even if they are in the loft for the minute

[phil_cardiff]

Richer Sounds have a bargain basement section where they sell their ex-demo stuff, that's worth a look. Picked up a Cambridge Audio 640a amp for £130 when it was near £400 new. Not a bad little amp.

[RicharDC5]

If you're still looking (and can up the budget slightly) I bought one of these a few months ago which I'd be happy to recommend http://exceptional-av.co.uk/marantz-pm6005-zensor-...

Sounds really nice even using the aux to connect to my laptop. The amp is quite big though.

[craigjm]

At that price point I would bin the seperates idea and go and have a look at the Ruark Audio R3. Gives you Bluetooth streaming, Internet radio, DAB, network ability, Spotify native and will link to your TV etc should you want a 2.1 system.

[Type R Tom]

My tip would be set an eBay reminder for a load of different amp and speakers that take your fancy. Then keep an eye on "pick up only" or ones local to you so you can save the delivery charge. With pick up only you can get some real bargains with hifi equipment (and in particular floor stand speakers) because they are heavy and people can't be bothered to post.

My best bargain was a Cambridge Audio amp for £12 which Richer Sounds still sell for over £150 new. It was in the middle of the countryside so limited audience but you get my point.