Recommend me a small reasonable (sub £300) home Hi-fi

[Woody]

Guys,
With moving house shortly I'm having a bit of a clear-out.
I've decided that the 2 hi-fi systems I have are past their best and a bit out dated (a 16 year old Aiwa and 8 year old Samsung).
I'm looking for something with the following:

• small
• decent sound quality
• iPod dock/input
• CD
• DAB or conventional tuner (if DAB do I need any fancy aerial thingies???)
• Aux in for a turn table (yes, I still own and listen to vinyl....)
• reasonable price (i.e. max £300)

Not too fussed about brand or if it's seperates or one unit.
I always like the look of the small Acoustic Solutions seperates that Richer Sounds used to do - but they appear to not be available anymore.

So I'll leave it to the PH audiophiles to steer me in a direction

Cheers
Chris

[Crackie]

Denon DM38DAB £200
http://www.richersounds.com/product/mini-hifi-syst...
+
Acoustic Energy Neo £100
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Acoustic-Energy-Neo-1-V1-Bla...

[Woody]

Liking the look of the Denon.
Can you control the iPod from the remote or does it need a seperate dock/remote?

[Crackie]

Woody said:

Liking the look of the Denon.
Can you control the iPod from the remote or does it need a seperate dock/remote?

Dock needed I think
You not keen on the speakers ?? Good price, direct from factory.

[Woody]

Cheers,
Speakers look good - just trying to find some reviews on them.
Do you have any experience of these?

Also found the Yamaha CRX550 - the only difference I can see is the iPod dock.

http://www.richersounds.com/product/mini-hifi-syst...

[FlossyThePig]

Crackie said:

Woody said:

Liking the look of the Denon.
Can you control the iPod from the remote or does it need a seperate dock/remote?

Dock needed I think
You not keen on the speakers ?? Good price, direct from factory.

When I had a Google on this topic at lunch time I found reference to controlling the iPod using the remote when connected to the USB port.

[Crackie]

Woody said:

Cheers,
Speakers look good - just trying to find some reviews on them.
Do you have any experience of these?

Also found the Yamaha CRX550 - the only difference I can see is the iPod dock.

http://www.richersounds.com/product/mini-hifi-syst...

I've not heard the Neo 1 model but in my experience AE's products have well engineered drivers, well built cabinets and good crossover integration. Can't imagine anything else new improving on them for the money but listening to them yourself is the acid test.

[Woody]

FlossyThePig said:

Crackie said:

Woody said:

Liking the look of the Denon.
Can you control the iPod from the remote or does it need a seperate dock/remote?

Dock needed I think
You not keen on the speakers ?? Good price, direct from factory.

When I had a Google on this topic at lunch time I found reference to controlling the iPod using the remote when connected to the USB port.

Cheers for that - was hoping I could do without the dock as it's an extra £75.
Will see if I can get hold of the manual or pop into Richer Sounds next week and check.

They've also got a Yamaha that looks similar and has a built in dock:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/mini-hifi-syst...

Any thoughts on this one?

[Crackie]

Woody said:

Cheers for that - was hoping I could do without the dock as it's an extra £75.
Will see if I can get hold of the manual or pop into Richer Sounds next week and check.

They've also got a Yamaha that looks similar and has a built in dock:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/mini-hifi-syst...

Any thoughts on this one?

Denon have consistently been at or near the top of this market for years but Yamaha and TEAC also solid. The Yamaha in the link looks fine but I've not heard one.

[Seeker UK]

Any f the smaller TEACs work really well.

I have the CRH257 (which comes with a dock) as my bedroom system - they're no longer made but you should find one for sale somewhere as 'end of line' stock. You do need to buy some speakers for them but the cost would be well under £300.

I ran a pair of ProAc studio 140s to dem them and TBH, and it sounded great.

[Woody]

Seeker UK said:

Any f the smaller TEACs work really well.

I have the CRH257 (which comes with a dock) as my bedroom system - they're no longer made but you should find one for sale somewhere as 'end of line' stock. You do need to buy some speakers for them but the cost would be well under £300.

I ran a pair of ProAc studio 140s to dem them and TBH, and it sounded great.

Thanks, another one to add to the list.
Looks like Super-fi stock most of the ones I'm interested in so gonna check them out lunch time this week.

Thanks for all the info guys.

[Toffer]

With £300, ebay and some patience, you could have some real vintage proper quality hi-fi...you may be amazed at the sound you can enjoy from a decent tuner or CD (or even vinyl). Trouble is, you may be a bit disappointed with the sound when you plug your iPod in...I was! That said, the iPod is great for when you want some background noise and are not interested in listening to music...whilst eating or working in another room. The more expensive Apple devices do sound better plugged-in to my hi-fi, than my iPod NANO. It is a really neat and stylish device though...

[Crackie]

Toffer said:

With £300, ebay and some patience, you could have some real vintage proper quality hi-fi...you may be amazed at the sound you can enjoy from a decent tuner or CD (or even vinyl). Trouble is, you may be a bit disappointed with the sound when you plug your iPod in...I was! That said, the iPod is great for when you want some background noise and are not interested in listening to music...whilst eating or working in another room. The more expensive Apple devices do sound better plugged-in to my hi-fi, than my iPod NANO. It is a really neat and stylish device though...

I agree vintage can turn up some great bargains but the better micro systems ( Denon, TEAC ) are very capable and have output stages which can drive some very serious speakers imho. I have a Denon micro driving a pair of Impulse H2 horns in my dining room; a £299.00 micro has no right to sound that good. Vintage gear is also unlikely to come with much of a warranty, certainly not a warranty as good as the one which a new Denon, TEAC or Yamaha micro comes with.