What sound system do I want?
Discussion
Evening all,
I'm moving into my flat in a couple of weeks (hopefully) and would like to sort the sound system out. I admit I don't know a huge amount about music systems, aside from headphones, so hopefully someone can point me in the right direction. The system will be for the living room, which isn't very big but is open plan with the kitchen and dining area so I presume this will make a difference in terms of acoustics. I would like something that is good for movies and gaming, however is also good for music (ideally I would somehow be able to connect my laptop so I have access to I tunes). The budget will not be huge initially, say £300, but I don't mind buying second hand or buying a few components that I can add to at a later date as the budget grows.
Any help is much appreciated as always.
I'm moving into my flat in a couple of weeks (hopefully) and would like to sort the sound system out. I admit I don't know a huge amount about music systems, aside from headphones, so hopefully someone can point me in the right direction. The system will be for the living room, which isn't very big but is open plan with the kitchen and dining area so I presume this will make a difference in terms of acoustics. I would like something that is good for movies and gaming, however is also good for music (ideally I would somehow be able to connect my laptop so I have access to I tunes). The budget will not be huge initially, say £300, but I don't mind buying second hand or buying a few components that I can add to at a later date as the budget grows.
Any help is much appreciated as always.
I've been doing my research today and I've got a better idea of what I'm after. I think going second hand might be the way to go, and buy separates to build my own system. So a decent AV receiver, set of speakers and a sub would be all I'd need I assume (to begin with anyway). I think I might up my budget to £500ish as well to get a bit more quality.
I don't need anything hugely loud at the risk of upsetting neighbours, and I've always got headphones if I want to concentrate on my music. I just want a nice clear sound that can handle movies as well as music (which is a passion of mine) both for chilled out evenings and parties. One of my biggest concerns at the moment is the to layout the system, as the TV will be wall mounted and ideally I wouldn't want the sub 'cluttering' the place.
Any suggestions for what would suit?
I don't need anything hugely loud at the risk of upsetting neighbours, and I've always got headphones if I want to concentrate on my music. I just want a nice clear sound that can handle movies as well as music (which is a passion of mine) both for chilled out evenings and parties. One of my biggest concerns at the moment is the to layout the system, as the TV will be wall mounted and ideally I wouldn't want the sub 'cluttering' the place.
Any suggestions for what would suit?
ali4390 said:
danrc said:
if you have neighbours below you i'd stay away from a sub.
I will have neighbours below me so that's probably a good shout, I never thought about that! I'm assuming decent speakers will still produce acceptable bass?Subwoofers first appeared to put back the bass lost when using small main speakers. Now it seems to be used to make your furniture rattle from the SFX in the latest DVD/BD.
Whatever your budget is, use your ears to assess the sound before buying.
Watch out, you may end up on the ever increasing HiFi upgrade path.
Purpose built flats. To be honest I normally use headphones when listening to/producing music so having 'a banging bass system init bruv' isn't a big concern. I just hate listening to music/films when the bass is missing because of a bad system.
I'm going to try and head to a richer sounds store and have a chat to the sales people to see if the ycan help I think.
I'm going to try and head to a richer sounds store and have a chat to the sales people to see if the ycan help I think.
First question - music or movies predominantly?
If the first, stick with stereo. Much better chance of putting something decent together staying with two channels. Lack of a center speaker when playing TV/DVD through the stereo amp not such an issue in a smallish room when the system is chosen and set up sympathetically; howver music tends to sound a lot less focused through a 5+1 system.
Second question - are you willing to go second hand? If yes, your £500 or so will bring you a lot further and you might even land some equipment that you'd want to hang on to for longer than the 'gets you started in the new flat' phase, saving you money in the long term.
If the first, stick with stereo. Much better chance of putting something decent together staying with two channels. Lack of a center speaker when playing TV/DVD through the stereo amp not such an issue in a smallish room when the system is chosen and set up sympathetically; howver music tends to sound a lot less focused through a 5+1 system.
Second question - are you willing to go second hand? If yes, your £500 or so will bring you a lot further and you might even land some equipment that you'd want to hang on to for longer than the 'gets you started in the new flat' phase, saving you money in the long term.
I was in a similar situation with similar budget. I decided that music was my priority so purchased a cambridge audio 640a amp paired with Wharfedale diamond 9.something speakers. Cost me £230 for the both. Musically it sounds really good to me.
As the Cambridge Audio amp has lots of inputs I connected my sky+ box and PS3 to the amp using RCA interconnects to see how it went.
The results are good enough that I've decided that I don't need an AV amp and 5.1/7.1, I'm more than happy with the clarity and ooomph whilst watching HD TV or blu-rays on the PS3.
As the Cambridge Audio amp has lots of inputs I connected my sky+ box and PS3 to the amp using RCA interconnects to see how it went.
The results are good enough that I've decided that I don't need an AV amp and 5.1/7.1, I'm more than happy with the clarity and ooomph whilst watching HD TV or blu-rays on the PS3.
Look in the second hand section of the Hifi forums. You will get a far, far better system and it will be worth what you paid for it when you sell. £500 will get you a good system. Go for a pair of bookshelf speakers on a pair of stands, amp, CD player. Buy reasonable cables/speaker cable (ie not freebie stuff) but don't go mad.
Don't worry about not being able to listen to first: 1) You will be buying at around 25% of RRP so it should be good 2) Take a quick look at online reviews to check for nasties 3) you can flog it with near zero loss.
Welcome to the world of 'recycling' rich enthusiasts’ kit!
Don't worry about not being able to listen to first: 1) You will be buying at around 25% of RRP so it should be good 2) Take a quick look at online reviews to check for nasties 3) you can flog it with near zero loss.
Welcome to the world of 'recycling' rich enthusiasts’ kit!
0a said:
Look in the second hand section of the Hifi forums. You will get a far, far better system and it will be worth what you paid for it when you sell. £500 will get you a good system. Go for a pair of bookshelf speakers on a pair of stands, amp, CD player. Buy reasonable cables/speaker cable (ie not freebie stuff) but don't go mad.
Don't worry about not being able to listen to first: 1) You will be buying at around 25% of RRP so it should be good 2) Take a quick look at online reviews to check for nasties 3) you can flog it with near zero loss.
Welcome to the world of 'recycling' rich enthusiasts’ kit!
so true . every time i used to visit a friend he woud have changed some piece of kit Don't worry about not being able to listen to first: 1) You will be buying at around 25% of RRP so it should be good 2) Take a quick look at online reviews to check for nasties 3) you can flog it with near zero loss.
Welcome to the world of 'recycling' rich enthusiasts’ kit!
900T-R said:
If you're totally blank about what hifi to get, you could do worse than to visit the Hifi Wigwam show in Melton Mowbray (Scalford Hall Hotel) on March 4th. All members' systems, from vintage to new, from beer budget to the aspirational. 
I exhibited my budget system there last year. One place I would recommend is Cash Generator..... seriously, they give a 3-12 month warranty, they appear to not always know what they have for example I paid £30 for a Cambridge audio A2, £30 for JPW ML510 speakers and £40 for a Sony Mini disk deck.
Other second hand bargains include a Marantz CD63K Signature edition CD player for £75 off a car forum ;-)
Other second hand bargains include a Marantz CD63K Signature edition CD player for £75 off a car forum ;-)
Thanks for all the replies.
Music would be my priority and I have no problem buying second hand at all. I would feel slightly more confident about doing that now as I've read and researched a lot over the last couple of days and am starting to get a feel for what brands etc to go for and stay away from.
Off to the HiFi for sale section it is...
Music would be my priority and I have no problem buying second hand at all. I would feel slightly more confident about doing that now as I've read and researched a lot over the last couple of days and am starting to get a feel for what brands etc to go for and stay away from.
Off to the HiFi for sale section it is...
Are you looking to put a 5.1 system together (so 5 speaker surround sound with a subwoofer etc) or do you just want a good 2 channel system to hook up to your tv for better audio.
I have a bit of experience in this field so might be able to give you some pointers
What I would say is that a subwoofer doesn't necessarily mean oodles of thumping bass, the best setup sub in a home av system is one you that you don't know exists until you turn it off
£300 will get you a v good stereo system and I reckon a half decent old av system.
For example, an old set of tannoy M2's with the matching centre ( very important) plus some mission dipole surrounds would probably be had for £120 then an onkyo/Sony hdmi based receiver like the 605 is probably another £150 then a bit for wires and your away.
Similarly on the stereo front you cannot beat an arcam from yesteryear like the a85 or maybe an older FMJ coupled to some monitor audio silver range and it's smiles for miles.
Let us know your requirements and tastes and I'll see what I can dig up
I have a bit of experience in this field so might be able to give you some pointers
What I would say is that a subwoofer doesn't necessarily mean oodles of thumping bass, the best setup sub in a home av system is one you that you don't know exists until you turn it off
£300 will get you a v good stereo system and I reckon a half decent old av system.
For example, an old set of tannoy M2's with the matching centre ( very important) plus some mission dipole surrounds would probably be had for £120 then an onkyo/Sony hdmi based receiver like the 605 is probably another £150 then a bit for wires and your away.
Similarly on the stereo front you cannot beat an arcam from yesteryear like the a85 or maybe an older FMJ coupled to some monitor audio silver range and it's smiles for miles.
Let us know your requirements and tastes and I'll see what I can dig up
Thanks for the help Onedesi.
To be honest I am not 100% sure what I am after. Ideally I want something that will primarily be used for music, but can also provide a good 'cinema' sound experience for movies and games.
I admit I would like a subwoofer as in my experience, like you say, you don't neccessarily notice it until it's turned off and then you realise what a big difference it made even if the bass wasn't disintergrating your ear drums.
One of my biggest concerns is how to actually lay the system out in the room. The lounge (pictures taken from the advert) looks like
so it looks like it could get cluttered quite easily with speakers and wires etc everywhere.
Any ideas based on the above?
To be honest I am not 100% sure what I am after. Ideally I want something that will primarily be used for music, but can also provide a good 'cinema' sound experience for movies and games.
I admit I would like a subwoofer as in my experience, like you say, you don't neccessarily notice it until it's turned off and then you realise what a big difference it made even if the bass wasn't disintergrating your ear drums.
One of my biggest concerns is how to actually lay the system out in the room. The lounge (pictures taken from the advert) looks like
so it looks like it could get cluttered quite easily with speakers and wires etc everywhere.
Any ideas based on the above?
Not convinced you need a sub there TBH - the size and layout of the room indicates you'll be fighting with excess bass rather than needing more of it.
Personally I'd seek out something like old Snell speakers (currently manufactured in an upgraded form under the Audio Note brand) on some decent stands provided you can stomach the pedestrian looks. Smallish floorstanders would look a lot nicer to look at, but especially on the budget end of the 'serious' hifi market they'd probably make a rather undefined mess of the bass. A pair of Rega R3/RS3 or similar may work, though.
What sources would you need in addition to TV/dvd/games sound - cd, radio, vinyl, streaming/iPod dock,...?
If you can whittle it down to just cd and amp, there seems to be a steady supply of the older style, shoebox-sized Audio Note Zero gear (normally wearing a four figure price tag per box) on Ebay and the hifi forums for something like 250-300 notes per box. It's valve gear, but the 6111WA output tubes on them last a decade even if you never switch the gear off, which leaves the power amp output tubes which tend to last 5 years+ and are peestiran enough in nature not to cost more than a few tenners. It's nice and tidy to look at being a unified half width size, and provides entry level high end music reproduction (probably beyond a fair few disgustingly expensive contenders I could name). Might be worth looking into.
Personally I'd seek out something like old Snell speakers (currently manufactured in an upgraded form under the Audio Note brand) on some decent stands provided you can stomach the pedestrian looks. Smallish floorstanders would look a lot nicer to look at, but especially on the budget end of the 'serious' hifi market they'd probably make a rather undefined mess of the bass. A pair of Rega R3/RS3 or similar may work, though.
What sources would you need in addition to TV/dvd/games sound - cd, radio, vinyl, streaming/iPod dock,...?
If you can whittle it down to just cd and amp, there seems to be a steady supply of the older style, shoebox-sized Audio Note Zero gear (normally wearing a four figure price tag per box) on Ebay and the hifi forums for something like 250-300 notes per box. It's valve gear, but the 6111WA output tubes on them last a decade even if you never switch the gear off, which leaves the power amp output tubes which tend to last 5 years+ and are peestiran enough in nature not to cost more than a few tenners. It's nice and tidy to look at being a unified half width size, and provides entry level high end music reproduction (probably beyond a fair few disgustingly expensive contenders I could name). Might be worth looking into.
It may be worth having a look on the Sevenoaks website as they are currently shifting some warehouse stock up to 80% off. I had a very quick nose over it while I was waiting for somebody to turn up to a meeting but saw they had amps and bits available so maybe worth a look.
http://marketing.sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk/new...
As others have stated, it really depends on what you want most from your system. If you want the full 5.1 surround sound experience then you'll need an AV receiver to drive it all. If you're just after something to improve the noise from TV speakers when playing games or watching movies then maybe a stereo amp would be ok for you.
I used to have a reasonable 5.1 setup which comprised of 5 smallish satellite speakers. It sounded great for movies and games but it wasn't fantastic for music to be honest. For it to sound good you had to really crank it up and then it only sounded 'good' because it was loud and the bass was very boomy so on reflection, it wasn't very good at all.
My current setup uses 2 floorstanders, a large centre speaker, a pair of large bookshelf rear speakers and a sub. I'm not really comparing like with like, but I find that using the large speakers I don't have to crank the volume up to hear them, the quality is better and the noise is far less intrusive. Because of the size of the speakers, I could get away with not having a sub as these produce enough, something which in my opinion you can't really do with smaller satellite speakers. If you decide you can't have a sub because of the neighbours below you, it may be worth focusing (to start with) on getting the right amp and a pair of floorstanders and something to unleash the music collection from your computer with.
http://marketing.sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk/new...
As others have stated, it really depends on what you want most from your system. If you want the full 5.1 surround sound experience then you'll need an AV receiver to drive it all. If you're just after something to improve the noise from TV speakers when playing games or watching movies then maybe a stereo amp would be ok for you.
I used to have a reasonable 5.1 setup which comprised of 5 smallish satellite speakers. It sounded great for movies and games but it wasn't fantastic for music to be honest. For it to sound good you had to really crank it up and then it only sounded 'good' because it was loud and the bass was very boomy so on reflection, it wasn't very good at all.
My current setup uses 2 floorstanders, a large centre speaker, a pair of large bookshelf rear speakers and a sub. I'm not really comparing like with like, but I find that using the large speakers I don't have to crank the volume up to hear them, the quality is better and the noise is far less intrusive. Because of the size of the speakers, I could get away with not having a sub as these produce enough, something which in my opinion you can't really do with smaller satellite speakers. If you decide you can't have a sub because of the neighbours below you, it may be worth focusing (to start with) on getting the right amp and a pair of floorstanders and something to unleash the music collection from your computer with.
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