Which audio?

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Elite Baiter Joined: 02 Jul 2006 Posts: 1702

Its er inddors birthday soon and im looking to replace her broken cd mini hifi with something a little more substantial.

I was thinking cambridge audio cd/tuner/amp and bookshelf speakers but i think theres better out there any ideas ?

It must have cd, radio, and an amp of course. and no plastic stuff, price range upto around 250 per item but not too much over it.

help lol, she thinks ive forgotten so shes gonna get a surprise. (its not till march so i got to get it soon)

Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 1:37 pm

cambridge soundworks makes some awsome and reasonably priced stuff you wont go wrond there

Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 4:48 pm

I like B+O front end stuff being driven by Mcintosh amps.

http://www.bang-olufsen.com/page.asp?id=36
http://www.mcintoshstore.com/

The B+O CD changer has black plastic on it. Maybe you don't want it. The technology is old but its claim to fame is that the labels are upright and legible when they are at rest. The amps come raw but for $15 you can get a wooden case. The entire kit will go for over your limit but its all much cheaper now. I used to spend $10 per watt per channel, just for the amps.

Four Christmas seasons ago, my boy asked me for a CD boombox. Please don't spend too much, he said. I asked if he truly needed portability. He said no. I told him, lets get a combo changer. For the cost of a high end boom box, I got a 3 CD changer that also plays MP3 data files and displays title information. Its possible to get about 100 songs on a CD so it plays 300 songs in a row. I took it apart and found a high end, fan cooled, 200 watt audio card originally intended for a computer. Since its all digital, the audio spectrum control capabilities are amazing. I ditched the plastic 2 way speakers and tried them out with 2 way JBL's but settled on some wooden 3 way JVC bookshelf speakers from a post Christmas sale. The entire setup was under $250 and it sounds just fine for a bedroom. Too much power actually.The next two years he hooked a laptop and a portable hard drive to it and played Mr. DJ at dances. For a living room or family room, I would suggest a $200 home theater in a box and add a $50 CD player. That would get you 5.1 audio, great sound but black plastic.

Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 5:03 pm

Rotel RA04 Amp: Amp
NAD C525BEE CD player: NAD
EPOS ELS 3 Speakers: EOPS
Denon TU1800DAB-BLK Digital Tuner: Denon

I have a mate with this setup, all components are on or under �250 and your other half will love you for this as the sound is incredible, don't skimp on speaker cable whatever you do though.
There is a bit of 'plastic stuff' but you ain't going to get better for the money.

Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 5:21 pm

Rodus wrote:

don't skimp on speaker cable whatever you do though

No no no! Spend your money on speakers first. A rough rule of thumb is to use about 50% of your budget on quality speakers alone. They aren't buying a �10000 system, this is a �1000 set. Any off-the-shelf cable will do its job just fine.

Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 5:35 pm

^^Sorry but I disagree there, a cheap (�2-�3) set of speaker cables from the local car boot will degrade the sound, I wouldn't spend under �20 here.

Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 10:30 pm

Interesting progression for this thread. I've misread the OP. I thought it was supposed to be under $250 tops. Now I understand it to be in pounds and per piece. Oh... I've also been rethinking my use of audio.
Lets talk about speaker cables. I was once one for larger is better. Voltage drop and all that. I have lots of EEs in the family and they all understand exactly what is in a speaker. Guess what? Its not Monster Cable. We've run AB testing with real components and real AB switches. We've used Macintosh audio analysis equipment used for sound reinforcement. We have found that wire size makes no difference and the label on the copper does not matter either. I use exact lengths of lamp cord. Its clear and the conductors are color coded for polarity. I figure if it will run 1500 watts of lights, a speaker is nothing. The cost of copper has doubled in the past two years so it is important. Just run clean lines and don't loop it and create inductive impedances. Don't believe me? Go ahead and set your system up with the copper it came with and then go out and shell out 200 pounds for copper. If you have someone else throw the AB switches, you will not be able to tell what is better.

I've got a nice CD changer but can't tell you when I last used it. It's years. Instead, I either open up my playlist on the computer or play a music DVD. The $50 DVD player will play MP3s, video files, CDs and still images but most importantly it sends it signal optically to the home theater. 5.1 audio and the higher sampling rate kicks butt over any audio CD. While I am working on something its often nice to look up and see who is playing on the flat screen. The DVD player is plastic and all I care was that it was warranted for a year. So the question is, is it form over function? Do you care about what it looks like and how much you will pay than what it sounds like.

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 12:19 pm

Roll your own Wink

Admittedly a work in progress but 70W/channel into 8 ohms is likely to be enough.

The rest comes later.

Elite Baiter Joined: 02 Jul 2006 Posts: 1702

Thats certainly some kit to consider.

On the cables i normally get the high quality ones anyway, they have a better finish to them, as this is going to go in her living room it needs to look "together" as it were all items of the same brand, ive seen a marantz but still think the cambridge sounds just a little better. Yes she doesnt like computers she just wants something that fits in with her flat, so looks are very important but for sound quality i wouldnt buy her a cheap mini hifi lol, seperates it has to be Wink

Im off next week, and hopefully can see the products in richer sounds and hyperfi to see if i can get to hear them too.

She is quite fussy so wouldnt be happy with black units mixed with white ones and multibrands - so if you know of any unbranded ones then perhaps.

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:11 am

Looks over sounds. OK. Go with B+O. Get looks and sounds.

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:42 pm

if you want to go seperates one word to think of, ONKYO outstanding equipment