Author Topic: Hi-Fi recommendation  (Read 4784 times)

  • Offline zpyder

  • Posts: 6,946
  • Hero Member
Hi-Fi recommendation
on: July 02, 2016, 13:18:04 PM
I'm not in the know in the slightest, the wife is more musically inclined.

We're after a decent sound system for the lounge. Separate speakers etc, not an all in one jobby.

My only spec request is something that would be easy to input to from spotify or a phone or laptop etc.

Suggestions?

    • Tekforums.net - It's new and improved!
  • Offline Clock'd 0Ne

  • Clockedtastic
  • Posts: 10,937
  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
Re: Hi-Fi recommendation
Reply #1 on: July 02, 2016, 13:47:14 PM
If you want something of decent but not break the bank quality look at Denon's range, they offer seperate and all in one solutions and you can probably get a dock for your phone. British made too :)

This is probably as compact as you will get with seperates:
https://www.hifix.co.uk/denon-df109dab-network-cd-player-micro-hifi-system?gclid=CInYnuzn1M0CFcFsGwodp3oHjQ

With regard to speakers depends if you want bookshelf or floorstanders and how much you're looking at spending, but a look in Richer Sounds should give you an idea.
Last Edit: July 02, 2016, 13:49:07 PM by Clock'd 0Ne #187;

Re: Hi-Fi recommendation
Reply #2 on: July 02, 2016, 13:49:00 PM
Just an audio amp or AV? Most AV amps have Bluetooth/ AirPlay etc. now...

  • Offline zpyder

  • Posts: 6,946
  • Hero Member
Re: Hi-Fi recommendation
Reply #3 on: July 02, 2016, 14:12:50 PM
Well, the wife has bookmarked these on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00JPH8XMQ/ref=cm_sw_r_pi_dp_UgLoxbNTTGP86

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00IG7PNBK/ref=cm_sw_r_pi_dp_EfLoxbM242FYN

I've only just looked at them, didn't realise she wanted to spend quite so much  :o

It's Sony so I'm assuming it's overpriced...(not necessarily bad quality, just a lot of £ for what you get)

    • Tekforums.net - It's new and improved!
  • Offline Clock'd 0Ne

  • Clockedtastic
  • Posts: 10,937
  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
Re: Hi-Fi recommendation
Reply #4 on: July 02, 2016, 14:44:51 PM
You could do a lot better for that money, in fact any of them in Richer Sounds for that money will likely sound a lot better, and 6 year warranty if you buy from them, go into Bournemouth and demo some in store. If I was dropping that much I'd be looking at these:

http://www.richersounds.com/product/standmount-speakers/monitor-audio/silver-1/moni-audi-silv-1-blk

All in one:

http://www.richersounds.com/package/system-savers/mini-hi-fi-system-deals/pah012737
Last Edit: July 02, 2016, 14:46:55 PM by Clock'd 0Ne #187;

  • Offline zpyder

  • Posts: 6,946
  • Hero Member
Re: Hi-Fi recommendation
Reply #5 on: July 02, 2016, 15:43:38 PM
Go into Bournemouth and demo some in store.

Bit of a trek...I live in Norfolk now ;)

Will have to pop in to Norwich sometime!

Hi-Fi recommendation
Reply #6 on: July 03, 2016, 18:06:20 PM
Need to consider the devices you will use it with, iPhone and iTunes I expect will be fine with the Sony via AirPlay, but may want to consider something Bluetooth if android.. Something like this maybe? http://www.sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk/p-15794-mar-mcr611-blk.aspx?gclid=Cj0KEQjw7-K7BRCkkIH3t_WwoskBEiQAD8oY3thyq4KV19jUk04uJhoEUVBVXuJ8OWADDFPV5ys8JUsaAiVm8P8HAQ

  • Offline zpyder

  • Posts: 6,946
  • Hero Member
Re: Hi-Fi recommendation
Reply #7 on: July 09, 2016, 20:12:45 PM
Norwich was a bust, richer sounds was pretty pants with very little choice and what they had seemed really poor.

    • Tekforums.net - It's new and improved!
  • Offline Clock'd 0Ne

  • Clockedtastic
  • Posts: 10,937
  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
Re: Hi-Fi recommendation
Reply #8 on: July 10, 2016, 11:34:55 AM
I would still stand by my original recommendations, its obviously better to go with an audition first but I'd say Sony are good for the receivers, amps, etc, but you can do much better on the speakers for the money.

  • Offline zpyder

  • Posts: 6,946
  • Hero Member
Re: Hi-Fi recommendation
Reply #9 on: July 10, 2016, 15:14:03 PM
Yeah. The wife and I were pretty shocked by Richer sounds, I'd been into the Bournemouth store a couple of times in years past and it seemed quite high end and professional with a good range. Norwich on the other hand was in quite a grotty building with a lot of cheap end stuff on the ground floor, and then a small selection of quite expensive stuff in an overheated room upstairs, nothing inbetween, and pretty poor customer service.

The wife seems quite happy with her own suggestions but I might do a bit of a comparison search on speakers to see if I can find better or similar for less.

Thanks for the help!

  • Offline Serious

  • Posts: 14,467
  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
Re: Hi-Fi recommendation
Reply #10 on: July 10, 2016, 22:00:03 PM
Modern electronics means most hi-fi is pretty decent, the bit that stands out is the speakers. That's the area a lot of low end companies skip on in their systems. Quite often seemingly poor stuff can be massively improved just by swapping speakers.


  • Offline Dave

  • Posts: 3,467
  • Hero Member
Re: Hi-Fi recommendation
Reply #12 on: August 23, 2016, 19:25:48 PM
Modern electronics means most hi-fi is pretty decent, the bit that stands out is the speakers. That's the area a lot of low end companies skip on in their systems. Quite often seemingly poor stuff can be massively improved just by swapping speakers.

strange to find myself agreeing with serious

Hi Fi is an area full of absolute bollocks - if you go on some Hi Fi forums you'll find a whole bunch of complete morons spending silly money on magical speaker cables* or convincing themselves that some CD player is somehow giving them better 1s and 0s than some other CD player or maybe that spending more money on a £50 HDMI cable is going to have some magical effect on a digital signal! (which makes about as much sense as spending more money on a gold plated RJ45 network cable to get 'better internet')


The reality is that modern amplifiers have minimal distortion and people generally can't tell the difference between them in controlled, blind tests. Ditto to CD players - modern DACs are pretty much a solved problem and can be mass produced cheaply - if you're going to send a digital signal to your amp anyway and use its DAC then a CD player is a CD player... they're all literally just sending the same bunch of 1s and 0s.

The factors that make a difference are the layout of the room, position of the speakers, what sort of surfaces you have (wooden floor vs carpets etc..) and there are noticeable differences between speakers.

So long as your amp is powerful enough to drive your speakers then you're sorted and really you should just pick the amp based on it having the features you require.



*they ignore the fact the inside of the amplifier contains ordinary printed circuit board and ordinary connectors and ignore the fact that inside the speaker is several meters of ordinary coiled copper cable the few ft of super special magic speaker cable connecting the amp to the speaker somehow enhances the sound in ways that make a wine snob sound unpretentious

  • Offline Serious

  • Posts: 14,467
  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
Re: Hi-Fi recommendation
Reply #13 on: August 24, 2016, 00:12:18 AM
But it's 100% oxygen free copper!

OK that's bullsh*t too, if it wasn't then it would be copper oxide. The cheapest copper bell wire is 100% oxygen free copper.

Personal ideals and opinion makes far more difference than the cables. If you think something is better then your brain will make it sound, smell, taste or look better.

And sometimes a large wodge of money into the reviewer's pocket has been known to have created the same effect.

  • Offline zpyder

  • Posts: 6,946
  • Hero Member
Re: Hi-Fi recommendation
Reply #14 on: September 04, 2016, 16:57:10 PM
The wife ended up buying a more compact Sony system with small speakers. I think she pretty much regrets not spending 2x as much on getting better speakers, as she says it sounds a bit flat. To my untrained ear though it sounds fine, and it's quite nice being able to stream music from my computer to listen to!

Next step will be figuring out how to set up the multi-room thingy.

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.