Reply With QuoteVery interested in responses to this as I’m in a similar place, though would love to be able to play cassettes as well! What’s your budget if you don’t mind me asking?
Good afternoon!
Basically, Im looking for a "stereo" for the house.
Back in the day (the 70s/80s that is!!), I was really into playing music, vinyl, then along came C.D.s!! (never really like d casette tapes?!).
I think the last decent "system" I bought, was about 1990-92 ish........i paid £600 for it (a lot then for me!)...I got it from the high street...a Sony "all in one " system, record deck, amp., radio, speakers, casette deck etc......Then I got married, kids came along, digital music etc etc! The stereo went in the shed...along with my vinyl!
A few years ago, I bought a cheap turntable, a cheap amp...., so I could play my records once again!
Fast forward to now, I am looking into getting something, which will do what I used to do with my stereo! ie. play records and C.D.s!!
This is where Im lost....nowadays, I have no clue what to buy!!! Ive googled it...there doesnt seem to be the same sort of thing I "had"....It looks like I will have to go down the "seperates" route? I "assume"! i will need to buy an amp. (what kind?) record deck, etc etc....then there is this new fangled thing???? Music streaming?!! lol! I guess Id b happy spending up to about a grand....anybody have any pointers as to what would be my best course of action? Ive no aversion to buying "used" for better quality stuff etc.
Back in the day?......I thought I was a little "savvy" ! on stereo equipment..im flummoxed now though!
I am though! Still using my old Sony speakers from my almost 30 year old stereo! I use them with my record deck and amp.!
Thanks in advance, and sorry for my rambling!
ps! I did say there doesnt appear to be anything nowadays to what I have...there is..! but it looks like cheap rubbish! At about a hundred quid! I remember back in the day...when I was buying a new stereo...i would always look at the watts output of the speakers!!....(or something like that anyway!).
Very interested in responses to this as I’m in a similar place, though would love to be able to play cassettes as well! What’s your budget if you don’t mind me asking?
There’s some hifi gear for sale on SC - could be a start for you
If you have time, eBay is a treasure trove of good quality equipment, often at clearance prices as the pool of potential buyers is quite small.
My 1980s hi-end Hi-Fi sits quietly in the loft, hoping that one day it might get reused but the reality of neighbours and family means that they probably won't. [unhappy face icon]
Sent through the ether by diddling with radio waves
Rod's the man to ask for advice, he used to work in the hi fi trade.
I recently got back into listening to vinyl, I had a decent quality Thorens turntable packed away in a cupboard. With a good cartridge and a new pre-amp (current amplifier has no phono stage) I`m amazed at the sound quality.
It's easy to spend too much money and get drawn into it all. The cartridge I had was a good one but needed a new stylus, the stylus cost around £200 and a new stylus/cartridge (Goldring 1022) would've pushed £300. Can`t remember which pre-amp I bought but it cost around £150. All told I spent around £400 getting the vinyl player set up again but the sound is worth every penny. Having said that, it hardly gets played, but I enjoy having it available.
CDs can be picked up cheaply these days, generally I prefer vinyl but CD has the huge advantage of convenience. I don`t do any of that streaming thing, not interested, never have been.
Second-hand stuff can be a bargain, but be wary of second-hand CD players, they often end up needing overhauling and that can be expensive. The one in my workroom needs some TLC, it takes 10 minutes to warm up, something's not right but it sounds beautiful when its working (Arcam Alpha 9)
Can`t beat traditional hi-fi, match the speakers carefully to the room and don't be tempted to go too big. I favour small floorstanders but choice is limited.
It's worth finding a traditional hi-fi dealer if you can, have a listen to some stuff and see what they recommend. We have a good one locally (Eric Wiley, Castleford, they've been going for years), a good dealer will help you choose and may have some ex-demo or second-hand bargains.
If you worry about the neighbours a good set of headphones is a must.
A Sony "all in one" wouldn't be classed as hifi but for the same money, you get a lot more these days. Have a look at the hifi bundles on Richer Sounds - https://www.richersounds.com/hi-fi/hi-fi-packages.html
I like Denon and Marantz products but you may need to add a phono preamp since many of these streaming CD/amps only have line level inputs or buy a turntable that has a switchable eq so you can output line level to your amp.
In today's money, £1,000 will get you a half decent set up that will put your old Sony system to shame.
Are you sure about that! Cassettes were great for playing in cars etc in the pre-CD era, and great for parties, but unless I had a collection of interesting recordings I`d give it a miss. I used to record 'In concert' on Saturday afternoons/early evenings (Radio 2?) from a stereo FM radio during the early 80s, some of the stuff was excellent, but I lost all the tapes years ago.Originally Posted by WestwardBound
I`ve no idea what's available re. cassette decks, I had a decent Marantz deck years ago.
I think second-hand amplifiers can be a good buy, I have a pair of Arcam amps biamped together and both were bought second-hand, they've been fine, but previously I had an Arcam Alpa 10 power amp that ended up needing a factory overhaul at around £250.....ouch! I sold it shortly afterwards too.
Happy hunting!
This new all in one kit from Rega looks well matched, they are agreat British company.
You need to add a digital source but that needen't be expensive or elaborate.
I'm a Rega fan so am biased, been using one or other of their turntables for over 30 years.
Its a pretty open ended question valley, so a few questions:
-what is your budget
- is second hand ok, if so I concur with sish101, eBay is a treasure trove and really there is no reason to consider new kit
- how big is your room and how serious are you about getting good sound
- what sources do you want to listen to, CD, LP, tape etc?
For £1k you can build a good CD based 2 channel system from eBay. For £2k you can terrorise the neighbours and have a great sound.
Many thanks for the replies...
I would like to spend up to ..say £1,000...
Basically, would be listenin to L.P.s and C.D.s mainly.
I did have a look on e-bay.....saw what looked like some decent gear on there.......
As for buying "seperates"....I "assume" get the best amp. I can for my budget? Turntable? Ive seen some on the likes of Richers ets...for not much money...speakers....can spend hours or days! looking for...then the C.D. I guess, buy new?
From what I remember, I will need an amp. with a phono? outlet? (to connect my record deck to?)...then its just the case of plugging in the speakers, deck, C.D. player etc?..
I was even looking at stack systems on the beay...from the same era as my old one! I dont want to go down that route though...as surely they wouldnt be much good compared to newer stuff these days?
So really...I "think", the amp. will be the most important thing to get?.
Regarding the amp...I "assume"! they will all have on the back! All the ports/outlets/inlets! whatever they are called, to enable me to plug in speakers, C.D. maybe D.A.B. radio etc?
Sorry for so many dopey questions....but I really havent "kept up" at all with hi fi systems!!
get budget seperates. An intergrated pre amp / power amp, cd player, any other player you want and some dali lector 2 speakers.
should be around £1K or a bit more and those speakers are darn good for their price.
Rega is a good start as is Cambridge Audio - https://www.cambridgeaudio.com/en
If you’re after simplicity getting the package from one source makes sense. I’m seriously into this rabbit hole and last week spent your budget on two interconnects. Which is why I recommend keeping it simple. Richer Sounds also deal with these brands I believe. Good shop for service - came top in Which.
Im thinking seperates is the way to go...
OK ! Forgive my stupidity! Is it as simple as eg. buying the below.
/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Marantz-PM-7200-amplifier-Marantz-CD-7300-cd-player/324198638048?hash=item4b7bbea1e0:g:DD8AAOSwasBe5si f
Then just adding speakers, deck,etc to it? Also...is it possible to get D.A.B. via an amplifier? I mean,on the vintage ones, you could get radios (receivers?) to fit......is it as simple as just adding a device to enable me to listen to D.A.B. on the same system?
(D.A.B. would be a lovely "bonus"...not really a necessity!).
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Marantz-P...8AAOSwasBe5sif
Hopefully this will work!
Cassettes. Oh the unbridled joy as they unreel without warning as you drive along in the car. I used to buy TDK Chrome too, none of your Woolworths own brand.
I still have some from when I used to record Robbie Vincent's radio shows in the mid to late eighties. "If it moves, funk it" and all that good stuff.
Sent through the ether by diddling with radio waves
Ah yes, Robbie Vincent on a Sunday night! I sometimes recorded it but I was usually working in my garage listening to it, that was between 1982-85 when I spent 3 years rebuilding an MGB GT. It took so long because I was skint, I`d run out of money for part etc. Happy days, I still own an MGB and that's cost me more than it should, nothing really changes.
Matching brands of cassette to your tape deck was a hobby in itself, I settled on one of the TDK tapes, can`t remember which, for top quality, or TDK AD for playing in the car. Radio-cassette in the car with a separate graphic equaliser in the glove box, plenty of noise but quality wasn`t great. Had a similar set-up in the Opel Manta and MGB GT I owned at the same time.
It became second nature to take a cassette from its box whilst driving, use your little finger to tighten the spools, then slot it in the machine. That was the safeguard against the tape chewing up. I think we've all had that happen, pulled the cassette from the machine complete with chewed up tape, opened the car window and slung it out in a stream of expletives, I used to see cassettes at the side of the road whilst out running. A bit like white dogshit, you never see it thesedays.
Back on topic, I might know where there's a vinyl player for sale, a mate of mine bought a nearly new Rega off ebay for a very good price, I helped him set it up, can`t remember the model but it sells for around £1400 complete with cartridge (he paid £600 but its bright red!). Not sure what he's done with the old one, I think it was a recent Project model.
I would definitely invest in a pre-amp rather than rely on a built in phono stage, mine was reduced from £250 to around £150, I got a discount because I`d spent £1000 on speakers at my friendly local dealer (Mission silver 200, excellent speakers).
Opinions will always differ, but I think the key component in a system is the speakers. If I`m listening in a listening room I`ll reach a different conclusion, but in the real world (your lounge) the speakers must be a good match for both the size of the room and the acoustics. Your ears are the only reliable judge. Get the speakers right, then get a good source, and provided the amplifier is decent it'll look after itself. Decent quality interconnects help but I don`t get carried away with this, likewise with speaker leads.
Many years ago I built a hi-fi unit into a corner of a room and mounted a turntable shelf into the brickwork of the wall, that certainly decoupled it from the floor. Overkill?.....maybe, but hi-fi is a hobby that can certainly suck you in.
I would go full retro.
either a bang and Olufsen setup with a decent streamer
or
A 70s Technics or Pioneer amp at the heart with a built in CRT oscilloscope analyser...full retro bliss
If you want flexibility in what you connect now and in the future I’d recommend a Yamaha amp/receiver/network player such as this
https://www.richersounds.com/yamaha-rn602-blk.html
I’ve got the earlier version and I think its fantastic. You can connect just about anything to it: phono, cd, Bluetooth, internet radio, optical inputs, network DLNA music libraries, two sets of speakers plus sub-woofer, the list goes on...
This is an upgrade on my RN500 as it now has built in WiFi and Bluetooth. It also has an inbuilt phono preamp which saves you having to buy that separately when you choose your record deck...
With regards record decks, I’m still using a 40 yr old Technics so can’t really comment on modern stuff. Nevertheless, I’ve looked briefly at some of the cheaper decks and wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole. A lot of them do not seem to have adjustable counterbalance weights on the arm and will just heavily run around your precious records. Do you remember back in the day when the technique to stop records jumping was to put coins on top of the stylus... It’s like ploughing a field, where the field is your records!
If I were buying new I’d spend as much on the record deck as an amp. In context your record collection is the most valuable part of a system and probably irreplaceable.
For a 1000 quid I think Id get;
Turntable; Rega Planar 2 (£250 ? and very upgradable)
Amp; NAD 316 (£300); nice basic Amp with good Phon stage and theres a great second hand market for NAD
CD player.... That wouldnt bother me too much so Id get a Cambridge Audio entry level model (£150 ?). I really really struggle to hear a difference in high end versus low end CD players.
Speakers; Monitor Audio Bronze 2 (£200 ?); could upgrade to Bowers&Wilkins then in a few years ?
Probably spend £100 on speaker cable and interconnecte; some great stuff on Amazon these days. 'UGreen' are a brand on Amazon that do good interconnects and I make my own speaker cable now with good banana plugs and heavy copper speaker cable all from Amazon.
The other consideration if you've been away from hifi for a while is to consider upping the budget a little and buying a surround sound system that is still capable stereo system.
You don't have to spend huge amounts, Denon make some nice stuff and it will transport your television viewing to a new level.
That's metal tape was very good. I still have a few somewhere.
Then I realised that Revox reel-to-reel was the only way forward. No budget though.
In reality, despite lusting after a Nakamichi Dragon, I don't miss cassettes.
Valley, I'm not sure you need to spend £1k. Richer Sounds would be my first port of call. Listen to a few combinations of separates.
Yes, that's a great starting point. £250-300 on a TT and £400 for speakers and you are in the musicDo you have a preference on speakers? I would always go with floor standers if they are domestically 'acceptable'
The system Timethoughs has mentioned would be good but if you could buy the B&W CM1's on SC that's a significant upgrade over the Monitor Audio Bronze (which isn't a bad speaker).
The NAD amp is good and has a decent phono stage.Marantz make decent amps and CD's, Rega turntables are excellent and can recommend the RP2.
My advice is seek out a dealer that can demonstrate and advise you. They will fit a decent system into your budget. Buy decent speaker cable from the likes of QED.
Take a layout of your room and furnishings as well. You might want to consider streaming devices later to add it as another source.
Many, many thaks for all your replies.
Certainly plenty to think about! This will keep me busy for a fair while!
I will have a good old think, do more research and plan to visit some shops too, to get a better idea of what would be best for me.
Thanks everybody.
In the distant past I remember being convinced my hi fi system had a fault, music sounded a bit flat, had to turn the treble up to get things sounding OK.
Getting my ears syringed solved the problem, a very effective upgrade!
Rod's your man here on HiFi, but I also found AV Forums and HiFi Wigwam both very informative too
Marantz for CD players and amps for your budget. As for headphones I have just bought some Philips Fidelio x2hr’s, can’t believe how good they are for the money, (£135 from Amazon warehouse). I personally think with Hi-fi you can end up listening to the equipment quality rather than the music, not a good rabbit hole to go down. Happy hunting!
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An alternative suggestion:
Blow the entire budget on some decent headphones and a blutooth dac . Shure SE535 are what I do 90% of my listening on anyway.
There’s something very satisfying about listening to a favourite musical piece on vinyl whilst watching the record spin round slowly on the turntable, especially when you’ve owned it since 1989. You can keep your streaming and downloads, it’ll never be the same.
Agreed. The whole experience is different. My father still has a load of 78’s. As a teen I used to browse the shops and come home with singles, Albums and enjoy sliding them out of their sleeves and lining up the stylus to get a perfect start before whacking up the volume.
Lovely.
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I love the ceremony of vinyl...
Makes you listen a bit more... You actually do the whole album justice as a listener.
Vinyl, is really the main "reason", for me asking the questions.
In my "youth"! I used to love music, spending lots of my meagre wages on Albums etc...then along came .C.D.s...then along came digital music.. marriage and kids of course came along too...so the "record player"! went into the shed, listened to C.D.s...thene ventually, somehow, just listened to music on laptop etc...Hence my desire to get back into vinyl!!
The only "drawback" ! to vinyl? An album doent last very long! Plus, back in the day, I rarely liked .every track of an album, so was always messing about with the stylus anyway!
Im recently retired ..so time isnt a problem now! I just love the "crackling"! at the start of an album or song, whilst played on a record deck!
So eloquently captured in the Pearl Jam song 'Spin the black circle'
https://youtu.be/q-ZTeYa0zKc
Sent through the ether by diddling with radio waves
Cyrus and also Arcam are worth for separates but for a record deck Rega is the way I'd go. Marantz & Yamaha & CA have already been mentioned.
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Seconded with Rega.
Do not make the mistake I made of buying an LP 12 - the most over-hyped product in Hi-Fi history. Easily bettered by an SME 20 and without the endless tiny upgrades at inflated prices. [I ended up with an SME 30, but then I'm nuts.]
If vinyl crackles, you have a spherical stylus profile or the record is damaged. More sophisticated profiles reach further down into the groove where the signal is. The crackling is higher up in the groove walls, and that's where spherical stylii will sit, hence the noise. Really good vinyl is silent, or very near silent.
Upside to vinyl is that you actually listen to the whole record. You may discover hidden gems.
Right.......
A quick "update"......I have bought some used Bower and Wilkins CM1 speakers..............should be here next week...
Looking at turntables now ......and an amp. of course! Looking on e-bay, I can get a new Audio Technica AT-LP5 for about £260...A rega plana 2 has been mentioned a fair few times.......New they are £399................Are they that much better than the Audio Technica AT-LP5?
At least its stopped me looking at what car to get now! Looking online for stereo gear instead! lol!
Thanks for all the replies...
I meant my times with albums and recored in the 70s and 80s!
Always liked the famous John Peel quote: “You don’t like vinyl because it has surface noise? Listen mate, life has surface noise”
Oh and I can heartily endorse Rega Planar 3, a NAD 314 amp and Marantz CD63 (ideally a KI Signature) setup - this was my home setup for many years prior to arrival of kids...
Yep, Rega Planar 3 makes a lot of sense at this budget. Or a secondhand Planar 9?
Get the Rega…. I have the NAD variant of the Planar two (made by Planar) and it’s excellent!
OK.........
Rega it is (will be!) then!
Good move
In terms of amp I recently decided to move away from vintage and bought an Audiolab 6000a to solve my requirement for a variety of inputs - reviews have it up there with the Rega Brio but...it has a decent DAC built in, a good range of decent digital inputs, a good phono stage and also bluetooth so you can just listen to Spotify or whatever from your phone if you want.
Sound quality is great, it's built like a tank (even the remote feels high quality) and is quite a nice looking thing too. Highly recommended by me if it's in budget.
Budget integrated amps can vary in sound quality, but not greatly. With a vinyl source, it pays to get the best turntable you can afford (except an LP12) and skimp a bit on the amp & speakers.
Cheers for that..
Think I will look for the turntable next then.
If you don't mind second-hand there's a ton of bargains. People with expensive turntables do not in general abuse them. Have a look for a used P9 if you don't mind taking a punt. The owner would probably let you have a listen before buying if you are local. Not sure of your budget, and beware the upgrade rabbit-hole!
Hi-fi people tend to be quite friendly, and welcome anyone who takes an interest. It's a minority sport these days.
Last edited by Holsterman; 30th June 2020 at 00:07.
It certainly is a rabbit hole!!
its never ending! Lol!
What "make" is a P9 sorry?!
Rega Planar 9. It's the jargon, They are rare. Other good brands are Notts Analogue, some Thorens, and some others. Join a hi-fi forum (and just smile and nod at the LP12 enthusiasts).
Last edited by Holsterman; 30th June 2020 at 00:33.
LP12s are actually good turntables but the problem is that setting them up and maintaining them is a complex and difficult job. Hence the vast majority of the things are performing well below their best.
I have a Garrard 401 which is plain bomb proof and sounds better than a LP12 and it just needs a drop of oil once every 5 or so years. There is a lot to be said for going for a plug in and play TT. Most Regas come under this heading.
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