Stereos and that

[humblebee]

I couldn't find a thread for this. Is there one? Sorry if there is.

I am sold on the Richer Sounds dream of hi-fi separates. I like Richer Sounds. When I bought my current kit I went in and said "I've got 500 quid to spend, tell me which stuff to buy" and they were really good and asked what stuff I listened to and all that. Separates, yay. Unfortunately, separates take up space, so my stereo now lives in my big attic room and I have to buy a little midi system thing for the sitting room, which is very small.

Er, you didn't really need to know any of that. All I need to know is can anyone recommend a little midi system thing please? Not bothered about a tuner or a tape deck on it - just a CD player and an mp3 player will do, and some sort of input that will accept the wireless gubbins that I was talking about on the gadgets thread.

[Uncle Ants]

I couldn't find a thread for this. Is there one? Sorry if there is.

I am sold on the Richer Sounds dream of hi-fi separates. I like Richer Sounds. When I bought my current kit I went in and said "I've got 500 quid to spend, tell me which stuff to buy" and they were really good and asked what stuff I listened to and all that. Separates, yay. Unfortunately, separates take up space, so my stereo now lives in my big attic room and I have to buy a little midi system thing for the sitting room, which is very small.

Er, you didn't really need to know any of that. All I need to know is can anyone recommend a little midi system thing please? Not bothered about a tuner or a tape deck on it - just a CD player and an mp3 player will do, and some sort of input that will accept the wireless gubbins that I was talking about on the gadgets thread.

Be careful with Richer Sounds. They are very nice and all ... but basically will persuade you to buy whatever it is that's making them the best margin that week.

You will get much better quality out of a decent budget seperates setup its true (their Cambridge Audio A5 amp, CD5 CD player are well worth the money).

But if space precludes and it must be a midi type of thing then one of these:

http://www.richersounds.com/showproduct ... O-DM37-BLK" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and a pair of these:

http://www.richersounds.com/showproduct ... -CUSTOM-F1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and tell them to throw in some decent speaker wire for free to seal the deal. It's good quality, well built and has all the features you are asking for.

PS. For a little less there is a slightly cheaper Denon unit - a DM35 - it has 2 analogue inputs so I think you can do what you want to with it but doesn't have the handy USB inputs the 37 has. Lower power as awell.

[humblebee]

Cheers, ta!

Denon's a good make then, yeah?

[Uncle Ants]

Cheers, ta!

Denon's a good make then, yeah?

Yes. And midi systems are one of the things they are very good at.

Thing about most of the big Japanese companies is they do everything from nasty cheap plaggy tat to high end multi thousand pound mega-fi and everything in between. So you can't really assume that something like a Sony will be good just because its Sony. It might, it might not. Denon are a bit smaller and a bit more specialised.

[humblebee]

That DM35, then - I'm not fussed about it going dead loud, so the power's not an issue, but would I still be able to plug the mp3 player in some other way that isn't USB, like a lead with a 3.5mm jack at one end and the red and white things at the other? And would it still take the wireless thingy? I have to admit I haven't really looked very closely at the wireless thingy yet.

[pennybroadhurst]

That DM35, then - I'm not fussed about it going dead loud, so the power's not an issue, but would I still be able to plug the mp3 player in some other way that isn't USB, like a lead with a 3.5mm jack at one end and the red and white things at the other? And would it still take the wireless thingy? I have to admit I haven't really looked very closely at the wireless thingy yet.

http://www.creative-audio.co.uk/DEN_DM35_M30i.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; would seem to indicate so (look at the optional extras bit, they have a wireless thingy)

[Uncle Ants]

That DM35, then - I'm not fussed about it going dead loud, so the power's not an issue, but would I still be able to plug the mp3 player in some other way that isn't USB, like a lead with a 3.5mm jack at one end and the red and white things at the other? And would it still take the wireless thingy? I have to admit I haven't really looked very closely at the wireless thingy yet.

Yes, or a dock into the same would work if its an ipod proper and you want remote etc for the ipod. The wireless thingy ... is it a wireless unit that picks your library and streaming stuff off your PC so you can play it on your stereo, like a Roku, Squeezebox or Airport type o thing?, if so then yes ... but on the DM35 that'll be all your inputs used up, so if you wanted to plug anything else in you couldn't.

Edit: the power thing is more about having enough to drive the speakers properly, but you should be okay either way. The thing about underpowered amps is not that they won't go loud enough. More if you try to go too loud you stand a better chance of damaging the speakers with an underpowered amp (I know that sounds counterintuitive). Shouldn't be a problem though I don't think, especially in a small room.

[humblebee]

This is great - thankyou ever so much, both of you.

It's a bit more than I was looking at spending really, cos the midi systems in Currys and whatever are 60 or 80 quid... but I guess it'll be worth it, eh.

[pennybroadhurst]

It's a bit more than I was looking at spending really, cos the midi systems in Currys and whatever are 60 or 80 quid... but I guess it'll be worth it, eh.

Aye, because the CD lasers always seem to die within a couple of years on the cheapo systems. Better getting a good one - it'll sound better, last longer and there's more chance of getting it repaired economically if part of it does die.

[Uncle Ants]

It's a bit more than I was looking at spending really, cos the midi systems in Currys and whatever are 60 or 80 quid... but I guess it'll be worth it, eh.

Aye, because the CD lasers always seem to die within a couple of years on the cheapo systems. Better getting a good one - it'll sound better, last longer and there's more chance of getting it repaired economically if part of it does die.

I'd have said. Yes. The sound quality will be a lot better too. Those £60 Curries specials are designed to stop working a year and a day after you first switch them on ... and they sound a bit pants. Buy cheap buy twice and all that.

[stolenwine]

we've got an arcam solo mini (with epos speakers) and the quality is amazing. i guess you already have your higher-end seperates though so maybe this isn't what you're looking for. we got an ipod dock thingy thrown in for free too!

http://www.arcam.co.uk/prod_Solo_mini_intro.cfm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Uncle Ants]

we've got an arcam solo mini (with epos speakers) and the quality is amazing. i guess you already have your higher-end seperates though so maybe this isn't what you're looking for. we got an ipod dock thingy thrown in for free too!

http://www.arcam.co.uk/prod_Solo_mini_intro.cfm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Arcam Solo Mini's are lovely things :) ... but they are also £650 without speakers, so probably outside Pete's budget at a guess.

[humblebee]

Hey everyone. I'm listening to Mexican Kids at Home on my lovely new Denon DM37 with QAcoustics 1010i speakers and it sounds AMAAAAZING!

I'm just worried the shelves will collapse now.

[Uncle Ants]

Hey everyone. I'm listening to Mexican Kids at Home on my lovely new Denon DM37 with QAcoustics 1010i speakers and it sounds AMAAAAZING!

I'm just worried the shelves will collapse now.

Wohoh. Good stuff :) Did you persuade them to give you a good deal? Those speakers are pretty good for the size btw.

[humblebee]

I ended up getting them from Creative Audio (as per Penny's link above) cos they do a lot of good deals with speakers. Got the stereo and speakers (and 10m of wire) for £319.

Just had an email saying the bluetooth thingummy I ordered has been despatched too, so this time tomorrow I could be firing mp3s up from this laptop to my new stereo. And I will never get any work done ever again!

[Uncle Ants]

And I will never get any work done ever again!

Something to aspire to :)

[James_B]

I'm thinking I might be doing my record collection a bit of an injustice by listening to almost all my music as MP3s, and even when it's on my turntable, it's a £50 one from argos through not particularly good speakers...

Basically, I'm after a turntable, speakers and an amp for about £500, preferably second hand if i can save some pennies, but I have no idea where to start looking, anyone got any suggestions?

I thought £500 was a lot of money at first, but considering the amount I spend on music and the number of hours I spend listening to it every day, it's probably worthwhile as a long term thing.

*I didn't notice the other thread, so I'll just hop on over to that... delete this or something if I'm messing the place up*

[Murray]

Hi,

I've always found the staff at Richer Sounds really helpful and, looking on-line, I reckon you could get an excellent set-up for your £500.

http://www.richersounds.com/productlist ... TURNTABLES" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you can get along to one of their stores, take a pen and paper, make some notes... then go and look for their suggestions on eBay or wherever. Mind you, they're pretty reasonably priced, so it might be cheaper to buy brand new from them to get yourself a guarantee and save on any P&P charges.

[Martijn]

Wasn't there a hi-fi thread somewhere else? (Yes, there is)

[darvé]

Wasn't there a hi-fi thread somewhere else?

Yeah, here