£250-£300 budget 2.1 Speakers

Yeah, an amp with pre out is twice as much as the AM1. Even then, I can see only one below £300+ that has pre out. That did surprise me. Don't expect to see that on a sub £100 amp, but £200, you would think it would be commonplace.

Connecting the subwoofer to the amps speaker outputs wont have the amp driving the subwoofer. That would only happen with a passive subwoofer. Active subwoofers with speaker level input just use that for listening to the signal.
 
I've returned the AM1 and deciding on getting the Denon PMA-520AE for £122. That plus speakers, subwoofer (she's a basshead so not getting a sub isn't really an option) and cables will definitely drive it over £350 and I just can't stretch anymore.
 
That's a decent price for the Denon. From RS? Can't see any Denon's on their site. Most places have that for £150.

Plenty of headroom though at 45W. My Cambridge Audio 350A is 45W and for me 50% volume is normally a lot more volume than I need.
 
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On fleabay. I know nothing about whats good or not. This is recommendation I've read on another forum to go with the 9.1s. If that's considered a good price I might just grab it.
 
Worth looking at what dacads has found first if it has pre or sub out.

Denon 520 is a decent price though. No pre or sub out, but has good power output and Denon are a good brand. Not taking into account what dacads has found, the 520 for £122 is probably the cheapest and best choice for a new amp with plenty of power output.
 
Ok got it. I didn't even question it. Thanks you very much dacads :)

So what cables do I get now then?
2 sets of speaker cables for speaker > amp.
1 RCA to 3.5mm for phone > amp.
A Y subwoofer cable (1 x RCA to 2 x RCA) for sub > amp?

You guys have been a lot of help. Much appreciated really.
 
That's a good find and a good very good price too. I missed that when looking at amps with sub or pre out, even though it's £200-£230 at the usual places.

For an amp with sub out, you just need 1 RCA to 1 RCA cable. Goes into the L RCA in on the SW150, IIRC. It will be in the manual.

You only need to use both RCA in on the subwoofer, if you're using pre out, which is L & R. Sub out is just one connection.
 
I probably wouldn't get a subwoofer cable from RS or SuperFi, because they probably are not that cheap. It's just a shielded RCA to RCA cable, but because it's labelled a 'subwoofer interconnect cable', it's an excuse to charge more money for it because it sounds like special cable.

Just looking, SuperFi have a QED Subwoofer interconnect for £40. RS are better and have a Cambridge Audio one for £20, but I'd go for one of these for less than £5.
 
se_vietboi said:
Ok got it. I didn't even question it. Thanks you very much dacads :)
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No problem, even though it has more than enough power, you still want to avoid going too crazy with volume to avoid damaging speakers :)

But it will definitely allow more volume without concerns like you would have had with the AM5.

Marsman said:
That's a good find and a good very good price too. I missed that when looking at amps with sub or pre out, even though it's £200-£230 at the usual places.

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Yep the trick is looking in the open box and refurbished sections ;)

The fact that it comes with a 2-year warranty too makes it a win-win.
 
Just looking a bit closer at the Yamaha, it's got a DAC and 60W into 8 Ohms. For £122 with 2 year warranty as well, that certainly is win win. :D
 
Seems I got a good deal then haha. I went ahead and got all the cables for around £10 and will get the speakers tonight. She's gonna have a lovely surprise on the 20th :)
 
Ah damn. Turns out the 9.1/SW150 package are no longer in stock but more is coming. ETA to ship is 3-7 days. I'm worried it won't be delivered by the 20th.

Let's say I have about £300-£330 left to spend on just speakers and sub. Can you guys recommend something better? My budget is getting out of control.
 
Damn, that is disappointing.

That's going to be tricky. The SW150 is very good value and similar priced subwoofers aren't really going to compete with it. £100-£150 buys a subwoofer that OK for home cinema use, but they're not really that good for music use.

BK Gemini II, would be a good choice, and other than the SW150, probably the next best cheapest subwoofer. £215 though. Still, that does leave £100 for speakers, of which there's a far better decent choice, than there is decent cheap subwoofers.
 
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