AMP and bookshelf £200

cornyfeet · 25 Feb 2008 at 18:07

i have a £200 absolute limit, preferably less, for a bookshelf and an amp, please bear with me as im a noob to the hi-fi scene. the amp and speakers will be connect to my pc (using onboard -intel hd- sound until funds available for a new sound card) and will be used for gaming and videos. also i would like the equiptment to be new.

im a student living in a flat, so power is not a major concern.

im currently using my broken shure's on my pc as i currently have no speakers at all!

thanks very much for reading and any suggestions?

Hxc · 25 Feb 2008 at 18:14

Equipment being new is your downfall there buuut..

Cambridge Audio A1
KEF Cestra 10s

Should be a decent pair up.

cornyfeet · 25 Feb 2008 at 18:26

i read the sticky and that amp was recommended, i will deffinately have a look at those speakers that you recommended

cornyfeet · 25 Feb 2008 at 18:57

i was looking at whafedale 9.1's and i was wondering if they are any good? also would the Cambridge Audio A1 v3 be suffice for those speakers?

Hxc · 25 Feb 2008 at 19:57

Wharfdale 9.1s are good speakers, and the A1 would probably do a fair job with them. You can get so much more if you look second hand though, amps are fairly bulletproof and you can pick them up for miles under retail.

Buying my Cambridge Audio A5 on ebay for about half the price it costs new...

mrmoose · 25 Feb 2008 at 21:50

Get yourself on ebay. I orginally bought a A1 amp for around £80. About 6months later I sold it to a friend for £30 and bought a nice rotel amp off ebay for £50. It retailed at about £300 5-8years ago. Sounds much better and feels much more solid.

Hxc · 25 Feb 2008 at 22:06

What was that rotel amp out of interest? I'm completely baffled at what to choose for a first amp, and was going for an A5 but now I'm swaying towards something older...

Richersounds do a good hifi deal currently,

Cambridge Audio A5
Cambridge Audio CD5
Tannoy F1 Customs

£219.99
I'm very tempted to do this, sell the Tannoys on ebay for around £65 and thus have paid £155 for a quality amp and cd player, with another fair whack of cash to spend on some better speakers. Or perhaps keep the speakers until I have enough money to upgrade to something like B&W 6xx series, would probably have to upgrade my amp as well, but for £220, I think that's tough to beat...anyone disagree?

cornyfeet · 26 Feb 2008 at 14:50

would that tactic be applicable to me?
say i sell the cd instead of the speakers. :confused:

ill also consider a 2nd hand amp, but i think speakers should be new

mattpc · 26 Feb 2008 at 15:26

If you are open to second hand then look at Arcam Alpha 7 or Alpha 8 which crop up reguarly for around £100. That leaves £100 for some brand new budget speakers and cable.

Hxc · 26 Feb 2008 at 16:13

cornyfeet said:
would that tactic be applicable to me?
say i sell the cd instead of the speakers.

ill also consider a 2nd hand amp, but i think speakers should be new

It wouldn't be a bad idea. The CD player will sell for about £40-50 or so.