Amplifier + Speakers for a small room

ben_j_davis

ben_j_davis

ben_j_davis

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26 Sep 2005
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Tonbridge, Kent
Hi People,

After being forced to discard my previous set-up I am now looking for a new one.

Currently I have 32" HD Samsung and a Samsung HD870 DVD player, situated in a small room. There is almost no space on the table where my LCD is therefore floor standing or wall mounted speakers are needed.

I will be using the new system primarily for movies so i need a cheap AV receiver and set of speakers.

My budget is very limited at the moment, so I'm not expecting high quality audio.

Do you reckon I would be better off having a separate sub-woofer?

Any ideas on what i should get?
 
Hey there

How limited is your budget? Im in the same boat as you at the moment, with very similar needs.

Are you looking for surround sound? 5.1? Or just 2.1..
 
I don't really want to spend more than £300, so 2.1 should or even 2.0 for now as i don't have the room for 5 speakers.

I've seen this - http://www.avland.co.uk/denon/avr1707/avr1707.htm for about £200

Or possibly this - http://www.yamaha.co.jp/english/product/av/products/ht/rxv350.html
£160
Apparently the sound quality isn't as good, but that would give more money to spend on speakers.

Speaker wise i'm considering these two options:

http://www.richersounds.com/showproduct.php?cda=showproduct&pid=TANN-CUSTOM-F1

http://www.richersounds.com/showproduct.php?cda=showproduct&pid=TANG-EVO-WHI
 
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You considered 2nd hand at all?

You could get something a little older that would probably be specced similarly but be a better quality unit.

For example i've seen some wharfedale evo 2 speakers going for around the price you're looking to spend on a certain major auction site. On top of that i've seen amps going left right and centre that you'd be more than happy with.

I did the same 3 or 4 years ago when i bought a Yamaha AX1 for £670 when they were just over £2000 brand new. I've never even contemplated upgrading/replacing it as it's been excellent.

You can get excellent audio for £300... i also needed a small amp for a set of B&W CDM2SE speakers i had knocking around. Ended up paying £20 plus postage for a Cyrus 1 amp. It's a wonderful little thing. :) That plus cable plus speakers came to £200 all in.

Have a search and see what you find. ;)

gt
 
I'd just like to second the suggestion to go 2nd hand.

I recently bough my amp (FM receiver actually) (a denon DRA-455) from that auction site for about £20, making sure it was from someone local so i didnt have to pay postage. The amp i found very easy to get a cheap decent quality one (i think any more than 2.0 would be more expensive and harder). I chose from what was available rather than the other way round.

Regarding speakers, i bought KEF Cresta 10's which work fine. I paid £105 for these, including delivery and stands (auction ended at £50 :confused: ). I found speakers a little harder to get. I was just very patient, that's the key.
If you can find some locally then that's just gonna be even better for obvious reasons. With speakers though, i looked through what was available daily for a week or so, comparing those which frequently appeared until i had a shortlist of ones i would be confident buying.
 
Indeed 2nd hand is the way to go here.

I recently picked up a mission 5.1 speaker set from that auction site for less than £100 notes.
 
not worth it... it's not as though there are any drastic new technologies that are going to make music sound noticably beter is there. My dad's 30 odd year old amp/receiver only needs replacing cos the knobs are falling off (apparently my brother used to play with them when we were young)!
 
AndyS_UK said:
My dad's 30 odd year old amp/receiver only needs replacing cos the knobs are falling off (apparently my brother used to play with them when we were young)!
Click to expand...
I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere... i just can't see it!!! :p ;)

gt
 
AndyS_UK said:
not worth it... it's not as though there are any drastic new technologies that are going to make music sound noticably beter is there. My dad's 30 odd year old amp/receiver only needs replacing cos the knobs are falling off (apparently my brother used to play with them when we were young)!
Click to expand...

I would probably guess it has far better components in there too. Only thing it might lack is a bit of power.
 
To steal the OP's thunder slightly, if buying 2nd hand, what setup would you suggest on a budget, say £200ish, for speaker, amp and cd player (if that is possible!).
 
You were also looking at AV receivers... can I ask why for a stereo only setup? If you're planning to expand in the future, that's fine, but you could easily integrate your stereo amp into a future surround sound system.

Just because you're playing DVDs and other surround media, it doesn't mean you need a surround amp just for stereo. You're wasting quite a lot of the features that you've paid all the money for (sacrificing some sound quality to boot).
 
Very easy to get something decent for £200 2nd hand.

I paid about £140 for my setup: amp, speakers, stands, cables

Adding a cd player to that won't hurt your budget at all!

Just look at what amps are available locally to you on the bay and pick out some from those ot bid on. FOr £20-30 you should be able to get soemthing 50-100 watt which was a decent price a 5 or so years back (beware there are quite a lot of budget amps floating around which you can avoid if you're careful).

If you want to save money, the key is patience. The time you spend looking will also help you to build up an understanding of what some of the crazy specs mean!
 
Edinho said:
I would probably guess it has far better components in there too. Only thing it might lack is a bit of power.
Click to expand...

Yes you're probably right! I think it's something like 15W. It was never top of the range, but it has always been so nice to listen to (probably better than what I have myself but it's hard to say).
 
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