Confused between Hi-Fi and AV unit

Meloco

Meloco

Meloco

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Hi all,

I am looking to venture into the Hi-Fi/AV market and have a budget of around £800.

Currently I have been into a few shops and been recommended a few setups but the more I do my own research the more confusing 'expected' audio quality and meeting personal requirements everything becomes.

Requirements

  • play music from my iPhone/Spotify once I walk into the room (preferably wireless over usb)
  • play audio from PC system - optical audio
  • Be able to upgrade and add a sub-woofer (if even required - some say not)
​

The two systems I have looked at are:

System 1
  • AV/AMP: YAMAHARXV677
  • Speakers: KEF Q300

System 2
  • Power AMP: CAMBRIDGE AUDIOAZUR 651W
  • Network Receiver: (i.e. SONOS/CAMBRIDGE AUDIOSTREAM MAGIC 6)
  • Speakers: Tannoy REVOLUTION DC6


The budget may be a bit low to perform all of these tasks and I would prefer having a hi-fi system which has good sound quality for music and the odd film being played, with the system being more of a building block for better upgrades, rather than a cheaper system which may suffer from quality or adding network system or more powerful speakers

I do have access to an Ethernet cable if required and have no preference to the size of speakers, i.e. floor standing or bookshelf. No CD player is required, as everything is stored either on the PC or Phone.

Room sizes:
Main room for use: 7.0m x 4.0m
Kitchen: 2.45m x 6.0m
 
1) Don't pick speakers until you've heard them. There was a thread on here a few weeks ago where a guy bought an amp and speakers (DC6 coincidentally) just based on reviews. He absolutely hated the system. It ended up going back and he did the job right by sitting in a dem and listening.

2) The STREAM MAGIC 6 + Power amp looks an interesting combo. Just one question: How do you change the volume?

Looking at the user manual there's no mention of the device being able to alter its own volume. There's buttons to control a CA amp that it might be connected to, but no direct volume controls on the Stream Magic 6 v1 or v2


Personally I think the Stream Magic might be a good solution for you if it was connected to a conventional Hi-Fi amp rather than a power amp. I also think you're on the right track focusing on music. A good music system will always make a decent job of playing movies in stereo. It doesn't always work so well the other way round.
 
Something you could look at is a Raspberry Pi 2 with Volumio to playback music from your iPhone or PC to your HiFi or it will playback from a network hard drive and you just use your iPhone or PC as the controller

Also comes up as a playback device within iTunes and as Play To option within Windows

vie5bt.jpg
 
hmm , the problem your immediately hitting , especially if your looking for a hi-fi set-up , is you want wireless for music. hi-fi amps at budget end are probably hard to find that do that. on saying that im abit out of the loop on hi-fi amps ... will check

Does it have to be a speaker set-up ? or would you consider headphone amp / headphones ?
 
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I would prefer to stay with the speaker route atm.

Is the AV amp (Yamaha) not a good route then for hi-fi?
 
How much of an audiophile are you? :)

If not massive you could go with Sonos and have a multiroom solution at the same time. Though for £800 you could get Sonos 1 for kitchen and Conect amp and set of speakers for main room.
 
Meloco said:
Is the AV amp (Yamaha) not a good route then for hi-fi?
Click to expand...
It depends on your standards of what you'll find acceptable for Hi-Fi.

There are plenty of folk who want a movie surround system that does okay for music too. For them, and with a 5.1 surround speaker package, then the Yamaha amp would be a pretty decent choice.

Your situation is different though. You aren't looking for surround sound. You're not using a BD player or some other device that needs an AV receiver to do a lot of signal decoding or handle HDMI. Your needs are very much down the vanilla/basic stereo system route. The only exception is the need to handle optical. For you then, a Hi-Fi amp and a media streamer with optical in would seem to cover all your bases.

The only potential fly in the ointment is the file quality that you are playing. If your playing heavily compressed MP3s or all your music comes from Youtube then you don't need a decent Hi-Fi or even a decent AV amp TBH. Crappy signal in = crappy signal out. But if you're ripping your own music to files then a decent 2 channel system will let you hear it in the best quality. An AV receiver will do okay, but won't be in the same league.
 
As lucid said if you use mp3s and want to watch movies then a normal av amp will do as there is no point spending a fortune on a decent stereo system for compressed files.

I have a laptop hooked up to an old hi fi all in one and it sounds fine for my mp3s but I've tried playing uncompressed rips through it and the system doesn't do them justice.
 
Thanks for the responses guys.

I only mention films because there's the odd film a month that I would watch through the PC, most of the time it will be music only.

Most of the digital formats on my PC have been ripped from CDs (FLAC), the only compressed MP3s played will be through Spotify (192kbps?) using the phone.

I heard the SONOS speakers in a high-street shop and tbh they just aren't what I am looking for. I would rather ditch the wireless requirement in favour of aux if that is the aspect causing the most issue.

edit: Notwithstanding hearing the speakers in person first, I think this system may reflect all the comments made here:

amp: marantz pm6005
speakers: kef q300
wireless: (£70 budget) wireless addon system
 
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Sonos has a bigger range than just the wireless/Ethernet speakers. TBH, if someone in a store really understood your requirements then they'sd have shown you the Sonos Connect streaming media player hooked in to a Hi-Fi amp & speakers rather than go the lazy route with Play speakers.

That's by-the bye though because I still feel Sonos isn't right for you. It suits many other people's needs, but I think you need something different.

By the sound of it your PC is possibly the main quality source (FLAC rips), then followed by Spotify streaming from the phone; but that's more about convenience. As such then, the PC is the media library rather than you using a NAS drive. This means the PC will be on when playing music and so you have a means of controlling play lists. That's fine.

Tell me though, what happened to needing an optical from the PC to the Hi-Fi?

The Marantz is a good amp, but it has no digital inputs: No coax, no optical. It's an all analogue affair. So have you ditched the idea of using optical out from the PC?
 
now the biggest question you should ask is how much do you REALLY want surround sound.

so you have 800 to spend.

to drive each speaker you need amplification so instead of splitting 800 between 2 channels (£400/channel) then you have to split it between 5 (£80/channel)

When I went and demoed units the quality difference between stereo and surround sound was night and day (when given set budget). To be honest surround sound is a cool trick but not the be all and end all of acoustic pleasure and if you are on a set budget then you will get far better quality from stereo.

just some food for thought, try and get a demo of a naim muso (not in John Lewis). it doesn't provide the upgrade route you want but everything else with spades.
 
stuman, AFAIK surround speakers are not being considered?

Maybe you're thinking of that because the OP mentioned AV receiver.

From what I can gather, that was more because they are affordable with digital inputs, than to use with surround speakers. I think the OP has only ever stated his intent to go for a stereo setup. Given that he has said he will only watch the odd film, and music will be the main stay of the system, a surround sound setup would not be the right choice for him.
 
personally, of the two id pick system one in a heartbeat.

though somewhere was doing the Q600's (in white and rosewood) for just 400 so id grab those instead of the 300 if still available.

i can see why some are saying dont get an av reciever but i probably would. it lets you add a centre and surrounds later if you want, it also lets you grow into a real media set up with the ability to have multiple hdmi inputs. so while you are spreading your money arround amps in there that for the moment you wont be using it does allow for years of growing your system.
 
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