In need of a new Hi Fi System - A serious music entrepreneur!

[Robe$h]

Hello everybody.

I'm not sure if you get many of these threads, so if you do then I apologise in advance!

My current CD Hi Fi system has packed in and I'm in search of a new one. Being a serious music addict, I don't want to go out there and just buy any old thing, I wanna get the best I can for my money! I have thousands of CD's and I mainly listen to metal and post-rock kind of music and I'm looking for a system that would be great at handling this kind of music, if there is such a system out there!

My budget is around £200 - £400 and I've been looking at a few things like the Acram Alpha 8 series amps and the Mission Cyrus 780 speakers but I really have no idea what I should be looking for or where to be looking for it!

Thank you very much for the help, it is much appreciated!

Kind regards,
-Rob.

 

[9designs2]

OK, this thread will probably go the way of most, and some saying you need to spend 10K, and others saying it only takes £199 from you local cheap jack shop, and they can't tell the difference anyway.....

So I'll make a few suggestion on what I think is the best plan....
everyone has their own "quality level" that is a point where the performance of the equipment, or I should say the performance of the music played, is such that you feel satisfied and fulfilled..... Now that level changes over time as you become more accustomed to better reproduction. But everyone still has a threshold.

So rather than setting some budget, unless it means putting the kids on the street etc and your fixed solid on the budget, you need to find your "quality level". At what point do you say, "for me better is not worth the extra expense".
You can only do this by listening to arrange of equipment at various prices points.
When you have found your level, you can then work to building to that system.

If you do it the "normal" way by fixed price, or because a chap on forum said it was good, you end up with a system that doesn't really do it for you......then spend the next 5 years "upgrading" and spending 3 times as much as that expensive system you couldn't justify on day one !!!.....trust me seen it so many times, been there and got the picture disc to prove it !!!

I say all this because as a "Serious Music Entrepreneur".. I guess you want a quality system you will live with and enjoy for some time.....
Personally I think a system is worth the "extra" investment in time and money.

So go listen and see what floats your boat.......then report back for some nit picking

 

[DRZ]

Yeah, I'd agree with that 9designs2 (I really hate your username by the way! It doesnt "flow" ).

I'd suggest that second hand is the way to go really and perhaps a good couple of days in your local hifi shops having a poke about

You say you've got thousands of CDs - quite an investment there so I would certainly look to doing them justice by making sure whatever you choose for your amp matches up well with your CD player of choice. They are not all born equal!

For rock music, you might find some of the amps at around the £100-£200 mark on the s/h market to be a little "thin" on the sound. I would say that the Arcam units were probably the better of them for what you want to do with it without upping your budget a bit. Go and have a listen to a brand new model in a local shop and see what you think

 

[Robe$h]

Hello people.

Thank you very much for the help, I really appreciate that.

A few people have already said to me that if I have so many CD's and love music so much then I really should get a good setup to do my music collection justice. Of course going second hand is the only real way I can do this on my tight budget but I'm always so weary of buying second hand and whether or not what I'm going to be paying is a good price... Is the bay the best place really to look or are there other places too? Sorry if you can't really mention that on here...

Also with regards to CD players, do these also enhance the sound of the music as well as the amp? So it's very wise to purchase a good CD player also?

Again, thank you for the help

Kind regards,
-Rob

 

[tom_nieto]

A few people have already said to me that if I have so many CD's and love music so much then I really should get a good setup to do my music collection justice.

If you've spend thousands of pounds on CDs, why not? Definitely get a good CD player to do it justice.

 

[marl]

How many CD's have you?

 

[Robe$h]

Well I'm not going to manually count them all now but it's got to be heading to the 3000 mark... So maybe not 'thousands' but it is still a substantial lot. A lot of them though I bought when I was young so of course I look at them now and think 'what the hell was I thinking?' but seeing as I listen to all kinds of metal and rock, that covers a vast amount of bands and artists... And the internet is a music lovers dream for discovering new music so I'm pretty much buying CD's everyday. And I do have a favourite album out of all that haha!

You can obviously see why I want a worthwhile hi fi to play my music on. If I don't have a decent system I will be letting myself down I feel...

But thank you for the interest and the replies, much appreciated again...

Kind regards,
Rob

 

[9designs2]

There are various schools of thought, but I'm going to say it is essential to get a good CD player, for sure you can get cheaper players, cheap DAC's off the Internet and use PC's as "players"..... but I've yet to hear any that does what a well sort CD player does, and that's play music... the other methods make a fair stab at getting the tone and detail right, but they don't convey the musicality and "foot tapping" nature that a good player can.

This where you need to spend time at specialist dealer, getting to understand the effect of each part.... a good dealer will take you through what he can achieve.
Many have traded in items as well, so buying from their used stock, saves a few quid, and still allows the dealer support of new.

Try and find your nearest Linn or maybe Naim dealer, and see what they can demonstrate, dealers with those brands, have to have decent facilities to keep the dealership, so should look after you.


DRZ, re user name, it should and is 9designs, drop the 2, when OcUK rest all the user accounts a few years back, I couldn't log back in with original user name, maybe I forgot my password ....so had to open a new account, and stuck a 2 on the end....
9d