New Hi-FI advice please.

Monstermunch said:
Depends what you're looking for - When I was looking for new Amp & CD player I started off looking for a Cyrus 6 amp (£700 new) which still fetch £500+ on online auctions, which IMO is ridiculous. Wheras the player I managed to get hold of, people still talk about now 9 years after it's release, it even featured sometime last year gold plated on the front of hi-fi world. This player was also widely regarded as the best available player under £1000 for 3years after it's release.
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Agreed on the cyrus - I dont like the amps personally. There are ridiculous bargains amp wise out there though. More so than CD players, in my opinion.

Very few people will touch speakers because of possible damage caused by having being matched with the wrong components over time.
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That's easy enough to tell when you listen to them

Any 2nd hand speakers i have purchased have turned out to be pretty rubbish and IMO speakers degrade fairly quickly with use. One of my close friends bought a pair of mission 752freedoms when they were released about 8-9 years ago. He has always driven them with good quality equipment and they have never been abused but now they have lost a lot of their tightness and speed - although still a good speaker not what they once were!
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Yes, non-electrostatic speakers lose their "edge" with time, but that certainly shouldnt happen after 8years, in my opinion. We have a pair of 20year old B&W DM7Mk2s that are still great quality, but they are best suited to vinyl use and have lost their excitement. The B&W 802s that replaced them which are nearly 10years old are perfect though. I suppose it all comes down to the original build quality.

Re the Arcam being overly warm - I never found that with my set up. Worked well with all sorts of music and was very listenable. I hate bright stuff though.
 
Liverpool-Lad said:
On a side note, Im tempted to try one of these Claymores. Any idea how itd rack up to a rotel pre/power combo?
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In my modified form it was better than an Exposure 7&8 pre-power of the same era. Would need to spend over a grand on a Naim/Linn etc etc etc multibox set up to get a worth while improvement. Would say it's good up to a grands worth of competition these days...... But hey that's just my view !
 
Go into sevenoaks and listen to a lot of Arcam, Cyrus and Naim stuff. Get an idea of what they all sound like. They all tend to have in house sounds which don't change all that much over the years. Then go out and look for second hand bargains on the equpiment.

I listen to a lot of rock and electronica and I would say that my cyrus/mission combo suits that very well. It's quite 'party'. I think this can put some people off. I did the bad thing of buying blind, but after a lot of research I was confident with my choices.

The difference between buying hi-fi equipment and anything else second hand is that people tend to look after their stuff. There isn't really much you can do to break it if you use it for its intended purpose, which people usually do after spending a lot of cash on their kit! If a component doesn't work, it's obvious, and it will be advertised as such, especially on reputable websites.

As an example of the price reduction that I got from buying older kit:

Cyrus 3 £188 (available for £150 now), originially cost £500
Cyrus DAD3Q24 £350, originall rrp £900
Mission 783 £430, original rrp £1000. Bought new from hyperfi.co.uk, end of line stock. I would never have bought these speakers at full rrp. They would never justify that price tag. However for the money that I paid I think you'd struggle to find better.

People will be able to give you advice on kit if you find something that you think looks good. If you can, find someone selling locally and see if you can go and listen.
 
Man lol after reading this thread I feel worser, I too was just thinking of going to Richer Sounds in Watford and just buying the Cambridge Audio Azur 640A (REV 2.0) for £299.99 and some Senn HD-595 cans and thats it.

This threads like throwing nails in my face ;)
 
DRZ said:
Please please do NOT buy an Azur amplifier without checking out the competiton s/h.

You are doing your wallet and your ears a dis-service by simply disregarding the options available.

I appreciate that you are probably not used to "hifi" and so it could be a bit tricky knowing what is going to go with what. I can imagine someone such as Mr_S, Committed, 9designs2 or MB going to a hifi shop and hearing something and knowing what sort of kit they are going to marry up to well and buying s/h from that experience, but having said that, you can demo nearly all manufacturers current range and get to know the "house sound" offered by them before scouting about on the second hand market.

I would say that for the budget you have available, you forget about cables altogether until your next pay packet - there are significant gains to be had (mainly in the amplifier world) by spending just a little bit more on the amp (s/h or new) and buying lesser cables (dare I say bell wire?!) until you can afford them a month or two down the line. Another reason to do that is being "new" you might not know where things in your listening space will affect the image etc - you wont be happy if you have just spent out on some £25/m cable to find that its 50cm too short but moving them closer spoils the sound!!

I would, in my personal opinion and experience, say that an Azur 640A and Mourdant Short 902is would be a terrible waste of money for a first hifi unless you were hell bent on buying new. Even then, its not too hot a combo no matter what the latest comics say :D

£900 budget would get me something I would be happy with, something like this:

Arcam Alpha 9 or (older) Nait 3 / perhaps a few more if you could stretch a bit
Rega Planet / Arcam Alpha 7se / Meridian 200+203 etc
B&W DM602S3, Castles (severns should be in budget) / Dynaudio Audience 40s or MAYBE 60s if you get lucky) etc

Some SERIOUS kit there, quite a long way from a 640a/MS902i setup in my opinion :)
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This man speaks the truth. I wish I had done this when I was on the market for upgrading my Hifi =[
 
commited said:
Highlander, if you just want to use the amp for headphone use, a dedicated headphone amp would be much better. Head to the head-fi forums for more advice about them!
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Im gonna put a thread up there ive been reading for few weeks now and yeah a lot of guys just get dedicated headphone amps... id actually prefer that cos thats all I ever use anyhow. But only issue id have is I have multiple sources VCR/TV/Cable/PC.... and most headphone amps have one input.

Ill see how the thread goes:)
 
HighlandeR said:
Im gonna put a thread up there ive been reading for few weeks now and yeah a lot of guys just get dedicated headphone amps... id actually prefer that cos thats all I ever use anyhow. But only issue id have is I have multiple sources VCR/TV/Cable/PC.... and most headphone amps have one input.

Ill see how the thread goes:)
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Take a look at the Sugden HeadMaster - has multiple inputs and is rather nice :)
 
Hi, just wanted to say thanks for all the advice it has been really useful.

I also want to add that i hate you lot, this is going to turn out to be a somewhat expensive hobby, and it's all your fault :D

After sleeping on it and mulling over what to do while i was at work today, i have revised my plan, and it now goes something like this.

Possibly tomorow or Wednesday i'm gonna pop into Audio Excelence and sort myself out a demo appointment at some point over the next 2-3 weeks, as they stock a large variety of brands, all the ones i'm interested in. Then i'm gonna demo lots of naim, Arcam, Cyrsu stuff, and some B+W, dynaudio and other speakers. Find what i want and then go looking second hand.

God help me if i really like the naim sound, as my god if it sounds as good as it looks then oh dear, the Cd5i looks stunning, and the nait 5i looks lovely as well :D

As this has now turned into a slightly more long term and probably more expensive project, another little bit of advice is needed. As it is unlikely that all the components i want are going to appear second hand at the same time, will it do any of the components any harm if some are sat not being used for a while until i have all the bits ? I guess not but you never know.
 
Listen to commited and DRZ, they are giving the best advice. Plus commited (mark) helped me chose my amp, and forced me into buying a cheap marantz cd-63 cd player off the 'bay' for £35 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got an arcam delta £290 for £100 off the bay too, and it is truly breathtaking. Have hooked up the marantz CDP using £25 'mark grant interconnects which are tremendous value for money. Got 6m of ixos gamma 6003 speaker wire for £17, and have everything running through my monitor audio B2's.

I can't stress how good this setup sounds. I listened to a mates cambridge audio CDP and amp connected to some eltax speakers, and it sounds like garbage compared to my setup. Just browse the bay and search for 'hifi forsale' in google for your chance to get some great bargins.

O ye, i should say that i was oringinally going to get a marantz pm4001 and cd 5001 or possibly some entry level NAD stuff, but im glad i didn't. amp and cd player for under £150, with my speakers for £170. Plus the marantz CDP is very easy to mod, which will increase its quality at least up to the £600 cd player range.

Also have a look out for the arcam alpha 7se CDP. and look at the highest spec arcam amp you can afford. alpha 9's gor for about £1180-£230 on the bay, but shop around for a great deal.

hope that helps

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DRZ said:
Take a look at the Sugden HeadMaster - has multiple inputs and is rather nice :)
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I didnt even look at the design all I saw was the £599.99 price tag :eek:

Remote control/and sharp looks.... thats when I own my own place and can listen to music without being disturbed and am getting a few 50 quid notes in my pocket each day which is never.

This hobby is £$£$£$ :p
 
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