Im considereing buying a hi-fi unit of sorts, but i wouldnt mind something with pretty good quality, theres abviously B&O up there but i cant afford those sorts of prices at all.

Now i dont know anything about brand names in sound apart from car and computing.

So i was wondering what names to go for

What sort of price are you looking at? I generally find that buying What Hifi is a good idea and then going through all there reviews in the back. They also have some good system suggestions where they work on a budget and get the best setup that works together well. Might be worth a look.

Need to know budget really

Steve

First thing is how much you want to spend.

Second is what sort of a system are you after?

Something just to play music from CD through a pair of speakers , or do you want a 7.1 channel surround system for use with a TV and dvd player?

Don't buy by brand, buy by sound! What sounds good to one person, may not sound good to you. Best advice is to work out a budget and pop along to a hifi shop (eg Richer Sounds) and get them to price up some kit and let you listen to it in their demo room. Take along a selection of your favourite CD's too so you can make sure the stuff you listen to will sound how you like it

Chris

It is worth spending most money on the front end of your system ie the source of your music (CD player, Turntable-remember them-etc) as your system can

It is worth spending most money on the front end of your system ie the source of your music (CD player, Turntable-remember them-etc) as your system can’t sound any better than the thing that plays the music.

I don't think that's as much of an issue as it used to be.

There's far less variation in sound quality between different CD players than used to be the case with turntables or cassette decks , and even relatively modest sources not much more than a hundred quid will sound very good with an amp and speakers quite a bit more pricey.

You'll get a better sound from say

Yup get a good amp to start with, decent speakers and then think about the player, the best player in the world is only as good as the amp, and the sound you hear comes from the speakers

Hmmm, I

Yup get a good amp to start with, decent speakers and then think about the player, the best player in the world is only as good as the amp, and the sound you hear comes from the speakers

But they are all weak links. For example, I heard a decent amp and speakers which actually highlighted the deficiencies in a CD player and made listening to it frustrating..... Best to spread the money more evenly and buy a matched setup, imho

Chris

When I bought my hi-fi system I did as everyone has suggested and went along to my local hi-fi shop with a stack of my favourite CDs. For me, it was the speakers that made the biggest difference. The cheaper (sub

Don't forget to budget for the leads and speaker cable. Cutting costs here will strangle the sound.

Andy

Re the 'front end'

An analogy is buying a camera with a naff lens - no matter how hard you try you will always essentially get naff pictures whatever you do to try and improve matters.

Buy a similar one with a good lens and the 'world is your oyster'.

Yes, the front-end (with the coming of CD players) 'playing field' is far more level with respect to price paid against quality achieved but there are still audible differences.

Above all, as you are going to live with this system for several years, you should listen to as similar a system as possible, to a variety of material, over a half hour at least, in a suitable room (i.e. furnished to some extent or sound deadened in areas to simulate your lounge - not in a showroom packed with other audio equipment as, even if all the equipment is turned off, it will have a deleterious effect on the sound) etc etc

Garbage in, garbage out.

And don't let the salesperson baffle you with technical jargon - the best person to decide what's best for you is YOU - it's your ears that have to listen to it(Most systems have a very similar frequency range -) , and as you get older your frequency range decreases, but the bits you can't hear sometimes make a great deal of difference to the overall sound.

At the end of the day it depends on the style of music you are wanting to listen to and the volume you intend to play it at, and of course how critical you are;) Imho tho the greatest gains in bang per buck are in the amp and speakers. As mentioned don't use bell wire Belkin Blue pure AV cable is reasonably priced and gives good reproduction over moderate distances (try Amazon )but takes some hiding

at the moment im looking at 200ish maybe just above, it doesnt need to be loads of fancy bits and bats, but i do want it to sound the part, i just want something to play cd's hehe, what else can i say, im not really fluent in hifi speak

I think at that price, you will be limited to what you can buy as separate Ruku. You may well have to go for a one make hifi to maximise your budget. This does mean that you won

Have a nosy at some of the Which / What HiFi etc mags (might still have viewable versions at libraries - if not nosy whilst at Asda etc) - see their recommendations, try to get a listen somewhere with your material, and then try to get the best price.

Two paths possible here at that budget. First is to get to Richer Sounds and speak to the staff. Second and my preferred option would be to go for second hand gear of a higher quality, but that will take time to research.

Even better, get an all in one unit by one of the major Japanese brands for as little as you can tolerate, then start saving for a decent quality setup. Entry level for properly high quality sound is well under

I think at that price, you will be limited to what you can buy as separate Ruku. You may well have to go for a one make hifi to maximise your budget.

Oh, I dunno...joy of places like Richer Sounds...

If it were me, I'd go for:

Cambridge Audio amp for a ton, I actually got one of the slightly cheaper end-of-line Cambridge Audio amps for playing the output from my computer, and for the money I think they're ace.

CD player...Acoustic Solutions - it's cheap, but IMHO there's not a right lot of difference between the

Oh, I dunno...joy of places like Richer Sounds...

If it were me, I'd go for:

Cambridge Audio amp for a ton, I actually got one of the slightly cheaper end-of-line Cambridge Audio amps for playing the output from my computer, and for the money I think they're ace.

CD player...Acoustic Solutions - it's cheap, but IMHO there's not a right lot of difference between the

Oh, I dunno...joy of places like Richer Sounds...

If it were me, I'd go for:

Cambridge Audio amp for a ton, I actually got one of the slightly cheaper end-of-line Cambridge Audio amps for playing the output from my computer, and for the money I think they're ace.

CD player...Acoustic Solutions - it's cheap, but IMHO there's not a right lot of difference between the

Have your first thanks on me Rob

Have your first thanks on me Rob

:woohoo:

Rob.

Oh just a thought, you could alternatively just buy Amp and Speakers and get by with your CDs being played from a DVD player or even a PC till you can save up and afford a decent CD player (they do sound quite different, depending on which models you go for)

I'm liking the idea of running it off my pc, i shall do some looking into some amps and speakers to see what options i have ^-^