o/t house hi-fi recomendations ?

[JeffC]

cheers chaps will see if I can get some demos  

[juansolo]

I've got a pair of KEF eggs listed on ebay at the moment and am currently undecided about listing the M&K VX-7II sub that I used to run with them also. Would make a nice, domestically friendly small music system (it's what I used them for) on the end of a half decent amp. They make a surprisingly nice sound together. As someone else has said, you cannae break the laws of physics so ultimate volume isn't that high, but it goes loud enough.

[juansolo]

I think it was Linn (or magazines at the time of analogue) that recommended 50% of budget on sound source then 50% on amp/speakers.

I sort of stuck to that with £1000 on CD player then £600 on amp and £400 on some s/h speakers. Boring bit was £?00 on speaker cables, bi-wired of course!

Then the wax in ears thing happened = largely waste of ££

LOL, been there, done that. Years of going to concerts and listening to very loud rock music have pretty much shagged my hearing. To the point that I actually wear ear plugs to gigs now so as not to make it any worse.

As such I've been gradually scaling down from the massive multi-poweramp-fest stereo system I used to have, to a still somewhat excessive (only one power amp) home cinema system, to now, as of last week, a set nice sensible speakers bought 2nd hand for the princely sum of £288 (for mains, rears and centre) with a budget H/C processor and they sound absolutely fine to me. Admittedly I did keep one of my subs from the old system...

That and I'm getting old.

[daveac]

Another vote for Sonos here.  Gives you flexibility to simultaneously play different audio in up to 32 different zones in the house and will play all your itunes stuff striaght off.  You can make the set-up process complicated for a very bespoke application but straight out of the box it literally sets itself up - yes it uses a network but you don't have to be network literate.  They come as either amplified versions - just plug in your choice of speakers.  Or for more audiophile control, just a wireless receiver in each zone and then add your own choice of amps and speakers.  Does napster and online radio too.  And the controller is virtually an ipod in design so you'll have no problems fathoming that out.

Have a look

[JeffC]

been out and had a listen to a Bose docker thing today and was unimpressed    prob sounds ok for what it is but im comparing it to what Ive got in the living room and on a scale of 1-10 it was about a 2  

[JeffC]

bttt

well I bought the Bose docker 9 months ago out of desperation as I couldn't decide what to buy, used it twice and was as s***e as i thought it would be so it sat unused til i sold it last month on ebay and made a tidy profit  so all wasnt so bad  

so anyway im looking for something to replace it with          

anyone bought anything recently that is impressive looking for same criteria as post one other than im not bothered about the ipod connection as ive noticed on the denon docker I bought to run through my tv music system the quality is crap compared to the tv or cd      

so really what can I get in a decent cd /radio system  

[Matt Seabrook]

Thats not like you Jeff buy something and then a few months later sell it

[KerryS]

I'm rather disapppointed with Denon stuff. I have had 4 min-fi systems from them and all have packed up with one function or another. Just taken them all down to the tip. Shame really as Denon has food reputation and the mini-fi speakers were made by Mission and are good. Those I still have and would make useful surround sound speakers.

[JeffC]

Thats not like you Jeff buy something and then a few months later sell it

   

[Pew]

In the kitchen I have a Bose system with a large Bose subwoofer "hidden" on top of the fridge freezer. Main speakers are Bose 191's mounted in the ceiling all driven by a Cambridge Audio seperates (Amp, DAC and CD player). Music comes via streaming via a Roku soundbridge from iTunes / Twonky Server and Radio is direct Internet streaming.

If you cannot hide wires etc I would recommend a BOSE Wave system, but *£'s

[dhutch]

Ive just bought myself a pair of whalfdale diamond 9.1's and have been demo'ing them to myself today.

- £98 from richer sounds and im very happy with them. They outperform the simularly sized 10yo missons the parents have in there kitchen anyway.

Daniel

[tex]

Small speakers suck at playing loud music properly. Physics says so.

If you want it to rattle the walls you'll be needing proper big speakers.

Get yerself a copy of What hi-fi to sit in the loo with.

I like British hifi meself (Monitor, Cambridge that sort of w**ky stuff) not just cos it's patriotic, cos it's got soul. Modern German audio, like modern German music, hasn't.

Bose's strap line says it all : 'better sound through research' - where's the love? Listening to music ain't about how accurately Karl-Heinz has managed to convert anologue to digital and back again, it's about how quick your heart beats when you play it loud. I wanna listen to my stuff through the sort of speakers Syd Barrett would have chosen, not David Hasslehof.

Do I sound gay?

tell ya - iv listened to the bose lifestyle set up a few times and they really can deliver when pumpin.. i was really impressed but way out of my league - well over a grand..

[JeffC]

tell ya - iv listened to the bose lifestyle set up a few times and they really can deliver when pumpin.. i was really impressed but way out of my league - well over a grand..

agreed Ive got the lifestyle in the living room on the main tv and whilst the 7 cubes are good the Bose sub was very disappointing, I now run the Bose at one side of the room built in behind the telly and bought an Rel Q400 sub which is awesome    to run in the middle of the room, I have it set up /balanced through the denon amp and working together it sounds as good as anything I've heard    

to buy new retail money on my complete set up is something crazy like £5k but other than the telly I bought it all second hand at a fraction of the price  

im trying to do the same for a hi fi but there is so much stuff out there its hard to know what to go for