And you are in the market for speakers (bookshelf) and an amp. What would you get? Currently considering various Fyne audio speakers and a few amps.. I want something punchy, without booming bass. I have a sub for that I can switch off.
NAD D3045 & Monitor Silver 100 for slightly over budget (if you shop around, e.g. open-box, maybe just under) Or for slightly more - https://www.sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk/p-45633-nad-d-3045-kef-ls50-speakers.aspx Or KEF LSX for a fair bit under budget.
Cheers. I'll give it some thought. I like the amp and the vertical standing. That could be very handy.
I got one of those already 12" long throw and she don't half hum ! Oddly the RRP was £800. I bought it with no legs (I robbed those from the speakers next to it) and it was broken. Took me about ten mins to fix. Someone had dropped it and it came apart at the seams, but it is literally held together by rods and they had just slipped out. I paid £120.
Lots of humming and harring on this. Obs I blew the budget on PC parts (doh) but at least that is done now. Been looking for ages, and I *think* I will be settled on these. https://www.whathifi.com/quad/s-1/review Possibly in mahogany. I will also need two power amps, so I am currently weighing up my choices there. I may, depending on budget, just get a couple of Crown amps. We will see. I got about another month of saving first though.
I'd second the D3045 - I have one and I love it. It's fed by an Aries Mini, and plays out to a pair of 686s and a T/Zero - I actually prefer it to the LSX Minis (which was the option my BiL went for, also with a T/Zero).
Did big home receivers fall out of fashion or are they just not popular in the UK? I see a lot of people going with an amp instead of an AV reciever.
Depends on what you want - if you have no need for multi-channel, HDMI switching or room correction, then you're either going to spend way more than you need to or compromise on 2ch quality for the sake of superfluous features.
With the UK construction trends of shoebox size living rooms, a wall being wasted by a fireplace and lack of cable routing options surround sound is usually not a convenient option and if you are limited to stereo sound anyway you might as well just stick a £100 soundbar under the TV and skip all the extra stuff like receiver, amp etc.
Those huge AV receivers always scared me. There is just so much to go wrong. I also don't like being forced into a choice of buying like, all of your gear in one unit. The AV32 I am using now is pre out only. So you need to couple it with power amps, or, powered devices. My sub and centre are powered, so I just run a RCA cable into them and I am done. I am currently running two valve amps. So an AV receiver was never an option, as no one makes valve powered AV receivers that I have seen and if they did? it would cost about 20 grand. I absolutely love this AV32. Not just with movies, but with music. It has a "Tag Mclaren" mode for surround. Which basically makes everything surround. It just does it incredibly cleverly. Like, you will be listening to a tune and it will remove the voices from certain instruments or sounds and they slowly creep up on you from behind. I was listening to an acid track by Dusty Kid a few days back and I got goosebumps. There's this really harsh acid techno type sound and it just creeps up behind you. It's absolutely amazing. So much so I don't even flick it into direct mode any more. It's like discovering all of your music over and over again. And Jeff Bridge's War Of The Worlds is spine tingling on it. My rear amp is dying though, and I CBA messing around with it. I want a better amp up front too, so I am going to buy two amps the same.
You should probably try Jeff Waynes War of the Worlds then ... I guessing a lot better than Jeff Bridges version LOL
That makes sense. as a teen I had an AV receiver, 2x floor standing speakers and 2x bookshelf speakers in my bedroom and a big surround sound setup with an "AV cabinet" in the living room. Now I have a nice pair of studio monitor speakers that connect to my TV, computer and Bluetooth that takes care of all my requirements. I'm planning to move to a larger place in the new year and have been thinking about moving up to a surround setup and if there is even a reason to have an AV receiver when everything is streaming and can plug directly into one of the many HDMI ports on the TV and audio out to the speakers over optical.
We've got a Q Acoustics M2 soundbase. It works well enough, is a big step up from from puny flat-panel TV speakers and delivers a surprisingly weighty sound when watching the odd film. I should add, when we had an LG TV there were frequent drop-outs and sound quality was OK but, too bass heavy and rather flat and dull. Since we switched to a Samsung QLED, earlier this year, sound quality is transformed and, it just works.
Soundbars seems to get a bad rap, but honestly I think they're pretty good these days. Both in terms of bang for buck and outright audio quality. There's a soundbar out there that's "good enough" for just about any demands, and when the alternative is a big metal box with a shedload of wires connected to a bunch of other boxes, and an imposing learning curve, it wouldn't surprise me if AVRs were falling from fashion.
If tight on space and paired with a sub. At least they will be 100x time better then the tv speakers.
My sound bar is great. Only some cheap Bose thing, but makes for a great powered centre speaker. That's the issue when you have a pre amp... It's either more amps and more wiring, or just run a RCA out into something powered. Either way it works. Really well. Oddly enough just as this has been replied to I have made my decision and handed over some spondoolies. I wanted something really nice. Don't we all? however, I wanted it to all fit in the budget. Which before I typed this was £800. I almost paid £1100 for just some speakers the other day, but that would have been really stupid. They would have sat gathering dust for months, as Christmas is next up for me. So I decided to change things around a bit and start looking at used equipment. I just had one issue. Power amps. Good, stereo, hifi, power amps are really expensive. Like, entry starts at around £900. That's over my budget, without speakers. I also wanted something different to the norm on the speakers. Two brands have always been compelling to me, as we used to use them to test against at Rogers. Sonus Faber and Martin Logan. Now obviously both are miles out of my budget. However, I eventually found two deals. One was for Martin Logan Motion 15. These were £700+ RRP, these ones are up for £350 on Ebay from a proper hifi store. I had a listen to them on Youtube (who use professional recording equipment) and I use my T5P. Whilst obviously this is not ideal it does give me a very good idea of the sound signature. IE, too bass heavy, too bright, etc. The Martin Logan have incredible high end, but the bass is really lacking. Even in an enormous room. Then I found these for £399. These are brand new in the box though. RRP was £650 or there abouts. After listening to them on Youtube it was pretty obvious. They pack a 7.1" driver, and have amazing bass response. Treble isn't too bright, and they punch quite hard. Obviously I have read a lot of reviews also, but yeah I had pretty much decided these were the speakers for me. So I started doing the checks (run the company name through Google, street view etc) and I found their website. As soon as I saw this for £329 I made my mind up. Phoned them up, and after a nice chat they threw in free shipping. So they cost me £728 ready to go with the power amp. That of course is the perfect match for the pre amp I have. It should arrive Friday. I'm glad common sense prevailed, or I would have been broke until next Spring. Not a sensible move.
