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£1200 system - what to go for?

T

tiggers

pfm Member
Hi all,

I need to put a system together for my country pad (that may be stretching the description a little lol), but am out of touch with the market in the lower end of the price spectrum. Want to use secondhand gear, but also want reliability and simplicity as others may use it too. Have approx. £1200 budget, maybe a little more.

I am after a CD player, amp and speakers. The speakers need to be floor standers and relatively subtle looks wise. Would also like to be able to plug my iTunes laptop into it and play ripped CDs, but while I have a Naim DAC-V1 to do this asynchronously at my home I don't know how best to do this on a budget.

I'm a Naim man so was originally thinking of a Naim CD player/Nait/IBL set up, but figure it's time to stop being so 'one make' and look at what else is available especially with speakers.

So can I have your ideas and advice on the iTunes connectivity?
 
Not sure about CD but for amps, Exposure, Onix OA21, Sonneteer or LFD.
Speakers, maybe something from Q Acoustics.
 
Nothing wrong with a one make setup, you should easily be able to get something like a Nait/CD5i, Rega Brio R/Apollo R, Linn Genki/Majik I and some decent speakers (Linn Keilidh, Royd Minstrel, Rega RS3). A jack to RCA lead will get you playing tunes from your laptop. All of the above suggestions will sound good.
 
fatmarley said:
Not sure about CD but for amps, Exposure, Onix OA21, Sonneteer or LFD.
Speakers, maybe something from Q Acoustics.
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LFD is an interesting suggestion, can they be bought for that kind of money whilst leaving budget for partnering kit?
 
Ninkas are by far my favourite "affordable" floorstander, easy to drive, sound great in passive form and have the flexibility to govactive, where they sound superb... but they are fetching around £500 for a clean pair at the moment. Definitely worth it though if the budget allows.
 
Thanks for the replies thus far. Have been looking at Ninkas, but out of touch with Linn speakers since the Kabers...... that's a long time ago. Tempted to stay Naim with a Nait, but wonder if I ought to at least look at other options. Always liked Rega kit so that's a good call. Know nothing about Sonneteer or LFD so will do some research.
 
An older Exposure integrated (X, XV or XX) with a pair of Rega Elas or Royd Minstrels can be had well within budget and would leave plenty left over for a decent CD player.
 
When I last looked, the price of Naits had gone crazy and If that's still the case, you should be able to get something better for the money.

Royd Minstrels are very musical but the treble Is a touch hot. I like them but some may not (I did rhyme :)
 
Try blowing most of the budget on speakers (Shahinian Compass would be my choice as they seem to be easy to power, sound good and are not fussy about position - £700-1200).
Then go for a good cheap amp (I am using an A&R A60 - £100-120 but there are plenty of others to choose from).
Finally a 2nd hand DVD player for CD duties (Denon's have good audio circuitry and some will even handle SACD's - £40-120).

That is more or less my 2nd system and it does a good job for the outlay.
 
fatmarley said:
When I last looked, the price of Naits had gone crazy and If that's still the case, you should be able to get something better for the money.

Royd Minstrels are very musical but the treble Is a touch hot. I like them but some may not (I did rhyme :)
Click to expand...
The Nait 5/5i are where the bargains are IMHO. £600+ for an original Nait is nuts, they're nice amps... but not that nice.

Exposure stuff is nice so that's another good suggestion. Roksan make some lovely kit too, an earlier Caspian amp would work nicely with any of the other kit suggested here.
 
I have a similar issue to the OP. I have just bought a villa is Spain and am in the early stages of chucking out the old furniture and stuff that was left and replacing it with new. I was looking at going down the route of a Naim amp plus CD player, tuner and speakers but frankly I may well just settle for a Naim Muso. Just plug it in and connect it to your router (wifi just doesn't do it well enough) and you have every radio station in the world at you disposal plus all the music you could want. Also it can be connected to the TV, so good for WAF.

It may not be up to high end Naim standards but it's really damn good and you get change out of a thousand quid.
 
Mick P said:
I have a similar issue to the OP. I have just bought a villa is Spain and am in the early stages of chucking out the old furniture and stuff that was left and replacing it with new. I was looking at going down the route of a Naim amp plus CD player, tuner and speakers but frankly I may well just settle for a Naim Muso. Just plug it in and connect it to your router (wifi just doesn't do it well enough) and you have every radio station in the world at you disposal plus all the music you could want. Also it can be connected to the TV, so good for WAF.

It may not be up to high end Naim standards but it's really damn good and you get change out of a thousand quid.
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I do like the Muso, I bought one from richer sounds a while back for my parents' conservatory, it's now living in their (fully brick built) garden bar where it consistently impresses visitors, it's remarkable for its size and looks great.
 
The calls for a one-box solution are not misplaced. It's a holiday home. I spent New Year at a friend's place, the music system was a decent bluetooth speaker. I have to say that it was good enough. Not hifi but not out of the way and if people show up with music on phones (as those below the age of 50 are now wont to do) then it just works.

If you still want a traditional hifi, then I'd be getting Linn Keilidh speakers as they look great, sound very nice and are available in the better finishes for £200-250 which is a steal for what you get. A Rotel 965, Marantz 63, Denon 1015 or similar (£50) are all very good, then amplifier of choice. But I woudn't need to spend £1200, and I'd be looking hard at bluetooth type solutions that would allow me to stream from a Spotify type account, internet radio or my own NAS via the internet and a mobile phone.
 
If you haven't entirely ruled out Naim, then:

Naim CD3/CDI
Creek 4140s2/Nait 3/Exposure X or XV/NVA integrated

The Nait 3 is rather in the shadow of the Nait and Nait 2, but offers excellent performance (IMO), for less money, and I prefer it to 5/5i.

Not sure about speakers, as I'm more of a stand mount guy, so would have recommended Epos ES11s, but:
IBLs/Linn Keilidh/Rega Ela...
 
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