£2.5k budget secondhand hi-fi advice
- Thread starter waterox
- Start date
Heh.. yes WTF indeed
Well those Meridians are 25-30 years old so maybe that price is a little steep?
I was thinking 10 years old gear should be safe but 30 year old actives?
Not much info about the M10's. Anyone here have any experience with them?
I could live with how they look, theyre quite eccentric
..I have my own place so I can buy whatever the heck I like!
Well those Meridians are 25-30 years old so maybe that price is a little steep?
I was thinking 10 years old gear should be safe but 30 year old actives?
Not much info about the M10's. Anyone here have any experience with them?
I could live with how they look, theyre quite eccentric
..I have my own place so I can buy whatever the heck I like!Checked out the IMF's. Crazy, exotic, super ugly.. but all the way down to 20hz?
I could research vibrational massage recordings with those...
There's also a MF A308 integrated on ebay that looks good.
Hm maybe 15 years old maximum.. otherwise I would be worrying about when caps need replacing and driver foam is about to disintegrate..
I could research vibrational massage recordings with those...
There's also a MF A308 integrated on ebay that looks good.
Hm maybe 15 years old maximum.. otherwise I would be worrying about when caps need replacing and driver foam is about to disintegrate..
Checked out the IMF's. Crazy, exotic, super ugly.. but all the way down to 20hz?
I could research vibrational massage recordings with those...
There's also a MF A308 integrated on ebay that looks good.
Hm maybe 15 years old maximum.. otherwise I would be worrying about when caps need replacing and driver foam is about to disintegrate..
if your room is huge, you could always get a pair of Celestion Ditton 66 .... none on ebay right now, but expect to pay £800-£900 for a decent pair ... I still prefer the IMF though for the same price .... places like wembley loudspeakers in London still service these for fairly cheap
herewith the specs (18 Hz to 40 kHz)
http://mycolectionditton.com/Ditton66.html
as for the amp, I still would look closely at the Musical Fidelity A5 (these are still fairly new and will drive any/most speakers with ease (250 watts @ 8 ohms) ... and expect to pay approx £900 for one in mint condition (these were approx $2500 new)
For info the room is 20m square, and I'm very curious to have extremely low frequencies as I'm into stuff like Pauline Oliveros' Deep Listening, acousmatic (only stereo obviously) recordings and experiments in sound generally.
I cant wait to hear what Phil Niblock sounds like through an incredible system...
I cant wait to hear what Phil Niblock sounds like through an incredible system...
foxwelljsly
Me too, I ate one sour too.
Slightly over budget, but I think those with a Benchmark DAC Pre would be amazing.
Not sure what a reasonable offer on them might be - you might want to ask if they come with grilles - they're not as obtrusive as you might think with these in place.
Failing that, if I had £2.5k to play with I'd start with a Benchmark Pre and an Exposure IV DR stereo power amp and play with speakers until I found a pair that worked well in my room and matched the amp. IME, unlike the front end, choosing speakers is very much a process of trial and error and site specific.
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20 sq meters = a room of 4m X 5m .... that is approx the same size as my listening room ...
you may be well pleased with an old pair of B&W DM2 speakers (the 1st version that were hand built) ... 3 way transmissions with the same tweeters/supertweeters as the old Spendor BC1 (but much better)
very good at bass as they are transmission line design ... you can 'feel the bass' ... that will leave loads of cash left to get your room acoustically treated (bass traps etc), and worthwhile getting an expert to check that out
good thing is that these sell for cheap ... have seen some advertised for approx £250 ... and have seen a pair sell for under £30 .... I paid £53 for mine (actually paid £50, as the seller did not have change)... had the cabinets french polished, added new grille cloth and to be honest, I very much doubt if I will ever part with them (would make excellent tv main speakers in a home cinema system when I eventually get my IMF speakers)
I currently use an old Pioneer SA-9800 amp (100 watts @ 8 Ohms), .... works very well, but works much better with the Musical Fidelity A5 integrated that I had on loan
if you are near cambridge, and would like to have a listen to the speakers, and have a few beers, drop me a mail ... you are most welcome
mountain biker
The hills are alive
If you mean its a square room you will really struggle to achieve proper deep bass
have never been good at maths, but don't think 20 meters can be square? (i.e in building terms/architectural practise)
DarrenW
Oxygen User
please don;t pay £1500 for H2s on ebay - great speakers but market price is well below that - wait and a pair will come up at circa £800 - hard to beat if you like a live sound, add a leak stereo 20 and a passive pre and job done
If you are adamant that you don;t want to hear systems at others houses then you could do worse than start from there (or any other classic system) and change what you don;t like on the second hand market - have fun and don;t buy new!
If you are adamant that you don;t want to hear systems at others houses then you could do worse than start from there (or any other classic system) and change what you don;t like on the second hand market - have fun and don;t buy new!
Yes it's rectangular with a bay window. Actually my mixing room is nearly square but that's another story..
There will be loads of room treatment going in there and the mix position will be well into the center of the room. For my lounge I probably wont go as far as treatment just yet. So that adds speakers that are forgiving to the list..
It's perfectly possible to have a square room of 20 metres by the way (the square root of 20 is 4.47)
Thanks for the offer, I would if I wasnt in London! If anyone wants to show off their uber-system in London (I'm in N4) that would be great. I may get to demo the M10's though my instincts tell me that something 30 years old that is both amp and speaker may not be a good idea.
There will be loads of room treatment going in there and the mix position will be well into the center of the room. For my lounge I probably wont go as far as treatment just yet. So that adds speakers that are forgiving to the list..
It's perfectly possible to have a square room of 20 metres by the way (the square root of 20 is 4.47)
Thanks for the offer, I would if I wasnt in London! If anyone wants to show off their uber-system in London (I'm in N4) that would be great. I may get to demo the M10's though my instincts tell me that something 30 years old that is both amp and speaker may not be a good idea.
halvis
pfm Member
I think they would be worth a listen and then negotiating from there. He won't ship anyway, so I am sure you would listen prior to buying. I have never heard a pair and they are very rare. Although, I have never heard much bad said about Meridian actives.
They are an 'out of the box' idea shall we say. I think they look pretty cool, almost Alien-esque. They could be around a 1987 design as well, not too sure.
Some useful info maybe found here - http://www.google.com/search?q=meri...om&hl=en&num=10&lr=&ft=i&cr=&safe=images&tbs=
I wouldn't suggest paying full wack for them, but might be worth a listen as I say and negotiating from there.
Out of all the bits of hifi to buy old, I think the loudspeaker is the safest, followed by the amps. He mentions a recent service as well.
BTW - Incase you are thinking they are mine, they are not and I am not linked with the seller at all.
I just love quirky bits of kit myself.
I'm just gonna go along now and read Spacey's new thread, it appears he has some new actives in his house, could be worth a read yourself.
They are an 'out of the box' idea shall we say. I think they look pretty cool, almost Alien-esque. They could be around a 1987 design as well, not too sure.
Some useful info maybe found here - http://www.google.com/search?q=meri...om&hl=en&num=10&lr=&ft=i&cr=&safe=images&tbs=
I wouldn't suggest paying full wack for them, but might be worth a listen as I say and negotiating from there.
Out of all the bits of hifi to buy old, I think the loudspeaker is the safest, followed by the amps. He mentions a recent service as well.
BTW - Incase you are thinking they are mine, they are not and I am not linked with the seller at all.
I just love quirky bits of kit myself.
I'm just gonna go along now and read Spacey's new thread, it appears he has some new actives in his house, could be worth a read yourself.