buying new stereo - need suggestions (page 2)

VeniceIT

Would you wear that hat to the wedding??? What's it made of?? Can you get HBO with that thing???

Ven

qwerty

I have a brand new one for sale, still under Guarentee. It as Mini Disc player, CD, Digital Radio.

Are you in the UK? It's going at a bargain price!

qwerty

PopeOfEruke

Ven,

The hat may be a problem for us, it NEVER comes off.

Popee

Francois

The top of the line in home stereo in my opinion is Yamaha. Yamaha was also the electronics of choice of ABBA and several other groups.

But then after you get your Yamaha components, the next thing is to select the speakers, and that is such a personal, subjective thing, it's almost impossible to suggest anything. Be prepared to spend plenty of money if you want the best.

Also beware of having an amp that puts out 150 Watts RMS and speakers that will only handle, say, 100 Watts RMS. You'll just stay with blown speakers all the time, especially if you smoke dope.

Frank

walt

thanks for the suggestions. but everything i try sounds awful.
yamaha pioneer marantz sony. they used to sound good. what the f*** happened? they would vibrate the windows and walls in the house. growing up stereos were great.now they all suck. they have no bass unless you buy a sub. walt

ballistic

Speakers are the most important piece of a stereo followed by the amplifier. Spend half your stereo budget on just the speakers alone. You generally get what you pay for. Go for a good brand and spend 50 quid on speaker wire if you really want good sound.
Next the amp. Make sure you get the power quoted in Watts RMS or DIN, NOT PEAK MUSIC POWER. Anyone who even quotes their stereo in PMPO is selling cheap and nasty stuff. You want Watts per channel RMS and as a rough guide, for a living room or bedromm you want an amp with around 100 watts per channel RMS and speakers 4 - 500 Watts per channel to match.
I have my own favourite brands but that is up to you.
Next consider your mindisc / cd / dvd, etc. These are minor considerations in comparison to the amplifier and speakers but still important if you want perfect sound. 100 quid in "Richer Sounds" (if you're in the UK) will get you a good hifi seperate CD or minidisk. Forget buying a cassette deck. I'm ditching mine allready.

Nowhere

Why not try the best? Linn Classik.

http://www.classik.com/

TheRecordCollector

Hello Walt,
As you've probably noticed, I posted to your topic and then erased it. I said some things that I thought later may offend. But since you brought it up yourself, I'll repost some of it.

Quote: "yamaha pioneer marantz sony. they used to sound good. what the f*** happened?"

This is what happened: Any of these brands made from about 1980 to the present are pure crap, and not worth your time & money, and I'll tell you why.

These units are VOLTAGE DRIVEN amps. The one's you probably grew up with, (I assume you're talking about the "good stuff" from the 1970's on back) was CURRENT DRIVEN amp's. Thats why these newer amps sound so weak.

I have several older systems in my home, including a 1974 Bang & Olufsen system (Beomaster 4000 reciever, Beogram 4004 turntable, Beocord 2200 cassette deck). It's only 60wpc. It it CURRENT DRIVEN.
I also have a Carver (Bob Carver, Owner of Sunfire) MXR-130 reciever.
It is 130 wpc but it's VOLTAGE DRIVEN. The B&O out performs the Carver in EVERY way.

I DeeJayed my 20th year high school reunion with my McIntosh. It was held outdoors, and rocked the entire park. McIntosh C-22 tube preamp, MC-240 tube poweramp. It's only 40wpc.

I have a Marantz model 7 tube preamp, & 8B tube poweramp, 35 wpc.
Both the McIntosh (40wpc)m the Marantz (35wpc) and the B&O (60wpc) all put this new crap to shame.

The manufacturers use different measuring standards than they used to.
It's a rip off plain and simple. But they advertise it as being a "600 watt system". No, if you're lucky, your're only getting about 45 watts by the "former" standard. And even that's stretching it!
There is more than one way of arriving at say, "100 watts".

QUOTE: "yamaha pioneer marantz sony. they used to sound good."
Walt, this is your "garden variety crap". 1980's to the present that is. In the 1970's on back, these were brands of quality.
For example, Marantz. "Marantz" as a company, for the most part doesn't even exist anymore. Marantz has been sold from one company to another. Last I knew, Marantz was owned by Philips. God only knows who owns it now..... It's like this: These companies are buying a well established name. Thats all.

Sadly, The stuff that goes under the Marantz name today, is not a true Marantz. For example: Marantz "SR" series...it's nothing more than a cheap Philips badged as Marantz. They are "coasting on a name".
I'm sure that if Saul Marantz knew what Marantz has become, the poor man would be spinning in his grave!

What you want is gear that is BUILT! Remember how heavy stereo gear used to be? Thats because they had quality transformers in them. They had quality parts. Gear back then had "point to point" wiring. Todays stuff uses PC boards & integrated circuits. It's "cost effective".
You sacrifice sound quality for "savings".

If you want good quality gear, you're going to have to pay out some real bucks. No, I'm not saying that just because it's expensive it's good. NO! But I would recomend McIntosh as a good starting point.
I've owned Mac for years. It's quality gear.

Or, just find a nice piece from the 1970's or earlier that you like, and have it rebuilt. You won't have the "bells & whistles" of todays gear, but you'll have the sound quality that they can't give you.

So here's the question:
Do you want a great HiFi system that will kick some serious butt, or you want some piece of crap with bells & whistles?

Doug (TRC)

buying new stereo - need suggestions

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