Denon PMA700 with Monitor Audio BR2's
I have around £400 to spend on a pair of speakers and an amplifier. I will buy a CD player, and probably a DAB receiver when I get more money. But for now I will find a couple of nice cables and route my macbook into the amp, and through the speakers. Either way, I can get the Monitors for 150 from a sale at sevenoaks, and the PMA for 200 from richer sounds... Will spend the other £50 on speaker stands. I was just wondering if there was anything people would do differently with this sort of budget? I'm quite new to HI-FI set ups, and although I want the best sound, I know this is hard with such little money. I will be using the system in a big room with very high ceilings. Will be listening to a huge variety of music; from quiet acoustic songs to drum and bass. Any ideas? If you think i'm going completely wrong don't hesitate to say! Thanks, Fredi.
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Hi Fredi,
If I were you, I'd get a second hand amplifier from ebay or something and a pair of new speakers... (given the restricted budget). I would get a Marantz PM7200 SH amplifier retailing at around 150 quid on ebay - which is a fantastic amplifier and one of the budget revelations of the decade (cost 330 quid as new) - it has an astonishing sound - detailed and very refined for the price, huge power (95 W per channel) and lots of facilities... As for the speakers, I would go for the new B&W 686 (http://www.bowers-wilkins.com) at 280 quid, since B&W have always made refined speakers even in the budget area, and I have a feeling these are even better than the previous versions... This exceeds a bit your proposed budget but it is worth it; if you can give them an audition. The Monitor Audios you mention are also a good choice, as are the KEFs iQ1 (230 quid) or iQ3 (280).
If you want a new amplifier you should also think of the Cambridge Audio 540 (250 quid) or 640 (300) since these are higly praised by the whole hifi press - but the Denon is also a good choice...
I guess this only confuses things for you rather than helping you... - but i thought i should share my thoughts with you :-)