my first hifi (the ebay way)
up until a month ago i was very happy with my bose companion 5 system and playin music through my laptop, then my brother (hoggers on this forum) brought come new gear for his hifi and i realised just how much better sound a hifi was producing compared to the laptop speakers.
so i decided to take the plunge into the world of seperates. being a complete novice i decided to have a read around (mainly on this forum) and try to educate myself in what is a very complicated field. after a bit of a read around i decided i could get a much better sytem by buying well second hand than i could afford off the shelf.
i decided i wanted a cd player, amp and some bookshelf speakers and had set a budget of £400 (a pretty tight budget. ok so this is what i ended up doing with my money.
the amp
after a little look around i settled for a mainly cambridge audio based system as there product are very well priced. after loosing a few auctions on ebay i finally brought an azur 540a setting me back only £90 seemed a steal to me. the amp was in really good condition and i had a good starting point to form the rest of my system around.
the cdp
sticking with the CA theme i brought (again on ebay) an azur 640c for £105. again this was in really good nick and came with the original box.
speakers and stands
now the speakers was not somewhere i wanted to skimp on quality. so after a massive session reading around i set my heart on some Dali lektor 2's. i thought that the small design would be perfect for my small bedroom. after waiting for a week i finally brought the lektor 2's for £135. not sure if thats a good price or not but there wasnt many for sale and i had my heart set on them. as for the stands my brother very kindly donated some atacama nexus to the cause (cheers bruv).
cables
again another place where i knew not to skimp so decided to go for new items instead of the used route. QED seemed to offer really good value products so i decided the go with them for the wiring. i brought a performance interconnect for the amp and cdp. i then purchased some xtc speaker cable. the interconnect and the speaker wire set me back £40 but seem like really well made products (nice and sturdy looking)
so after spending £380 i was ready to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. got all setup and sat down for a music sesh. instantly i was blown away. being very new to this is dont have the expert ears of many but the sound was perfect. the dalis had great bass and the music seemed very crisp (not sure if thats a technical term but sounds good to me). im sure that had i have brought new equipment i would have no where near as good a system (especially on the speaker front).
still to come
ok so this is where im needing a bit of advice. firstly im in the market for a DAC so i can play music from my laptop, any suggestions people?
also thinkin of gettin some decent power cables and a 6 bank plug socket, again will this make a difference? and what would you guys recomend?
your opinions
ok so what do you (who definatley know more than me) think of the system? whats the weekest component, wanting to make the weakest component the strongest and upgrade slowly in this manor.
thanks
thanks for reading guys and thanks in advance for any advice. oh and sorry for the poor spelling as im almsot certian theres probably hundreds of typos in hear
Yes indeed I'm really pleased with it. Yet of course at work at the mo but will get some up later
The Cambridge Audio DacMagic is good and will match the rest of your Cambridge Audio gear.
IMO expensive power cables are a waste of money but there are other people on this forum who think otherwise. My advice would be to have a listen yourself first before you buy and see is you can hear any difference.
Agreed, that's a nice, balanced system without any obvious weak links without ramping up the cost. I'd go easy on a DAC as well, tbh - did you have a figure in mind? USB only?
hi guys. struggling with uploading photos, how do i do this?
steve_1979
was looking at the DAC magic looks like a pretty versatile bit of kit. yer im not sure that massively expensive power cables will make a difference in my system. could still do with a 6 bank to tidy things up so probably gonna get a tacima cs929 should do the job lovely.
john duncan
not really got a very good knowledge of DACs. just looking to hook up my laptop so i would imagine i only need USB connection. was hoping to spend around £100, £120 would be top of the budget.
also i have masses of speaker cable as i got to much. i have 3m lengths but only really need 1.5m lengths. firstly will this excess be effecting the speaker performance (cable interferance maybe as its all bunched up?). and secondly dont want to go chop shop on the cable as i may need longer lengths in the not to distant future so was going to buy some more shorter lengths of cable. should i get more xtc cable in shorter lengths or is there a better alternative? would it even make any difference having smaller legnths?
thank you in advance
Don't chop the speaker cables - 1.5 v. 3.0 will not make any noticeable difference to your system. Just make sure if you are "bunching" it up that you are not causing any physical damage to the cable. Likewise, rather than joining bits on to make longer cables, I'd keep your current cable in good order, and sell it to fund the purchase of new cable to meet your needs. I've been following some speaker cable auctions, and some reasonably bargains can be had.
Just one man's view.
Juzzie wuzzie
Yer I think im gonna get new shorter cable and leave my existing as is, maybe keep hold of it as I'm sure I'll find a good use for it. Think I'm gonna go for qed xt anniversary , seems to be well priced.
Wouldn't even get shorter cable - just stick with what you have until a) you need longer cable or b) upgrading the cable is both financially and aurally sensible.
Juzzie wuzzie
Thanks for the advice. Will just stick with the cable I have for the time being and concentrate efforts elsewhere. Thinking a USB dac needs to be the next port of call.
Before you splash out on a DACm, just connect up the laptop with a 3.5mm to twin RCA cable first and compare to your CDP. You may be surprised (or not). Some laptops have pretty decent sound without a DAC, some sadly don't.
*edit. If you haven't got one, look on ebay and pay no more than a tenner...
Apparently the Behringer UCA222 DAC has exellent sound quality that can rival much more expensive DAC's dispite it only costing £30.
For the cash you spent its a great system i too have been on ebay and got my denon cd and award winning classic tuner for less than £50.00
I am at current looking for an amp to match . I had a full yamaha cinema set up years ago and sold when i moved in with partner and got my teac mini hifi but we now have the space to buy seperates again i have a tacima cs929 mains socket and you can tell the difference in the sound not bad for around £30 from hificables.co.uk
hey guys sorry its been a while
lanks76
yer ebay is the way forward for a budget system. i have just purchased a tacima cs929 to mainly just to tidy things up. the only problem with ebay is its massively tempting to keep buying bits
too true .. or all to easy to hit the buy it now button on your mobile phone whilst talking to your children yes i did it and am the not so proud as didnt want it owner of a yamaha dspe200 cinema processor !!! im sure ill find a use for it if not back on ebay it goes 
Just had an eBay moment . Brought a q acoustic surround sound (2x 1030i, 2x1010i and a 1000i centre) . Sounds pretty good to be only had it wired up 2 at a time. Cost me £110. What's your opinions on these speakers ? Gonna have to get a surround amp at some point what would be good with these ? Thanks guys
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Sounds like you've got yourself a really nice system there for only £400.
Any chance of some photos?
PC > AVI Neutron Five 2.1
32GB Sony NWZ-A846 Walkman > Westone UM3x