Fool and his money.....

[Critical Mass]

....are easily parted. Well this is what I am trying to avoid. I've been buying music, cd's and vinyl (a lot of vinyl recently) since I was about 15, I'm well into my 40's now. Amazingly I've never really given Hi-Fi equipment much thought. So it's fair to say I'm a complete novice and know very little about it. What I have now has served me for over 20 years, a Pioneer stack system. So it's time to upgrade. Of course I choose a time when money is tight and splashing out on luxuries brings a modicum of guilt. That said, I am in the market for a decent turntable, cd player, speakers and I guess I'll need an amp too. So with a budget of around €1500 ( I can go a little higher, but genuinely , only a little) is it worth my while driving up the M50 from down south to visit Cloney. Any recommendations of what works well together? Is my budget laughable?? What other factors need considering?? Are Cloney approachable, or is there any other Hi-Fi specialists around??

Cheers.

[Ivor]

If I were you (and I sorta was once!) I'd be looking at second hand gear. Have a browse through the classifieds here for a start. Good hifi is generally very well looked after and tends to stand the test of time. (Pioneer CD player there asking €400). RicherSounds would have an amp that has a phono stage for less than €200, a Project or Rega turntable. Richer also have Monitor Audio Floorstanders for €575. KronosAv in Dungannon have a Coloratura HX701 Integrated Amplifier for £499 (sterling mind!) but that's a huge bargain and you'd need a phono amp too. They also have very pretty and bloody good Kef KTH 5005 speakers Piano Black (PAIR) EX Demo for £299 - again that's pounds.

These are just examples of what's out there, I'm not endorsing them or anything! They would be a good solid start though.

Your budget is absolutely fine, yes you could blow the lot on one amp or a set of speakers but there's plenty of time for that later ;)


if you have any questions or doubts just ask...

EDIT - KronosAv also seem to have a few bargains on CD players, not cheap mind but certainly bargains.

[Steve]

Would also agree that 2nd hand or used demo gear is the way to go. There's sure to be some good stuff on the Classifieds here and possibly some of the other more general Irish websites. If you are able to make a trip to the UK, there's a massive array of 2nd hand kit available there...

I find Cloney's extremely approachable and first started going over 20 years ago when looking for speaker cable after trading in my precious Aiwa Midi System for separates purchased in some city centre dealers long since gone.. Have always found that the guys in Cloney's give top advice and have been extremely open and helpful.

But I think you might find more options if you look towards 2nd hand market...

When getting a completely new system, my own take is that it might be good idea to first think about what speakers you want e.g. Floor-standing or stand mount, etc. Available space in listening room might dictate some things here, as will budget. Once you have some good ideas here, then look for amp that partners well with the speakers.. I've certainly found that the amp speaker combo is key and can definitely give you more than the sum of the two parts.. And then get best quality and most neutral source with remaining budget. Should certainly be some great CD player bargains available within your budget as a number of people seem to be favouring computer audio these days and selling off their cdp's...

And beware of all those Hi-Fi magazine reviews!!! No substitute for hearing kit yourself and getting feedback from people who've previously owned the kit and listened to it over years...

Best of luck!

[Ivor]

I find Cloney's extremely approachable and first started going over 20 years ago when looking for speaker cable after trading in my precious Aiwa Midi System for separates purchased in some city centre dealers long since gone.. Have always found that the guys in Cloney's give top advice and have been extremely open and helpful.

Agree 100% and I'm not ignoring them but at the moment all their second hand or demo stuff is very high end. Maybe it's worth ringing them to see if there's anything in the back room which hasn't been listed?

[tony]

Thats sounds like me 3 or 4 yrs ago!! Except I had my pioneer rack system since i started work(1981!!) I still have the pioneer amp and tuner but Fran has the cassette deck and turntable and the rack has gone to chipboard heaven. The lads have given you good advice. hifiwigwam or pinkfishmedia for secondhand gear in the uk and I think you benefit from low postage rates to get the gear off the 'mainland'.

Sure anything you might be interested in you can ask about here. You will get an honest opinion. Be careful I jumped in and it was in cloneys and ended up with a cyrus 'rack' system. Nothing wrong with it very nice kit but if you hang around here long enough you find out about valves so I ended up jumping twice (maybe more) before settling on what I really wanted.
It all depends what you want. Solid state or valves or a complete system from one supplier. You can buy second hand stuff from the nineties and early 2000's for very good prices and lots of it is just fine. Dave(bod here) just sold me an arcam dv88 dvd/cdp for €100.
It ain't state of the art but it was originally priced well over the €1k and sounds very nice.

Take your time browse through the classifieds and make lists of all items with prices. You can lose the money very quick or else be careful and search until you get what you want.

[Critical Mass]

Thanks everyone. Nice feedback. Keep it coming. Will pay Cloney a visit and talk to a few folks I know for advice. Any thoughts on this place: http://www.hifihut.ie/

[b318isp]

I'd add that (contrary to a lot of advice), don't worry too much about your source yet. Get a speaker and amp combination that works in your room - ideally try to demo in your house (this is what Cloney are great for). My experience is that at your price level, there is little difference in CD players. A second-hand €100 Arcam CD player would be absolutely fine.

Just to mix it up a bit, this, some home theatre amps can do a respectable job, especially with digital inputs - with the obvious benefit of playback for your movies. Yamaha, Onkyo and Pioneer are good brands. Google for reviews to get an idea of the pros/cons of particular models. If HT is really not your thing, consider a valve amp -some of the kit coming from the Far East are interesting, to say the least.

[Steve]

Good example of really top drawer speakers for sale (albeit in UK):
http://www.hifiwigwam.com/showthread.ph ... s-for-sale

A colleague of mine bought a similar pair a number of years ago after we both flew over for a day of demo's in Definitive Voice. The speakers really were excellent - I heard them with a host of different amps ranging all the way up to Audio Note Kegon power amps. And because they've such a high sensitivity, they're extremely easy to drive - and so you have all sorts of valve possibilities!!!

Just a thought on possible direction with speakers...

[Gerry D]

I think Cloney usually have bits and pieces behind the scenes alright.
Well worth calling Ivan or Noel. See what they can offer you with your budget in mind.
I believe there's some very nice Quad vintage gear around at the moment too. For reasonable money.
Again Noel's your man.

Good luck on the never ending journey. :-)

[jaybee]

Good example of really top drawer speakers for sale (albeit in UK):
http://www.hifiwigwam.com/showthread.ph ... s-for-sale

A colleague of mine bought a similar pair a number of years ago after we both flew over for a day of demo's in Definitive Voice. The speakers really were excellent - I heard them with a host of different amps ranging all the way up to Audio Note Kegon power amps. And because they've such a high sensitivity, they're extremely easy to drive - and so you have all sorts of valve possibilities!!!

Just a thought on possible direction with speakers...

jaysus!!

if I weren't shopping for an amp ( and phonostage) I'd have his arm off!!

that's a good buy right there!