Upgrading my home stereo.

[Rayle_Trail]

Hey I thought this may be the best place to ask this question seeing that there wasn't a forum dedicated to it already.
I'm in dire need of upgrading my regular home stereo, for Cd's and such, I googled some things but quickly realised I was an absolute n00b about it and was completely swamped by a million different brands.
I was wondering what the benchmark high-end home audio brands are at the moment. I'm not quite sure what type of money I'm willing to spend yet but it would be something along the lines of 1K and up.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Cheers Rayle XOX

[jcphockey16]

polk audio, jbl, and bose are all good systems. take a look at bose

[Johnny Crab]

Originally Posted by Rayle_Trail

I'm not quite sure what type of money I'm willing to spend yet but it would be something along the lines of 1K and up.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Cheers Rayle XOX

Down under eh?

IF shipping doesn't blow the entire budget, I'll suggest two 4 ohm versions of these



http://www.acmebass.com/

and a 700 RMS/channel @ 4 ohms per channel. After that, it doesn' matter much WHAT you feed it(radio, TV, DVD, computer, mp3 player, CD player)...the sound is AMAZING.

Plus you can play your bass through them!

[anderbass]

I'm sure you'll get a totally different answer from everyone, but I'm still enjoying my older 70's high-end separate component systems (such as Kenwood, Pioneer, Yamaha plus many others) with the addition of modern stand-alone CD player. I'm sure there's lots of great new stuff being sold now too, but with a little occasional maintenance, some of those used-older high end systems sound simply amazing and can usually be purchased at redicliously low prices.

[Rayle_Trail]

Thanks for the replies so far, I'm interested in the Bose stuff, but it all seems geared up more for home dvd entertainment. I'm after something more to play cd's, is there any particular setups from bose that would do it really well? I'm looking at there stuff and it seems so varied.
Cheers Rayle XoX

[hbarcat]

I'll refrain from giving my opinion on Bose but will only say that they are a very polarizing company. They have the most vocal supporters as well as the most vocal critics.

[Rayle_Trail]

actually i did abit of research and it seems that their least criticised model is there 901 series speakers. But yeah it seems that after looking at a few reviews for the bose stuff, everyone seems to agree that there is abit lacking in the sound they produce and comparing to how much lighter they make your wallet, its just not worth it. So i'm up for any suggestions still, I'm currently spinning alot of sparse 3 piece contemporaryish jazz, so i'm after something transparent but still with a bit of punch ya know!
cheers rayle

[Valerus]

I support Pioneer.

[John123z]

Take a look at Paradigm Atoms or Mini Monitors and add a sub such as the HSU STF or VTF series. You could also use the Paradigms sub, but the HSU subs are better. Great sound and modest price. Atoms are $249/pr US and Mini's are $349/pr US while the HSU sub will be $500 or less.

http://www.paradigm.com/en/paradigm/...1-2-4.paradigm
http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/vtf-2-mk3.html

If you interested in a nice budget HT system, try the Focal Sibs. I've frequently seen them for about a $1000. http://www.avreview.co.uk/news/artic...60295230913570

You could also go with internet direct brands such as AV123.
http://www.av123.com/

Some of the benchmark brands are Monitor Audio, Definitive Technology, B&W, NHT, Paradigm, KEF , Mirage and so on... Here is a site that may help you.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=89

Jon

[tycobb73]

Are you willing to go floor model, or must it be book mounted, or attached to a wall?

In general, given the same price point and brand, floor speakers will sound better than the other 2, but the other 2 have come very far.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

I like Denon , my dads got a seperates system by them and its awesome!

[Philbiker]

I'd recommend going to an actual store and trying stuff out in your price range. With a budget of $1K you can get quite a nice stereo system indeed. Particularly if you're really interested in only a stereo music system for listening to music and not a "home theater" setup.

It's worth the extra premium you'll pay for actually being able to listen to stuff.

Personally I love B&W and Mirage speakers, Onkyo makes some very nice stereo only receivers (not many do any more).

[Siggy_Bass]

Bose?.... okayy.....


Anyways, here are some manufacturers I consider to be reasonable:

Cayin
B&W
Thule
Lyngdorf
Classé
Denon
NAD
Anthony Gallo
Gryphon
Tara Labs (best cables there is)
Bladelius
Dynaudio
Kimber
Dali
Respons
Parasound
Electrocompaniet (when they made amps and mono blocks)
Grado
Opera
Von
Image
JungSon
C.E.C
Shanling
Original
BADA
Dussun
Meixing

Can probably think of some more if you want. But these brand are considered to be really good (and expensive some of them)

I would recommend Cayin for a middle priced stereo, maybe paired with some Dali speaker. Both those brands are getting really good test scores these days

[Rayle_Trail]

For speakers I've got my eyes on a set of B&W 685's they look within my price range and so far I've only seen positive reviews!
Now its the hard task of finding the other components.
Any comments on the 685's? any experience?
Cheers Rayle XoX

[Philbiker]

Originally Posted by Rayle_Trail

For speakers I've got my eyes on a set of B&W 685's they look within my price range and so far I've only seen positive reviews!
Now its the hard task of finding the other components.
Any comments on the 685's? any experience?
Cheers Rayle XoX

I bought the 685's great-grandfather, the original DM602, in 1998. I have never considered replacing them, they sound absolutely wonderful. I would assume the 685s would sound great as well.