CD, Amp and speakers recommendations please

[pctechxp]

Hi

My venerable JVC RV-B90 powered woofer CD system gave up the ghost last week so am now looking to buy some Hi-FI separates for when I don't want to have to turn the PC on to listen to music (I have a pair of Harman Kardon Soundsticks 2 connected to my PC)

I am very into dance music and in particular trance that I enjoy with a lot of bass at high volume.


Can you recommend a good CD deck amp and speakers that would do the job?

cheers

pctechxp

[menthel]

What is your budget?

[g8ina]

You might want to consider a powered sub woofer to add to any stereo setup. But a "proper" sub, like a Yamaha, or REL, not a cheapo PC type.

More after the budget statement.

[TarnxTarn]

Let us know your budget.... make sure u spread the cost into amp, cd, speaker equally.... oh and 10 % on the cable as well... richer sound is a place to look for 200-400 pounds.. more than that... really need to go to listen in the place such as 7 oak...

[BenW]

If you're looking for big bass at high volumes then i think you're looking at bookshelf speakers plus a subwoofer.

Forget the 10% budget on cables, go for cheap reasonable gauge stuff and you're fine. They make no difference, prooved by blind tests.

[bigblue]

Originally Posted by BenW

Forget the 10% budget on cables, go for cheap reasonable gauge stuff and you're fine. They make no difference, prooved by blind tests.

Aaargh, not again I think that one is down to the individual

And as for speakers, it really depends whether you want to go the "hi-fi" sound quality route or if you're more into a sort of in-club sound.

Even though a good sub will go deeper than a pair of floorstanders, it maybe won't give you the same quality of sound. Especially in the midband where there's often problems with 2.1 systems. And although many folks recommend subs for dance, it's actually a pretty stern test and often you're better with a 2.0 set up. It'll maybe give you less of the low stuff, but what it gives you will be better defined and controlled.

I have a sub in my system, and it's great for movies, or bangs 'n' crashes, but stereo is usually just fed through to the front 2. When I do use the sub it just seems to slo-o-o-o-w everything down. There's is loads of the low stuff though, and it does sound far more club-like. Fun in small doses, but the neighbour doesn't think so.

So I guess it's kinda whether you want quantity or quality ? Nowt at all wrong with quantity, it's horses for courses I love my hi-fi, but one of my mates has a Kenwood midi system hooked up to PA speakers and he thinks my stuff sounds crap

[BenW]

I really don't think you can get good amounts of bass from everyday floorstander/bookshelf speakers. I've got B&W 601 S3 which are meant to be reasonable for their size/price, they give a very tight punchy bass but the volume just isn't there. It can almost be sorted with an equalizer but i prefer the non equalized 2.1 setup.

Seeing as the original poster likes dance music i'd suggest a sub on a lower budget

[bigblue]

Fair enough, we're just coming at it from very different angles It's very much personal preference with this type of thing, for example I'd rather lose a bit of bass than use an equalizer. Each to their own though, it what's your own ears make of it at the end of the day

The 601's are really good speakers, but as they're avergage sized bookshelfs, as you say, there's not enough volume in the cabinet to go that low. 602's are a little bigger in sound and cabinet and 603's are a big jump.

It really, really depends on the budget of the OP. That and room size really. Without that we're kinda stuffed.

I'd say the first decent 2.1 set up he could look at would be from Mordaunt Short and that would be around £400, and comparable 2.0 speakers would be MA Bronze 5 or similar. He'd get more bass welly with the MS, but more "hi-fi" from the MA.