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Bronze Member Username: James_the_godDoncaster, South Yorkshire England Post Number: 79 Registered: Jan-05 | Alrite I've been through this lots of times but I'm going to come clean and simple. Money is a tight thing for me. Im 16 and in a few months I'm going to get some new speakers as promised by my Dad...thats if I do my gcses well. Im really SICK OF MY CRAP 4.1 surround system because it plays music appaulingly and I just hate it when i hear the amazing quality from bookshelf speakers. Now Ive been looking at the Wharfedale Diamond 9.1s and heard a lot of good things about them. I've asked around to see if its just worth getting the diamond 8.1 or 8.2s instead for a much lower price but im still deciding. What I cant decide on is the amplifier. Since I'll be connecting my speakers to my computer and I'll have a decent sound card, probably and Audigy 2ZS by then, i still think an amplifier would make a difference. Help me out; - Cambridge Audio A5 for £120 - Cambridge Audio Azur 340A for £150 - NAD C320 BEE for £170 Remember im on a tight budget and i think my dad would rather spend £200 than £350 including wires for the diamond 9.1s and the C320 amp. Im sure I can put some of my own money into it, but I've got a recent obsession to make sure my next system ISN'T a surround system because they dont play music well. I've heard the NAD is the best as it should be at the more expensive of the above listed amps, but its also the best for rock/metal which is what I listen to most of the time. So basically...what would you advise of the speakers for me to get and which one of those amplifiers, considering the difference in price and performance (is there much difference in performance). Thanks in advance |
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Silver Member Username: DmwileyPost Number: 147 Registered: Feb-05 | Jelvis, are you asking about your dream system or someone else's version? Think about it. |
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New member Username: Machman72Post Number: 2 Registered: Mar-05 | Not sure you would need a new receiver. What brand of receiver is it the you have? Do you have a sub? I would start with a sub and a pair of good main speakers. You seem to like the Wharfedale Diamond speakers. Those are supposed to be pretty good. Good luck. |
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edster922 Unregistered guest | Make sure you get at least an in-store listen to the Wharfedales, that company is good a hyping a small number of positive reviews from the same sources (namely Ken Kessler and What HiFi? magazine). I have known people who bought them and were terribly disappointed, though when I heard them (the 8.2) at a friend's house I didn't think they were that bad. Not that great, however. If you're in the UK I would look around for some used Mordaunt Short Music Series (MS09 for example) bookshelves, these are small but deliver amazingly good sound and even some half-decent bass. For truly deep full bass you'll need to get a subwoofer though, but if rock and metal is your main application that's more mid-bass than true low low bass. Another great small speaker are the Paradigm Atoms though I don't know if you can find that in the UK or not. Or if you can find some Cerwin Vegas it will do the job with that sort of music perfectly plus provide better bass extension...as long as your musical tastes don't change as you get older you'll stay happy with them. Still, if you say that you like the sound of bookshelf speakers then by definition hard hitting bass can't be your main priority---sounds like you just want clarity and accuracy. BTW, if you're using your computer mainly to listen to MP3s from your hard drive or Internet radio then fine, get the sound card---if you're using it for CD listening you're much better off just buying a cheap 40 quid CD/DVD player and hooking it up to the receiver/amp independently. |
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Bronze Member Username: DiabloFylde Coast, England Post Number: 65 Registered: Dec-04 | Might be an idea to check the Hyperfi site. They have some bargains in regraded and ex-display stuff. At the moment, they are advertising Celestion C1 at £100 and Mission 782 at £170. If you ring up about either then they may not have them, but maybe worth a go. Their stock changes from week to week. If they haven't got what you want then don't take any of their recommendations without consideration. |
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Bronze Member Username: James_the_godDoncaster, South Yorkshire England Post Number: 83 Registered: Jan-05 | Ok ill check out all the speakers you've mentioned. Edster 992 I do listen to all my music from my hard drive so thats like I said, I was wondering about just needing the soundcard and directly hooking my speakers to it, rather than having an amp too. I am after the clarity and accuracy, but the bass also has to be quite punchy and accurate. I dont' have the room or the money for a decent sub so I'll just be getting some booshelf speakers. |
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Anonymous | Regarding your amp decision. Pop down to Richers and ask them to let you take the amps on your shortlist home for a 14 day trial when you've got the speakers you want. That way you get the amp that sounds best to YOU with YOUR speakers in YOUR listening environment. No Richer store should refuse you. BTW you'll need an amplifier between your soundcard and speakers anyway. The soundcard will act only as a pre-amp (I think) certainly not amplify the signal enough to power the speakers. |