[Bill Benson]

I haven't had a decent stereo in years. My living room is only about 15 ft square. I want it for music, not a home theater.

When I was younger I was a big audiofile type. I bought separate preamp, cd player, and a big ass power amp. The idea behind the power amp was to be sure it had enough power so you never had clipping. B & W speakers were the top of the line.

Any recommendations on what to buy on a moderate budget these days?

[NeteQuette]

Sorry Bill, cant really help with that. I only listen to a bit of music via the computer nowadays if im not djaing and the sort of stuff i have for that is not going to fit in ya front room.

[Tigger]

gotta love a good sound Bill but you need to keep an eye on your budget otherwise it I'll run away with you. I love decent Hifi and for years I've been buying and upgrading so I can totally relate to you wanting a decent sound

With modern hifi I don't think you need to concern about pre amps anymore with better speaker driver units and amps that can do sooo much more - I also think you'll regret not going down the home theater route. You have so many more possibilities with a good theater system such as adding a decent blu-ray and tv and turning the room into your own personal room to watch live shows.....after all you can beat a good live band, but even if you don't want to watch with a good amp it will have the pre set sound effects that can really bring a room alive with music

First is the speakers....ka...ching loads of cash, when I moved to Spain I wanted to do a real upgrade to my home theater and looked at the Kef Classic iQ9 collection http://www.kef.com/html/gb/showroom/...q90/index.html ...its a great speaker with a real depth of sound and if you choose the theater you'll need the centrer & sub as well although with a room of that size you'll be fine with the iQ5 - I don't know what price you can get there but when I bought the speakers it was around $7k.

You also need to take into account the cables as without decent leads and speaker wire you might as well buy a $10 radio - they say to budget for 10% onto decent cables but even with a large room that I had to wire up it was only $500 for the speaker cable - but with leads another $400

Amp ..... check out the Arcam collection they offer some great products but at a price - for a smaller amp you'll be looking at $2k - for a high end product $5k but the sound is amazing!!! and if you throw a Arcam blu ray into as well $2k you'll have an amazing sound - with the size of your room all the products above will offer a range and probably around the $10-$15k mark ........just make sure you buy the wife some flowers after buying the lot

My total budget was $15k and I only went a little over that but I can create any sound type I like and with a decent screen ( lets not go into that one) ......check out the products Bill and if you can drive out to a decent HIFi shop listen to the products you'll be sold

[Tigger]

having said all that check out the Bose docks - its a Ipod speaker and the sound is VERY good - I bought one for the summer kitchen and even in a garden it fills it with high quality music - I bought it online directly from Bose and it was £500 so a heck of a lot cheaper and a great sound - check it out Bill

http://www.bose.co.uk/GB/en/home-and...-music-system/

[pete4adult]

15k budget for hifi .......... thats about £14,800 more than I spent last year do you have neighbours as I bet thats powerful ...

I've got the little bose dock £200 sounds good

[Tigger]

those Bose speaker docks have a good sound for such a little unit - have you got the rechargeable one?

I have neighbors but only for a couple weeks during the summer so music & films are not a problem - but saying that a house I looked at when buying this had a full home cinema system with drop down 8ft screen and the projector alone cost £25k and another £100k on speakers/amp - if the guy had included that in the price of the villa I would have bought it - but he wanted £75k on top to cover that and even my wife glared at me when she heard of much he wanted .....kinda gave that one a miss

[pete4adult]

those Bose speaker docks have a good sound for such a little unit - have you got the rechargeable one?

nah fucked up there and got the mains one

8ft screen and the projector alone cost £25k and another £100k on speakers/amp

£125k for home theater .......... crazy

[Tigger]

true its a lot of cash but this guy is the main importer for Harley Davidson Spain and lives in a 1.6ml house - him spending £125k on a home set up is like me spending 15k on my system

nah fucked up there and got the mains one

muppet

[Bill Benson]

Ya, Kef's were another top end speaker brand when I was into it years ago. I also should mention I could hear back then as well. All that loud rock and roll has taken its toll on my hearing. Also a chick broke my ear drum during some wild sex one night (true story).

Your budget is quite a bit higher than I was thinking but you gave me some brands to start looking at.

[Tigger]

If you want to cut the cost try the Kef small home theater speakers

http://www.kef.com/html/en/showroom/...x.html?id=2401

I bought these for my pool room so the I could play live DVDs (loud) whilst playing pool and for a small unit they really pack out a good sound quality - my room is 13x21 and when turned up they more than fill the room with sound and I love a good live rock DVD

The Amp I used was a Yamaha and I'm very pleased with the results - I think total budget was $3k not including plasma & DVD player -

[Tigger]

great price Bill

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001AR3S8I?tag=ycheap005-20

$850

Review

http://www.trustedreviews.com/KEF-KH...-System_review

The KHT2005.3's performance is among the best we've heard from a sub/sat system at this price, delivering the kind of confident and sophisticated sound quality that many people wouldn't expect from such compact satellites. The sub does a great job too, offering deep bass that works in perfect harmony with the other channels, and KEF yet again displays its knack for eye-catching design with a glorious egg shaped design and sumptuous finish. So if you want an approachable and affordable speaker package but don't want to compromise on performance, then the KHT2005.3 is an ideal choice.

9/10 .......

[pete4adult]

what a cool set of speakers, would you have to run them on a home theater amp? I think my budget would go to that

[Tigger]

depends if the amp has a sub output of not - if you've got an older amp have a look on the rear for sub woofer output or check the manual - if your buying a new amp you can get some good deals for under £500

Just looked at Richer Sounds http://www.richersounds.com/product/...ky-txnr609-blk

Onkyo for under £400 great price

and http://www.richersounds.com/product/.../kef-kht3005se

[pete4adult]

yeah my amp is old and just looked so no sub woofer output

I looked at that amp and speakers and sod it bought it .my christmas pressy to myself

[Tigger]

great news you'll love the speakers - They come with some really neat stands that can be used for wall or shelf mounting ....just make sure you use decent speaker cable and not bell wire

I used to have a Onkyo amp many moons ago and it was a good unit so you should be happy .......new toys for Christmas