hifi/sound system advice Post Reply

[FLH03]

Hello
We are planning a big house renovation project and I really need some early advice on sound systems/hifi/tech stuff. Kids and I are all Spotify users, we love trying out new music, making and sharing playlists. My husband is an avid reader of What Hifi and is an admirer of top quality amps and the biggest possible speakers, and likes playing the same music he has listened to for the last 20 years. Everything he has bought in the past (from radios to TVs to hifis and sound systems, surround sound stuff etc) may be exceptional quality but in my view over specced and not user friendly or intuitive to operate.

I hear lots about Sonos systems where music is streamed across different rooms. My husband is already talking about some mega storage system and uploading all his CDs (?!).

Is there someone anyone knows and can recommend that gives independent practical advice in this whole area, I am happy to spend some money consulting in the first place to make sure that everything works properly for all of us, and hopefully we can re-use some of the existing kit. We are on a sensible restricted (and very controlled) budget. I know Oranges & Lemons is highly thought of around here, but imagine their advice inevitably leads to a long and expensive list of stuff you can buy from them!

Thank you in advance.

[zaza107]

Hi,

We installed Sonos about five years ago, attaching it to our existing components and putting all our music on a hard disk (uploading a few hundred CDs - we are old and didn't have anything on computer to start with!). I'd be happy to chat about the ups and downs of what we did. I think both my husband and I are pretty happy, overall. Ping me an email and we can figure out a time to speak, if you'd like.

[thepea]

Hello, I can recommend a lovely man called Robin Barnes. We did a full house refurb about 18months ago. We had a couple of completely unaffordable quotes for our AV system before we found Robin. His number is 07738 126366.
Best of luck with it all

[juliantenniscoach]

Go to Oranges & Lemons on Webb's Road. Very user friendly, established local business and install integrated systems throughout the house.

By the way I'm very 'old skool' when it comes to hifi and undoubtably have over-specified equipment but.....................it's still the best sound

[FLH03]

Thank you all very much for the helpful advice, I am going to research down all those lines and will come back to you if I may zaza107.

Thanks again.

[zaza107]

Of course

[jgh78]

Would recommend Sonos. Great quality and sound, flexible and sensible prices. Sonos connect amp if you want to use existing speakers. Sonos connect if you want to use existing speakers and amp. Play 5 or 3 otherwise.

Key to it is getting a NAS drive to store all your music - copy it electronically once and then you can access it all easily in any room via Sonos, and can also link iTunes to the NAS on your laptop (useful if you have limited hard drive storage). Then via iTunes you can play all your music or move music to/from your iPhones and iPad to play when out of the house (via wifi without even connecting using cables.)

All easy to do. Sonos is super easy and does most of it for you. iTunes also easy, you just need to set it up correctly to your NAS at the beginning (iTunes likes to manage it in its own way if you dont tell it otherwise)

And there is a great programme I found on the App Store that helps you manage cover art easily and fix issues (if you care about having the right picture with the right album)

Any questions, send me a note.

[juliantenniscoach]

Just a note of caution. If your husband is an audiophile and enjoys the big speaker sound then he will be disappointed with the Sonos sound. Also playing iTunes through it won't help it as the material is compressed against the full version of a cd. If you just have music on in the background fine but if you or he actually listen to a piece of music then it's a compromise no doubt.

[zaza107]

Julian, yes I agree re iTunes. We put in a DAC and put the CDs onto onto hard disk and get pretty decent sound. There are ways to make it even better, I think. We set ours up years ago so I would have to dig through the files to see what the options were (and no doubt they've changes).

[RupertRedBox]

Hi,

I've been involved personally for many years with Hi-Fi and would endorse another post: I suspect that your husband might be disappointed with the Sonos if he's expecting Hi-Fi quality.

Our company doesn't install AV as part of our projects but when we refurbished my brother's house last year a Sonos system was installed with my company's help. I've visited since for family occasions and although it's initially convenient it quickly becomes apparent that overall the Sonos isn't really Hi-Fi, but convincingly tricks you initially!

I can recommend Carl Beckwith, Audio Consultant, who would be an excellent and independent person to talk to at this stage. He'll know exactly what would be suitable without actually supplying it. If you would like his number please ask - I've known him for years and built numerous sound systems with him.

Hope this helps,

Rupert

Rupert Robertson,
07920054344

[FLH03]

Thanks, all of you, you are clearly very knowledgeable. It really does help as I will have to get up to speed now, my husband thinks he's an expert but we need some proper advice.
Rupert I will text you and get the number, thanks.

[FLH03]

Actually just googled both Carl Beckwith and Robin Barnes and found details and websites.

Thank you again

[RupertRedBox]

Hi,

I can't comment on any other consultants or suppliers as there are some very good ones around, but Carl is certainly very good and I've known him since 1998. His own Hi-Fi system is outstanding and has been reviewed by Steve Harris in Hi-Fi News & Record Review and they included one of my own pre-amp designs at the time. Carl travels extensively to give advice and when I see him he has frequently been discussing a scenario such as yours - although our own systems may be elaborate you don't need to spend a fortune to get good sound and it should stay that way for years.

Good luck and please give me a call if you need any help - our company tries to steer clients down this route of independent professional advice when choices such as this arise, otherwise you can just be pushed down the route of what's 'latest and best' and then they wonder why they don't listen to music anymore.

Rupert

Rupert Robertson
07920054344