Going back to CDs - hi-fi player, kids’ bedroom ideas and storage?

CDs are Hipster now.

EDIT: That wasn't a very helpful response, was it? I'm actually interested in this topic. Streaming just seems to serve up my favourites that I used to own on CDs for a low, low, price of a tenner a month. Every month. For eternity.

I'd consider looking on local FB selling pages or on ebay for people getting rid of these types of systems. They always seem to be coming up for sale and they have very little value now, so you can get some real bargains.

Earlier this week, I saw one on our local FB selling page - a Sony Micro system with CD Player, DAB radio & speakers for £35.

Places like Argos, Currys etc. still sell all-in-one Hi-Fi systems & I suppose you might get BT connectivity & a USB port on those kinds of systems that you wouldn't get on an older 2nd hand unit.

Richer Sounds have some Denon/Marantz options which might be better quality if you are happy to pay a bit more.
They also have these all-in-one boxes made by Pure, which look pretty neat.

Pure Classic C-D6 (Coffee Black) | CD/Bluetooth/DAB+/FM Radio System | Richer Sounds

As above local FB Marketplace groups is the place to pick up some bargains - and many people give old all-in-one Hi-Fi's away.

If you want new, Currys have budget options...

https://www.currys.co.uk/tv-and-audio/speakers-and-hi-fi-systems/speakers/flat-panel-hifis_hifi-separates_traditional-hifis

Some of us never left them!

For a compact solution, the Denon Ceol N10 or N11 (or the almost identical Marantz MCR612) is hard to beat. Surprisingly good sound plus streaming if you need it, especially from a NAS. Easy to set up and mine has been faultless for the last 3 years or so.

For a nice system, when my 25 year old Cambridge Audio CD player finally broke last year I bought a secondhand Marantz CD player for £50 on ebay - its a CD6000 OSE and it was almost unused!

This I tend to play into an external dac/pre amp then into an amp. Currently using an SMSL dac which was about £150,  a douk audio tube based EQ and a Fosi ZA3 amp and the sound is quite incredible considering the whole lot was well under £500!

There are loads out there but prices are going up as more and more people are doing what you are doing.

If you go new then the denon midi systems are an excellent starting point.  I have one, its very good. I got mine with the bundled speakers but you can get it unit only and choose your own.

I run a record deck through it as well so you could in future get a turntable (it will need a pre amp, but it wont cost a fortune)

But basically anything in the best buy area is going to be lovely and last years and years

edit what winston said

The CD player is the easy bit, where do you want the sound to come out of?

E.g. with Sonos you could connect the CD Player to a Sonos Connect. You can even use a Raspberry Pi to create an internet radio station (accessible on only your wifi). You play back your CDs on this "station" https://github.com/maxvfischer/sonos-streaming

EDIT: in theory, the internet radio station concept shouldn't just be limited to playback on Sonos. Anything that can connect to the streaming server can play back the CD stream.

EDIT 2: I had the idea of ripping all of our CDs, and capturing their barcodes. Then to playback a CD you simply scan the barcode... stops the CDs wearing out

I'd recommend a second hand little Denon mini system e.g. rcd m39dab, I picked one up for about £70 with speakers. It also allows input so you could hook up a streamer (WIIM Mini) to it

Oh and get a Sub if you can, makes a big difference on smaller systems played a lower volumes

“The CD player is the easy bit, where do you want the sound to come out of?”

We have a Sonos Connect amp (hidden in an old radiogram which I put some balanced mode radiator drivers and ported enclosures into) and three Sonos One’s around the house. The kids have some Bluetooth speakers and old locked-down phones.

I’m not very good at software and digital tech but I run an amp and speaker company so turning line level electricity into audible sound is less of a problem (although our lowest power amp is 200W/ch…)

IKEA will have a storage solution. I use Kallax for my records. Maybe something like GNEDBY

I'd imagine that there are loads of 2nd hand bargains around for cd players / systems so that's where I'd probably look first.

Oh and get a Sub if you can

I think the OP makes them!

Lol! yes, I'd posted that before he said he made amps!

Rather than streaming, why not rip the cds to a hard disk and play the files off that, of which there are many solutions available. Or is it the physical media you like? Anyway, something else to consider.

100% with you OP, streaming is great but when corporate consolidation inevitably leaves us with just few massive providers and they no longer have to compete for users I'm fairly convinced we'll be seeing £100+ a month subscriptions for ad-free access to music or TV, a bit like how satellite TV used to be megabucks in the 80's and 90's when SKY was the only game in town.

My 'home office' set up is an Denon mini with a set of old B&W Solid bookshelf speakers and a much younger Q Acoustics Subwoofer, adding the sub made a whole world of difference.

As for 'going back' to CD's, some of us never left

These are whole load of Ikea GNEDBY's for reference.

We’re getting really sick of streaming life here.

Why?

IKEA will have a storage solution.

Billy.

Tangent CD player and amplifier from Richer Sounds. Not cheap but sound is decent. Suitably tiny. Or a used Denon.

https://www.richersounds.com/search.php?search_query=tangent&page=1&limits=12&sort=RELEVANCE

so the kids can discover music themselves

By forcing them to listen to your personal music collection?

Isn‘t NAD so well known in UK?I was dreaming of a used c715D until I found out that it’s receiver only gets DAB and not DAB+ channels.

Changed to a nice compact YAMAHA MCR-N560D. Second hand for around 100€ and doing it’s job pretty well since 4 years (with Canton loudspeaker system): CD, Radio incl Internet Radio, USB -in and Spotify etc

Another that never left CDs. For storage, I made the decision to get rid of all the jewel cases and use DJ boxes with plastic sleeves that hold the CD and associated artwork. I've got DJ boxes holding about 2000 CDs. Saved a shed load of space.

TiRed

Full Member

Tangent CD player and amplifier from Richer Sounds. Not cheap but sound is decent. Suitably tiny.

I don't have the cd player but I have that amp... It's a great little amp to be fair.. And the sound quality is very good.

Also has a pre out of you decide to add a sub.

Has wireless but I just use it wired to my pc and TV

"I’ve got DJ boxes holding about 2000 CDs. Saved a shed load of space."

Be careful with those. I did that many years ago and when I went back to play them some of the plastic sleeves had reacted with the graphics on the CDs and bonded together. Specifically the CDs that had coloured pictures on them rather than the standard silver ones with writing. Had to chuck out a load of good CDs as I couldn't get them apart

Rather than streaming, why not rip the cds to a hard disk and play the files off that, of which there are many solutions available

This would be my approach. Put a NAS in a closet with all the CDs ripped to that, use something like Plex Media Server to serve them up to a tablet or laptop

I just use all three options - vinyl, CDs and streaming - they all have their place.

...but not cassettes - they were only of use in a car!

Yep Billy from Ikea here for CD/DVD/Blu-Ray storage. Probably need to get some more TBH. I like CD's apart from the fact that someone in my past has decided to not put the CD back in the case it came from but a different CD case. Results in a reverse trawl through the CD's to get the one you want.

They're mostly in order now but still a couple of rogue ones out there.

someone in my past has decided to not put the CD back in the case it came from but a different CD case.

I got an involuntary twitch in my left eye just reading that.

“ Or is it the physical media you like? ”

A big part of it is trying to stop interfacing through screens, especially on phones, for so much of our life.

A big part of it is trying to stop interfacing through screens

"Alexa, play some music."

“Alexa, play some music.”

And not wanting anything voice controlled.

And, to be honest, struggling to find the mental space to remember the music we want to listen to - compared to standing in front of our CD collection and scanning past the titles until inspiration strikes.

A big part of it is trying to stop interfacing through screens,

What if the screen just displayed little pictures that worked like buttons?

I just bought one of Denons CD dab players. What a fab little unit. One I bought has inputs for other players (minidisc!) - but also has Internet radio, dab and NAS connectivity. And you can control it from your phone if you so desire Love it.

Bunch of em here

https://www.richersounds.com/search.php?search_query=denon%20dab&page=1&limits=12&sort=RELEVANCE

And not wanting anything voice controlled.

So basically, you just want things to be more awkward.

And, to be honest, struggling to find the mental space to remember the music we want to listen to – compared to standing in front of our CD collection and scanning past the titles until inspiration strikes.

I did this with cassettes. I had a drawer with like 200 albums in it. By the end the only purpose it served was as a catalogue, I'd open the drawer for inspiration, think "oh, I've not listened to [that] in ages" then go fire up Spotify to play it. Today I have Spotify playlists of "Alan's CDs" and "Alan's Cassettes." My tapes are all in landfill and most of my CDs are in a mate's attic.

“So basically, you just want things to be more awkward.”

We want things to be less “I want everything right here, right now” because I think its screwing up our brains, especially those with more plastic younger brains.

If anyone is struggling to understand my logic, it’s a bit like e-bikes vs normal bikes.

So basically, you just want things to be more awkward.

Not as awkward as you're being here though

If anyone is struggling to understand my logic

I think I get it. It's more satisfying for me to rummage through my CDs than staring at Spotify waiting for inspiration.

Thread hijack, but is there a quick way of ripping CDs to MP3? Using Windows media player was taking 10-15 mins per CD for me, I started ripping my CD collection that lives in the loft but it soon got tiresome enough that I couldn't be bothered finishing the job.

Yes - dbPoweramp software. You get 2 weeks free then its about £60

I don't recommend EAC (Exact Audio Copy) unless you really like fiddling about with settings and it takes longer anyway.

We want things to be less “I want everything right here, right now” because I think its screwing up our brains, especially those with more plastic younger brains.

There is a little irony in saying this on an internet forum [winky emoji].

I think you might well be fighting a losing battle with the kids but God loves a trier!

And, to be honest, struggling to find the mental space to remember the music we want to listen to – compared to standing in front of our CD collection and scanning past the titles until inspiration strikes.

this absoluely. i absolutely hate spotify and their shitty playlists and scrolling on teh phone to get inspiration is just not the same.

i`ve recently just put 150cds in my van (as its the only working cd player) and its been absolutely amazing revisiting all teh albums i loved but forget about/probably arnt on spotify.
blue meanies/helios creed/GGFH/monsula/bosstones etc. happy days! (although i did try and listed to some Aphex twin after a long day when picking up kids abut that was a bit much!)

I've another 300 sat on a shelf to explore when i've gone through this lot haha!

gonna buy me one of them small CD/DAB things.

And not wanting anything voice controlled.

So basically, you just want things to be more awkward

I've ditched our Alexa because voice control is so awkward. Brain to finger to press a button/screen is much less cognitively complicated.

Media monkey for ripping CDs. All of mine are ripped lossless (as well as MP3) and a network drive for streaming, but I still like to play the physical CDs now and again. I've not had the bonding issue described above and it has been about 10 years since I DJ boxed my CDs.

I actually bought a CD last week! Must be the first time in 15 years. I’d been to see Memorials and bought their new album at the gig direct from Verity. It’s a great album, recommended.

my CD player (a TEAC mini system with DAB / FM / CD) is in the loft. Do I have to do anything special when I bring it down? E.g let it acclimatise in the house before switching it on?

Thread hijack, but is there a quick way of ripping CDs to MP3?

Just download the MP3 files from BitTorrent. You've paid the artist, someone else has volunteered to do the work for you.

Always used CDex

this absoluely. i absolutely hate spotify and their shitty playlists and scrolling on teh phone to get inspiration is just not the same.

I've discovered far more new music and artists through Spotify suggestions than I ever would without it and I don't even explore the rabbit holes as much as I should.

But then I don't often have the patience to sit through entire song after song on an album to decide if I like it or not.

Different strokes I suppose

I just picked up a nice Denon amp and Tannoy speakers on Gumtree for £130, a little present for my daughter along with a turntable come Christmas. I'm listening to CD's just now.

Today I have Spotify playlists of “Alan’s CDs” and “Alan’s Cassettes.”

Not sure everything I have will be on Spotify, but that's a simple but fine idea for carrying around one's collection when out and about.

I’ve discovered far more new music and artists through Spotify suggestions than I ever would without it

+1. Still nice to have the interaction with physical media now and again, so I totally get the OPs desire.

We are currently living in a golden age of online media availability where we can listen to or watch almost any piece of content we fancy for free or for a very reasonable subscription.

This was only made possible due to the threat of piracy, Bittorrent Napster etc, forcing the large media organisations to offer a reasonably inexpensive, convenient official alternative.

At that time most people also had large collections of physical media to fall back on.

As the Internet matures and the IP owners get better at cracking down on piracy, we will soon be in a position where most people own almost no physical media or the equipment to play it and are completely reliant on paying a subscription to access the art that enriches thier lives.

Spotify Premium is 11.99 a month currently, that is very reasonable.

I have zero faith that it will stay that way once it or a similar service becomes the only game in town.

Not to mention the recent boom in artists selling out their back catalogue for mega bucks to investment companies - I can't see that ending well for the streaming consumer when the investors demand a return.

So, OP, I get you.

About a decade ago I had a ÑAS and Sonos but moved house and had no internet for a month. I dug out my Denon mini hi-fi cd player thing and decided I much preferred the physicality of selecting and changing cd’s (and listening to whole albums!) as opposed to setting up week long playlists and autorepeating…

Never looked back.

I replaced the Denon with a Marantz (CR611 or something?) and that lets me stream Apple Music (through my ipad or iPhone via Bluetooth, it probably allows direct streaming but you know, when I want) but mostly I play cd’s. Because I have boxes of the things (30 years worth I’d guess). And because sometimes I want to play a specific version of a track). Marantz noticably better sound quality (and bluetooth!) but twice the price so understandable.

But that is a mini-hifi set up with bookshelf speakers (15 yo Missions). Had Tannoys for the denon.

If you were on the Black Isle/local I’d lend you the denon/tannoys

If it wasn’t such a pfaff I’d post a photo. But then you’d see all the k-pop merch and dismiss my opinion…

Streaming killed the mix CD (for dance music and the like)