Evening all,
I was about to write “HiFi Gurus” but then I don’t think that I’m going to be operating at the top end of the audiofile range.
I’m looking for a small ish mini system for the bedroom, budget of about £250 ish (very ish). Mostly used as a radio alarm clock however needs to sound good when I get some tunes on. So on that basis my requirements are:
Radio, alarm clock, CD player, Ipod dock or phono input for a mini jack input.
I’ve seen quite a few that have Bluetooth, that’d be nice but far from a requirement. Oh and not too big to pop on the side in the bedroom.
I’ve looked at the Denon mini system in Richer Sounds however that seems a little too large. At the moment I have no better idea than taking a trip to the big JL with a few CD’s to crank up in store and see which I like the sound of best.
Hmm, another thread possibly.. obnoxious tunes to bang out in John Lewis?

Back on subject, are there any other places that would be good to look?

Ta all

If you can stretch to £400 I’d suggest the Ruark R2.

CD player rules out some of the more compact kit. Do you really need it if your player talks to an iPod or can stream media from the internet and your local devices?

If you can do without it’s probably worth you looking at something like the Marantz NA6005 as a fairly compact single box, released about 18 months ago so not bleeding edge, still pushing your budget a bit though at £290ish.

Tried searching under ‘network player’?
Second hand Bose Wave?

B&W Zeppelin Air, grab a used one for ~£100 ish. Sounds better than the blows/bose stuff imo. (old ipod classic + ‘rockbox’ firmware = ability to play .flac files)

Yeah, I know you have a requirement for cd’s, but it isn’t 1999, time to move on 😉

A mate had some Denon mini system with a cd player, sounded alright.

Yeah, I know you have a requirement for cd’s, but it isn’t 1999, time to move on

I nearly pressed the ‘report’ button.

Avoid anything with Steepletone on the front panel.

I have the Denon DM40 in the garage and that’s a good little system. Not sure if it’s ‘hifi’ but it sounds fine. Doesn’t have an alarm or Ipod dock but you can plug a 3.5 jack/phono in.

Denon shoebox systems have been consistently good for that, but yes they’re a bit deep for a lot of shelves.

Sony do some nice all-in-one units, effectively a slim speaker box with a CD slot and controls on the top edge, they don’t take up much space. There’s a few models in different sizes and features. Google CMT-X3CD, CMT-X5CD, CMT-X7CD.

I’ve seen quite a few that have Bluetooth, that’d be nice but far from a requirement.

If you find one with an iPod dock, you can add BT functionality with a dongle for very little money.

I’d get the aforementioned DM40 and speakers to suit the room. We’ve got a pair of Q acoustic 2010i and they’re great in the bedroom, not quite enough for the kitchen/dining room, though.