Hifi for bedroom/office

I have in my attic some old (mid 90s) entry level separates floor standers. I’d consider using them for music whilst I work in my bedroom, but the tiny desk is right in the corner.

So either I
– get some little speakers to go either side of my desk
– try and put the speakers on the other side of the room behind me (but would have to then be either side of bed which would make it weird if listening in bed);
– buy some kind of modern digital unit type thing – all in one unit or with movable speakers/subwoofer/whatever.

How would you spend £1-200 for this purpose?

Better active speakers and sub for the workstation/ pc you’re currently working on?

Get an Echo – then you can talk to your speakers 🙂

plug it in and see what it sounds like? I love keeping old kit working and I currently have 2 amps from the 70’s using these:
http://dealmaniauk.com/audio-hifi/pure-jongo-a2-wireless-hi-fi-adapter-with-wi-fi-and-bluetooth-black.html

run it ’til it fails!

Get an Echo – then you can talk to your speakers 🙂

I’m no HIFI buff but I have 2 Bose Soundtouch 10 speakers, one in the bedroom one in the Kitchen. Stream Spotify/radio etc in sync. Maybe not what your looking for but I like them. They are doing a deal at the moment if you buy in pairs, £100 off.

How would you drive the floorstanders?
What is the source?
How big is the space?
Are you after ‘just sticking some music on’ or something a bit more ‘audiophile’….?

Unless you have an amp to go with the floorstanders, I would just get a half decent Bluetooth speaker or if you want to be fancy some kind of Wi-Fi networked Sonos type thing….

Just buy a Sonus 1….

Rarely use the Hifi now we have one and will get a load more for the rest of the house.

Ive just gave the last of my separates and cherished TDL monitors to my nephew( who’ll cherish and use them) after realising that after digitally ripping my collection years ago, using Serato (not at first, but thats a whole other story) a mixer with a stonking gert soundcard, and a HTPC to do all home entertainment duties, that the sound from 2 sony satelites the size of a fag packet and an active sub sounds just as good as the kit i used to spend thousands on…

The seperates & TDLs hadnt been used since about 2009

Unless you have an amp to go with the floorstanders

I do. A CD player too, remember those?

Thing is if I put something at the desk I’d have to be really close to it. What are those “room filling” things like at close range?

Dude you’re overthinking it! Just get a decent set of speakers for your PC and enjoy. I assume your PC has a CD tray.

I like Harmon Kardon Soundsticks personally, but YMMW

+1 for the Sonos 1. Sound great and they work as an alarm clock as well so completely justifiable 🙂

I find Sonus and such a faff in a home office environment especially when you may be using your phone for actual phone calls. Ruark DAB radios thay can bluetooth or take media on a stick would be my suggestion.

Dude you’re overthinking it! Just get a decent set of speakers for your PC and enjoy. I assume your PC has a CD tray.

Well no – the question of what speakers includes PC speakers and all the rest of them.

And no, my computer doesn’t have a CD tray!

I find Sonus and such a faff in a home office environment especially when you may be using your phone for actual phone calls.

Control it form your PC then?

A CD player too, remember those?

We have one of those, no idea how many years since it was last turned on!

We use our CD player in the living room actually. Playing MP3s on any of the other kit we happen to have sounds so much worse that even my wife complains. We’ve tried computer or playstation. Not sure what else we’d try without spending tons of cash. It’s a £300 Marantz CD player.

Prior to getting a Sonus, we played Spotify off an iMac into a Marantz amp and MS speakers. CD player hasn’t been turned on for years. Sonus 1 (£160) is noticeably inferior to the Amp + Speakers (Amp was £400 ish IIRC, speakers are 30 years old), but the convenience wins every time.

Well no – the question of what speakers includes PC speakers and all the rest of them.

Well you have my recommendation for PC speakers.

And no, my computer doesn’t have a CD tray!

USB CD drive £10ish

Why do the mp3s sound bad, genuine question?
I’m guessing sample rate not bitrate , over any actual hardware problems

Why do the mp3s sound bad, genuine question?
I’m guessing sample rate not bitrate , over any actual hardware problems

Possibly better quality of DAC in £300 Marantz CD player compared to “cooking DAC” in whatever source is playing the MP3s?

320kb/s mp3 sounds as good as a CD (to me)…

And me footflaps, as long as it’s a good samplerate. A 128kbps rip will sound fine over most home and car systems if ripped at a high enough sample rate

Why do the mp3s sound bad, genuine question?

I ripped them all at 256bps, fully expecting them to sound good, but they don’t. Even aside from the player, I have a couple of CDs that were burned back into audio format from MP3s ripped at 256kbps, and they are disappointing. In fact I’d forgotten they were copied like this, then in playing them I wondered why my hifi didn’t sound as great as it should before remembering this fact.

Strange because I’ve read the tests that say audiophiles shouldn’t be able to tell.

What does one play one’s MP3s on these days to sound as good as a £300 CD player?

My home computer with standard sound card
Honestly

It sounds like your sample rate of your rips, too low cuts off the higher and lower freqs leaving an awful hollow tinny sound

Marantz PM6004 Amp

Or it’s successor for only £199

https://www.audiovisualonline.co.uk/product/33237/marantz-pm6005-silver-stereo-amplifier-w-dac

If your PC has decent speakers, this should sound as good as the vinyl I ripped it from, ripped at a sample rate of 44.1kh at 320kbps with Audacity software

Control it form your PC then?

even more faff, I’m likely to be screen sharing, running work systems remotely meaning I would need to minimise that screen just to start stop the radio.

I like real buttons within reach and no secondary devices required.

I had a sonus 2 then a 5 but sold them both due to faff..unlocking my phone, opening an app, finding a track/channel (after the app has updated) and the occasional lost connection is a lot more difficult than pressing “On” .

Try one of these little buggers LEPY 2024A Plus Amplifier, or something similar on Amazon or Ebay. I’ve got a few around the house and in the garage running all sorts of speakers. Cheaper as chips and pack a punch. The one in my garage is hooked up to a pair of old Missions and it rocks enough to fill the garage and be heard over the power washer.

molgrips – Member

I do. A CD player too, remember those?

Would have been helpful to have mentioned the amp & CD player at the same time. You only said ‘I have some floorstanders’ or words to that effect.

I do remember CD players; in fact I am currently looking at my NAD amp, Luxman CD player & TDL floorstanders that I’ve owned since the ’90s…..

Sounds like you want to use the CDs you have, so just set the amp & CD player up with some smaller speakers stuck on stands, assuming the floorstanders are too big for the room.
I used my set-up in a small room at uni (final year in halls of residence). It wasn’t the best environment to listen to them in, but it worked fine…

Something like these might be OK….
http://www.richersounds.com/product/standmount-speakers/mordaunt-short/m20/mord-short-m20-blk

Or, bit of a leftfield choice if you have room to mount it – stick a soundbar on the wall….you can get them with phono inputs & most have bluetooth option too, so you could play music from your amp & CD or pair up your phone if that is more convenient….

Something like this:

http://www.richersounds.com/product/soundbars-sound-base/wharfedale/vista-150/whar-vist-150

My home office is small, I have a bit of a cobbled together system and it works well. I’m quite fussy about having decent sound too.

The amp is a Cyrus one, into that my computer via a behringer uca202 dac (cheap as chips but read the reviews before dismissing it) and speakers are key coda 6 that I saw locally on eBay stupid cheap with no bids so had to buy. I’ve got them on wall speaker mounts that were a quid from the car boot either side of the desk facing in like headphones if that makes sense.

For playing radio 6, paradise radio, YouTube songs and stuff off my pic it’s great.

Gav, I have one of those Behringer things on my Christmas list for guitar-recording purposes. Would be cool if it doubled up as quality music playback.

I had a sonus 2 then a 5 but sold them both due to faff..unlocking my phone, opening an app, finding a track/channel (after the app has updated) and the occasional lost connection is a lot more difficult than pressing “On” .

On an iPhone you just press the home button and the Sonus app is running as the lock screen and the iphone volume buttons control the Sonus volume, really slick piece of integration.