What hifi system for £500(ish)?

[LR90]

Hi all,

I wonder if anyone could help me out on building a new hifi system.

I currently have a very old Rega Planar 3 turntable and a pair of Q Acoustics 3010i speakers and I’m looking to replace my very knackered old NAD 3020i amp.

Ideally I’d like streaming capabilities, CD and an input to connect my TV to the system so I’m looking at all-in-one systems, streaming amplifiers and separates.

I’ve got £500-£1000 absolute max to spend (I’m keen to stay towards the lower end of this budget), and I’m happy to buy second hand.

What do you reckon would offer the best bang for my buck?

[outnumbered]

Buying new, I'd look at WiiM Ultra and some sort of Class D poweramp (Hypex based if the budget allows, FOSI or similar otherwise). You'd need to add a CD transport.

[bristolracer]

LR90 said:

Hi all,


I currently have a very old Rega Planar 3 turntable and a pair of Q Acoustics 3010i speakers and I’m looking to replace my very knackered old NAD 3020i amp.



What do you reckon would offer the best bang for my buck?

Nothing wrong with what you have. The NAD will still knock the spots off most amps. The Rega is also a very capable piece of kit. Upgrading the 3010s is going to cost £400 to get anything much better.
As previously posted, get the WiiM streamer, a second hand Marantz CD player, keep some cash back for a second hand pair of Mission or B&W speakers. If you want new speakers check out the Wharfdale diamonds in either bookshelf or florstanding formats

[thebraketester]

Bang for buck, new speakers will be your best bet.

[Oberheim]

Agree with this - better speakers will give you the biggest sonic improvement. Keep the NAD and add high quality streaming capability by combining a WiiM Mini streamer (£90) with a SMSL SU-1 DAC (£70 approx). This combo is one of the best bang for buck hi res streaming bargains out there. The SU-1 DAC has an optical input for connecting to the streamer and a coaxial input for connecting to your TV. Get a decent used CD off eBay for 50-100 pounds. My speaker recommendation would be the Polk Reserve R100s (about £350 new) - love mine and I’ve tried a few bookshelf speakers. The Polks blew my old Mission 751s out of the water, which I wasn’t expecting.

[Lucid_AV]

All-in-one systems are a huge compromise. Your NAD 3020i might be old, but it's a gem. It's the equivalent of a 3.0l straight six, and you want to replace it with a 1.0l Ecoboost. You're going to wonder where all the power and performance has gone.

The other thing no one has mentioned is the NAD's built-in phono preamp. It's stonking good. By that, I mean it's easily better than most standalone phono preamps onder £200. For handling surface noise it beats the £220 Rega Fono mkIV. The £300 Cambridge Alva Duo gets close. Did you really want to spend £200+ on a phono preamp just to stand still?

You have a cracking component system. The Planar 3 can be serviced. The amp recapped. A new stylus or cartridge might not go amiss at some point. The amp will take inputs from a standalone CD player and a streamer. The speakers can be improved on, but it would cost most of your original £500 budget to make a meaningful change.

The Wiim streamer and then seek out an ARCAM CD/DVD player. They have the same sonic performance as the standalone CD players, but are often overlooked because the also play DVDs.

[danb79]

LR90 said:

Hi all,

I wonder if anyone could help me out on building a new hifi system.

I currently have a very old Rega Planar 3 turntable and a pair of Q Acoustics 3010i speakers and I’m looking to replace my very knackered old NAD 3020i amp.

Ideally I’d like streaming capabilities, CD and an input to connect my TV to the system so I’m looking at all-in-one systems, streaming amplifiers and separates.

I’ve got £500-£1000 absolute max to spend (I’m keen to stay towards the lower end of this budget), and I’m happy to buy second hand.

What do you reckon would offer the best bang for my buck?

Rega Brio R or Io amp:

Brio R: https://dougbradyhifi.com/products/rega-brio?varia...
Io: https://www.hifix.co.uk/product/rega-io-amplifer/?...

Wiim streamer: https://www.amazon.co.uk/WiiM-Pro-Chromecast-Multi...

Stick with your speakers for now; or sell them and get something like Dali Lektors, B&W 685 S2s, Monitor Audio Silver standmounters, or something like these Fhyne Audio's from Richer Sounds (worth joining their VIP club):

https://www.richersounds.com/fyne-audio-f301i-blac...

They're superb speakers and the Rega amp(s) are excellent also

Are you Qs on decent stands currently; if not, they make heck of a difference also, more so when mass loaded

[LR90]

Thanks all. Some great feedback and lots of food for thought.

I appreciate the recommendations to keep the NAD too. One of the main drivers for getting rid of it is that as I'll be using it for the TV and it doesn't have a remote, I don't really want to be getting up and down to adjust the volume. Maybe there's a way around that though.

[outnumbered]

LR90 said:

Thanks all. Some great feedback and lots of food for thought.

I appreciate the recommendations to keep the NAD too. One of the main drivers for getting rid of it is that as I'll be using it for the TV and it doesn't have a remote, I don't really want to be getting up and down to adjust the volume. Maybe there's a way around that though.

The WiiM Ultra has eARC so you can control the volume with the TV remote, which might be useful.

[StescoG66]

I would keep and cherish the NAD after plugging one in for the first time in years today - I forgot how bloody good these were. What about keeping it, get a dac and for Spotify etc use your TV? Or get a decent standalone streamer like Cambridge CXN

[jet_noise]

What cartridge do you have?
Regas are a very respected turntable brand. I've a well abused 2nd hand RP3 that just seems to go on&on.
Consider a service - new belt, the old one will have stretched, bearings oiled.