We are looking to buy some separates as the main stereo system in our house and need a bit of advice.

We are initially after an amp, cd player, speakers and poss a tuner (although this can come later). It would be good to have sufficient inputs to be able to plug our tv/xbox in when necessary. Our budget is £450.

In the future we intend to add a mini disk player - not inc in budget above.

Our main criteria are good sound (nice & loud and nice & clear) and good looks - what should we buy, and where should we buy it from??

Thanks for any help.

Hi Michael,

You might want to try Hifibitz.co.uk - they've got a deal on Sony separates at the moment. Failing that, I've always found Richer Sounds to be an excellent retailer for hifi equpment:
http://ws4.richersounds.com/productgroups.php?cda=productgroups&pgroup=HI-FISEPARATES
My Cambridge Audio A5 amp and D100 CD player have done me fine (only £250 for the pair).

Al

You'd be able to piece together some great sounding Marantz kit for tht money. The CD5400 CD player and Pm7200 amp are around £120 and £240 respectively. Hook that up to a pair of Acoustic Energy Aegis Evo One's/ Wharfdale Diamond 9.1's or Monitor Audio Bronze B2's at around £180 and you'll have a spanking good sound for not a lot of outlay (although this set-up is slightly over your budget on rrp but look for the sales!!). Go to a good local dealer like an Audio-T or Sevenoaks who'll let you have a good demo with your own CD's.

Good Luck

Or, as an alternative try the NAD C320BEE amp and C521BEE CD - Richer Sounds are advertising these for £180 and £170 respectively. If you can get them for around this price with some of speakers above you'll be laughing!! As before tho' audition them both before you buy.

be careful with Richer Sounds - a lot of their kit is 'grey-import'!!