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I've got a £200 gift voucher to spend at Very, need some help choosing a hifi system |
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#1 |
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Join Date: Apr 2005
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I've got a £200 gift voucher to spend at Very, need some help choosing a hifi system
So I just got a gift voucher for £200 from work (yay me
), to spend at Very, and I'd like to buy a hifi system from there.I'm thinking of either the Panasonic SC-AKX400EB: Panasonic SC-AKX400EB 600 Watt Mini System HiFi with Smart Networking | very.co.uk or Sony MHC-ECL77BT Sony MHC-ECL77BT Hi-Fi System with NFC and Bluetooth - Black | very.co.uk I know that more watts =/= better, so I need some help deciding. Alternatively, if there's a better system on there that you guys think is better please let me know. The main reason I am thinking about the Panasonic is that it has 2GB built in storage, which means that I can play my mp3s straight from there. Main use for the hifi will be mp3s from usb (or internal storage if I get the Panny). I don't know anything about audio (except that separates are better). To put this into perspective, the only audio system I've used in the last 10 years or so (and still currently using) is the Logitech Z-5400, and it still sounds brilliant to me. I'd like a hifi system that sounds as good as that, with as much bass as the Z-5400 if possible. Thank you
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#2 |
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Join Date: May 2004
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Neither of those "things" are anything remotely like what I would call HiFi. If you are in any way interested in sound quality then the last place to go looking is some online catalogue store that wouldn't know good quality audio if it jumped up and kicked them up the backside.
You would get a far far far better system going down to a Richersounds store and listening to some proper HiFi kit. But if you are not serious about sound quality then buy whichever of those monstrosities you fancy the best. They both probably sound as bad as each other. Can you tell I don't like that sort of system masquerading as "HiFi"
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#3 |
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Join Date: Apr 2005
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Quote:
Can you tell I don't like that sort of system masquerading as "HiFi" ![]() ![]() ![]() In all seriousness, I'd like to get some okayish sound for my home gym, with decent bass, and I've got a gift voucher so I thought why not. My main setup will still use the Z-5400, so wanted the best that free vouchers can buy
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#4 |
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chrisjr is a little overly critical
(although quite right).Either should be fine for what you want, but you should bear in mind the claimed 'power' is entirely imaginary - and no where near 600W |
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#5 |
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Quote:
chrisjr is a little overly critical
(although quite right).Either should be fine for what you want, but you should bear in mind the claimed 'power' is entirely imaginary - and no where near 600W |
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#6 |
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Join Date: Sep 2005
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Ahh the old PMPO and RMS trick still going on is it.
![]() It's been a very long time since I had my ghetto blaster or anything with speakers for that matter, headphones have long since been my love, but RMS is the one you should pay attention to, the peak output will probably be an unlistenable wall of white noise. |
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#7 |
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Quote:
How can they advertise it as 600w then ?
Basically the manufacturers think the punters are so stupid they think a 600W system must be better than an 60W system even though when you use the same measurement method the 60W system is the most powerful! If you look in detail at the specs of some kit you can spot the dodgy power claims quite easily. For example a system that claims to be 1000W but when you look closely it has a 150W power supply. So where does the other 850W come from? |
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#8 |
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Join Date: Mar 2009
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The quality difference between a typical stereo system and a true hi-fi system is hardly going to be noticeable these days for most people.
I think neither of those stereo systems has a headphone socket, is that important? Also the Very price is very expensive, the Sony system is available for £135 on Amazon. But looking around on the web I think the Panasonic is not a bad price. I'm sure either will be fine. |
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#9 |
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Join Date: Jul 2012
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Personally if it was me and I was spending the £200 I would either go for the Sony CMT-SBT100B or put an extra £49 towards it and go for the Panasonic SC-PMX70BEBK, but they might not suit your needs.
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#10 |
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Join Date: Apr 2005
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Quote:
Because they can. They can invent some spurious method of measuring power that gives rise to all sorts of inflated numbers.
Basically the manufacturers think the punters are so stupid they think a 600W system must be better than an 60W system even though when you use the same measurement method the 60W system is the most powerful! If you look in detail at the specs of some kit you can spot the dodgy power claims quite easily. For example a system that claims to be 1000W but when you look closely it has a 150W power supply. So where does the other 850W come from? I would have thought that companies such as Panasonic and Sony were above all this. I really don't know whether to get the Sony or Panasonic now
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#11 |
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Join Date: Apr 2005
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Quote:
The quality difference between a typical stereo system and a true hi-fi system is hardly going to be noticeable these days for most people.
I think neither of those stereo systems has a headphone socket, is that important? Also the Very price is very expensive, the Sony system is available for £135 on Amazon. But looking around on the web I think the Panasonic is not a bad price. I'm sure either will be fine. |
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#12 |
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Quote:
Personally if it was me and I was spending the £200 I would either go for the Sony CMT-SBT100B or put an extra £49 towards it and go for the Panasonic SC-PMX70BEBK, but they might not suit your needs.
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#13 |
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Can I ask why you'd go for one of those two ? I can see that the £249 Panasonic offers extra features like FLAC playback (although I don't have many FLAC files), and internet radio.
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#14 |
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Purely for the way they look, and both look as if they are quite good systems for the choices you have with Very.
Silly question here, but can you add on extra speakers and subwoofers at some point down the line to these types of systems ? |
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#15 |
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If it had to be very think I would get the Sony CMT-SBT100B Micro Hi-fi System as most the others use all the silly watts this thing looks like it will be the best for quality.
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#16 |
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Quote:
If it had to be very think I would get the Sony CMT-SBT100B Micro Hi-fi System as most the others use all the silly watts this thing looks like it will be the best for quality.
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#17 |
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Quote:
I would have thought that companies such as Panasonic and Sony were above all this. |
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#18 |
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Seriously, any brand name for £150 - £200 is going to be fine.
My understanding of these mega-high Watts is that the high number can be safely divided by 10 to get a truer sense of what it's all about. So 600W=60W approximately. |
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#19 |
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I would stick to Sony.
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#20 |
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Quote:
How can they advertise it as 600w then ?
![]() If you check the specs. it says power consumption 85W - pretty clever for outputting 600W. Don't you think 600W would blow your windows out?, my old Leak Stereo 70 (genuine 35W per channel) could easily exceed the threshold of pain in a pretty big room
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#21 |
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Quote:
Oh ok.
Silly question here, but can you add on extra speakers and subwoofers at some point down the line to these types of systems ? |
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#22 |
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For those of us old enough to remember Amstrads, we know that any modern digital input system is far superior to the old analogue input systems and in real terms a fraction of the price.
I remember the days when wow and flutter were important! The quality of the speakers is probably more significant these days than the actual player (if you avoid the bargain basement end). |
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#23 |
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The quality of the speakers is probably more significant these days than the actual player (if you avoid the bargain basement end). |
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#24 |
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I'm guessing that all the stuff I'm looking at is the bargain basement end
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#25 |
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Am I better off going with a home cinema system for the same price ? I Mean in terms of sound quality, as they come with their own subwoofers ?
e.g. LG BH4030S http://www.very.co.uk/lg-bh4030s-blu...1222706312.prd Or even something like: Panasonic SC-BTT465 http://www.very.co.uk/panasonic-sc-b...1394738808.prd I just want to get as close to my Z-5400 as possible
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), to spend at Very, and I'd like to buy a hifi system from there.


