The Sony Micro HiFi, a CMt-SPZ90DB, small, 3 disk CD, DAB, FM, FM, 3.5mm audio in, has throw a wobbler. Google suggest the tuner module is a weak spot with this model and a common fault.
So the search is on for another as its out of warranty by about two years (three years old, not good huh)
Given the spec: small, good dab reception, fm, cd player, iPod dock, audio inputs, good sound.
The question is:
What you got, any good, would you recommend?
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 15 Jul 12 at 10:00
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Teac Reference range - reliable and handsome.
Last edited by: R.P. on Sun 15 Jul 12 at 10:19
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Denon DM38 would be my first choice, followed by the equivalent Yamaha or Onkyo. Unfortunately most of these micro HiFi things still tend to be pretty flaky when it comes to media streaming etc.
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This is my one: www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-CMT-CPZ1DAB-Micro-System-Tuner/dp/B000VOTP7O/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t mated to some mighty fine Monitor Audio B2's.
I use the Sony speakers for the telly via an Arcam Alpha 7 amp.
Denon is v/good!
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I had an earlier version of Zero's system in my office - The tuning knob/vol failed on it but there was functionality from the remote. The OE speakers were pure but I swapped them for the TEAC ones with a predictable improvement. Still boxed in the garage since we moved.
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Opportunity to try something different?
www.brennan.co.uk/
I keep all my music on the computer, with a wi-fi/hi-fi link, but the Brennan probably sounds better.
Last edited by: J Bonington Jagworth on Sun 15 Jul 12 at 12:18
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Try reading some of the reviews in Hi-Fi News but they tend to be for separates which cost a lot.
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I should note, understandably, that I am reluctant to invest 250 quid of my notes in another Sony audio product. And that craftily slips my max budget into the equation.
JBJ's suggestion of the Brenan reminds me I might be after DLNA capability as well.
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Brenan is an excellent bit of kit - swallowed 700 CDs whole - now plugged into the back of the Teac system.
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Zero, hi-fi is very much my thing. Whilst I'm sure we'd both agree that mini systems aren't really hi fi, the Denon you've listed is really very good indeed and especially so at the price. The Sony stuff just isn't a patch on it. How far to your nearest Richer Sounds??
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And what will you be doing for speakers?
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The Ruark, formerly Vita, all-in-ones are spectacularly good and don't look like something from Currys. They're proper bits of audio equipment in neat packages, and have sound quality to match.
The R2i, which Z's budget will buy, would be welcome anywhere in my house - no CD player but does a kitchen/study unit really need one these days? In any case, it'll take a feed from a separate player through an Aux jack - or he can pay more for an R4. Haven't heard that one but I doubt he'd be disappointed.
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I took it that Zeddo was happy at the 2-250 price point, but yes, you're right. If it'sipod only then a B & W zepellin does a nice job, all the better with less compressed files. Apples lossless does fine if it's ease with itunes that's wanted.
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I was thinking about upgrading the caravan system a whille ago.
A decent hi-fi shop - Maxwells of Northallerton - is not far away.
On demo they had a Teac CRH258i which I thought sounded really sweet with Q Acoustics Q2010 speakers.
Maxwells wanted £250 for the Teac and £110 for the speakers, an iPod dock for the Teac is extra.
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I endorse the Denon - their mini hi-fi seems a class above most of the others. I notice it also has a USB socket, so you could save downloads that way - I got a 32GB memory stick last week for £11, and that would hold about 300 CD's worth of MP3's!
I assume your speakers are still working...
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My brother used to have a Denon unit similar to the one linked to above, paired with a very tiny (but extremely meaty sounding) pair of Bose speakers that he got for a song from a Bose Outlet store: www.bose.co.uk/GB/en/about-bose/bose-stores/
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Looks like the Denon DM38 has it by a country mile. It has all the reviews, all the function, the size and looks and price to fill the bill.
It will be driving a pair of old Mission M70 speakers.
And being only 30 watts it won't overpower the bell wire......
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Love the quote from What Hi-Fi..
"This cable displays an awesome sense of timing, turning its hand to any type of tune you throw its way"
Pseuds Corner beckons!
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As they cannot even spell separation, what hope their "best-selling" cable...?!
Even Richer recommend spending 10% of your budget on the cables...
What's happened to the whole "separates" world. Richer wouldn't sell combined units (nor TVs) in the old days...
Does this have straight-forward old-fashioned 2-cable inputs so you can attach it to the computer?
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They also say (in the same sentence!) "even the most quietest of sounds"...
I know that cable, or to be more exact, the quality of the connections, can make a difference, but £200 for a piece of wire is milking it, IMO. Speaker cable does need to carry surprisingly hefty peak currents, so something with a decent cross-sectional area is worth having, but I wouldn't go far beyond that.
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>> Love the quote from What Hi-Fi..
>>
>> "This cable displays an awesome sense of timing, turning its hand to any type of
>> tune you throw its way"
>>
>> Pseuds Corner beckons!
>>
I can never make my mind up whether those who spout this drivel are on narcotics or kickbacks, or both. Even more laughable when one considers that with digital signal transfer it isn't so difficult to prove objectively that a properly made 2quid cable gives exactly the same sound and picture as a 100 quid one.
Returning to DLNA capbility, I was thinking that if the iThingy has a media streamer app (TuneIn or similar) then Zeddo could use that to provide DLNA / Internet Radio capability on the DM38. The latter should give better than DAB quality with a decent bitrate stream.
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>> Returning to DLNA capbility, I was thinking that if the iThingy has a media streamer
>> app (TuneIn or similar) then Zeddo could use that to provide DLNA / Internet Radio
>> capability on the DM38. The latter should give better than DAB quality with a decent
>> bitrate stream.
Indeed, I realised the same thing when I was pondering the situation in my bed last night. The iPhone has numerous DLNA type apps (and indeed built in iTunes capability) to share the iTunes library on the main system. It can plug straight into the DM38
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>>What you got, any good, would you recommend?
>>
Get it repaired?
My local ( not that far from you) long established man is very very reasonable re charges.
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There is always one who spoils the fun...
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The separates world is a bit of a hobbyist only thing now, the lower end of the market is pretty much dead. I have three separate systems myself though including one in my office!.
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Well the deed is done.
www.richersounds.com/product/mini-hifi-systems/denon/dm38dab/deno-dm38dab-blk
after a trip to Richer Sounds in Weybridge.
Its small, quite thin in height and width, but deep. Very heavy, and the reason quickly becomes apparent - you can wind this up to max, with quite a lot of bass applied, with not an audible trace of distortion or clipping, its has a very well specified and implemented power supply.
Led Zeppelins StH was put into the cd drawer, and after a slight loading delay Jimmy Pages's fingers can be heard sliding up and down the 6 string with superb clarity. The base is clear and defined not boomy buzzy or muddy.
Next Nicoles iPod was plugged into the USB port, where it automatically selected it as the input source, and Fresh by Kool and the Gang, great defined base, cool clear vocals, all very crisp and distinct. The iPod can be controlled by the IR remote control of the Denon.
Radio starts off fine, the tuner locking onto every available channel in every MUX in instant quick time, Likewise FM sucking up every available transmission and stuffing it into a preset, all in stereo and all with no hiss.
Radio Audio quality falls behind CD and iPod, (even on FM but noticeably worse on DAB) to the extent that the audio has to be significantly enhanced by tweaking the tone controls. As the tone controls are universal, there is then too much bass for CD/Ipod.
The Manual appears to be have been written for a Boeing Dreamliner overhaul, being some 2kilos in weight and two CM thick, and the remote control is an ergonomic disaster, tiny buttons, small descriptions and functions scattered everywhere.
For 200 quid, its an audio marvel.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 16 Jul 12 at 16:44
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Glad to hear, Zero. Sounds a good buy, and you can always give Henry your old Sony.. :-)
WRT the radio, a better aerial might be worth having, but DAB will always be worse than FM.
Almost worth buying one to keep in reserve. I bet decently hefty power supplies will be a thing of the past quite soon, on anything other than specialist kit.
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Zeddo we could have kept teh wire thing going for ages....
Your new Denon sounds superb from your description, vfm I reckon. Enjoy. And you're right of course, power supply is one of the defining factors.
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I have some news from Richer Sounds.
Called into their Middlesbrough branch after watching the latest idiot go before Teesside Crown Court.
On display - in the shop, not the court - was a Brennan HDD CD player as used/recommended by RP.
The sales assistant told me Richer Sounds has just been appointed the sole bricks and mortar retailer for the Brennan, previously it was only available direct from the company.
So if anyone wants to have a listen to one, you know where to go.
I was impressed with how small the Brennan is.
They had it wired to £60 speakers, me and the lad in the shop agreed it would sound better with £100 bookshelfs.
Online Brennan details here: www.brennan.co.uk/
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It's very much a one trick pony, but it's very good at that trick.
For about the same money the Cocktail Audio X10 does all the things the Brennan doesn't (networking, free database updates, wide choice of ripping formats, internet radio, media server), but the firmware is still the subject of regular updates (both a good and a bad thing)
www.amazon.co.uk/Cocktail-Audio-X10-1TB-Recorder/dp/B0052F8EVU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1342548151&sr=8-2
as discussed here:-
recivarefuge.net/forum/index.php?topic=417.0
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I must be missing something: what does a Brennan do that an ipod doesn't? most of us own a computer and therefore you can store all your CD's on it, in whatever file size you like and load to your ipd which goes anywhere. I'm keen to understand what the Brennan's unique selling point is?
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Self-contained, self-managing appliance for those - and there are plenty - who find computers and networks intimidating; or who find iTunes a pain in the glutei maximi.
I don't quite get it, but then I'm sitting next to a wall full of recorded music including LPs, one of which is playing now. Some like walls full of books; I'm the same about records. And if I want to play them somewhere else, I'd rather have a central data store and a streaming device in the other room.
What I do fancy is a high-quality, dedicated ripping device; my PC rips have too many skips and glitches in them. Perhaps the Cocktail device would do that for me.
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>>
>> What I do fancy is a high-quality, dedicated ripping device; my PC rips have too
>> many skips and glitches in them. Perhaps the Cocktail device would do that for me.
>>
Try ripping using exact audio copy maybe?
www.exactaudiocopy.de/
Or maybe a dodgy CD drive in the PC, I don't recall ever having problems with skips and glitches.
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I would be looking at my PC as well, I don't get skips or glitches.
Re the Brenan, its fine having your 5000 cps loaded into it, but getting access to them again by searching with the little remote control is not the best.
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The Brennan is a one box SWMBO friendly solution (in terms of not making one's lounge look like PC World), CD to audio file with one button press on one box - pretty much.
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Well, not that it bothers anyone I'm sure but I don't see any advantage to the Brennan. A macbook is multi-purpose, plus I can load CD's in one side, have separate libraries for all the family and plug all their ipods in. The ipod is smaller, neater and infinitely more flexible than the Brennan. For me anyway.
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The Brennan stores music at a higher quality than an iPod can.
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iPod files don't have to be compressed at all.
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The only limit to file storage size on an ipod is what you load onto it from a computer - there is no file size limit and if I read Brennan's ads correctly, it stores mp3 files, the smallest, lowest quality.
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You can store MP3 on it but can also store as totally uncrompessed.
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As you can on any other hard drive, which is what it is, albeit with a built-in amp.
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I believe that buried somewhere in iTunes there is 'Apple lossless' which lets you load CDs at a higher quality.
It would mean reloading everything and lossless takes up more space, so it's only any use if you have a 160GB iPod Classic.
Even if you get that far, you are still relying on the quality - or otherwise - of the iPod's digital analogue converter.
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Much of this thread is news to me. I'm afraid I still BUY CDs... I'm sure I'd lose MP3s. You'd have to back them up etc. etc.
As for a Brennan which kindly would play tracks randomly; what is all this about random track playing? I couldn't imagine anything worse than having a concerto played in the wrong order (or more likely, mixed up with something completely different).
Do I need a DAB? Does it give me anything the internet doesn't?
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There may be one or two DAB stations which are not broadcast on the internet.
Although the only classical DAB station I'm aware of is Classic FM, so I doubt there's anything on DAB to interest you.
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BBC 7. Not that I listen very often. Probably because it's digital only and that would mean listening through the computer.
Last edited by: Mapmaker on Wed 18 Jul 12 at 10:21
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BBC 7 is now Radio 4 Extra. Same programmes ats imilar times, just rebranded.
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>> Although the only classical DAB station I'm aware of is Classic FM
BBC Radio 3? Not that I've listened to it recently. (And not much in the past.)
Last edited by: Focus on Wed 18 Jul 12 at 10:30
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3 is on DAB - I prefer Classic FM - lighter.
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Why would you listen to something on DAB if you could listen to it on FM?
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...Why would you listen to something on DAB if you could listen to it on FM?...
Realistically, you wouldn't.
Although DAB does have a limited scrolling text service which tells you what's being played.
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>> ...Why would you listen to something on DAB if you could listen to it on
>> FM?...
>>
>> Realistically, you wouldn't.
I would, with the equipment I've got. I tend to find FM reception is variable, whereas DAB isn't, assuming you can get it in the first place. I don't find the difference in sound quality to be a problem, but then I'm not sitting in a darkened room trying to get a pure audio experience.
EDIT: that last comment isn't meant to be derogatory BTW, it's just not something I do
Last edited by: Focus on Wed 18 Jul 12 at 11:06
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I like DAB for 5Live - it's medium wave only and reception is very patchy around here, particularly when it is dark.
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DAB is almost redundant - All the othe rmedia that Radio can stream across wasn't around when it first emerged. I have a DAB radio in the Kitchen (Pure Elan II) and a little portable DAB for when I am walking the dogs. The other most used radio is my little Sony ICF - tinny sound on the standard speaker (but has a stereo output) but atop class tuner on FM, my BOSE bedside clock/radio has a mellow, mellow sound but is used occasionally, I tend to stream live from the web via laptop these days or from iPlayer to narrowcast programmes I've missed. DAB reception where we are is pretty strong and in fairness the receivers I have do flatter it.
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All if which proves that if you wait long enough to adopt something, there's no need to...
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>> DAB is almost redundant -
Its not really, its the only future proof way to get Radio in the car. (Net streaming is not feasible in a mobile car)
All the othe rmedia that Radio can stream across wasn't
>> around when it first emerged.
Some of it at equally rubbish bit rate. Radio streaming on Freesat is quite good and freest sometimes. Those two cover most of your local and national radio needs.
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>> I like DAB for 5Live - it's medium wave only and reception is very patchy around here, particularly when it is dark.>>
If you have a Freeview or Freesat TV, try Channel 705 (706 for Radio5 Live Extra). The BBC radio stations such as Radio2 usually display on-screen the title and artiste of a record being played.
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>> Why would you listen to something on DAB if you could listen to it on
>> FM?
I wouldn't either. We have one DAB radio in the kitchen which is a dead spot for VHF. There is however as DAB only transmitter at Daventry to which we have near line of sight.
For quality though nothing beats the 20yo Denon analogue tuner played through the HiFi.
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But they then take up a lot of space. There are lossless compression formats, like FLAC, that work well, but are not quite so universally playable as MP3's...
flac.sourceforge.net/
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>> The sales assistant told me Richer Sounds has just been appointed the sole bricks and
>> mortar retailer for the Brennan, previously it was only available direct from the company.
www.richersounds.com/product/mini-hifi-systems/brennan/jb7-500gb/brenn-jb7
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