My son is a hunting for a pair of floor-standers in the £700 bracket and a centre loudspeaker for about £250. He will be purchasing a surround sound media amp at the same time - Marantz? He has identified loudspeakers by Monitor Audio and B&W. He already has a small stereo pair (to be consigned to the rear) and a decent sub-woofer.

1. What do folk on this list like and recommend?

2. How much room for haggling is there in the Hight Street HiFi shop?

(Stereo is good enough for me, but he wants 5.1!)

"How much room for haggling is there in the Hight Street HiFi shop?"


Lets put it this way, by the end of the year you will be able to haggle alright! Inventory will have to be shifted to secure cash flow. After that the factories will be closed. Smaller market & stiffer prices?

2. How much room for haggling is there in the Hight Street HiFi shop?

At the moment I see it very simply, so long as you have the front to stick to your guns there's a point at which you'll say yes and they'll say no.

The key thing of course is you have to be perfectly prepared to walk.

Buy second hand and get twice as much for your money. There was a pair of Focal 714 floorstanders in the classifieds here very recently for just under £200 if I remember rightly which is under half of what they are new.

Those PMC FB1s or the GB1 that are going for £700 / £500 in the classifieds on here , thats a lot of speaker for the money (£1800/£1100 new) , you wont need the sub woofer with them either.

be very careful when haggling a deal.

the stuff noone wants to sell is always discounted most.

so you might get the best price on the worst sound.

stuff that performs well flys out the door, and hardly ever gets discounted heavily.

if the salesman resents you , he will have his revenge.

Used Linn Ninkas would be a rather good option to consider.

I think many of the more popular used buys discussed above have optional matching centre speakers too. I always found it was better to have the three front speakers matching. Buy floorstanders and the chances are you won't initially need a sub either.

Lets put it this way, by the end of the year you will be able to haggle alright! Inventory will have to be shifted to secure cash flow.

Absolutely right. And one or another of the big chains will go bust. Wait until then.

JohanR

I think many of the more popular used buys discussed above have optional matching centre speakers too. I always found it was better to have the three front speakers matching. Buy floorstanders and the chances are you won't initially need a sub either.

Yes you need to ensure that the speakers match.

Does he mostly want a 5.1 system or is music and video equally important? If he wants both the right amplifier is very important. Theres some good used ones like Meridian but they wont do the latest encrypted hdmi audio feeds. I'd suggest he starts with the amp and not the speakers