Hi hifi lovers,

Im new to home hifi world, planning to buy budget hifi system below rm 2k range.. Due to MCO im unable to visit any stores therefore searched through google and hifi forums. I have breakdown into 2 sections, amp and speakers. Ill be fixing this in living room for music and movies.

Amp below 2k

Marantz PM 5005
DENON PMA-520AE
Cambridge Audio AXA25

For amp i prefer slimmer design as have limited space in the hall cabinet..


Speakers below 2k

Q acoustic 3010i
Dali Zensor 1
Wharfedale Diamond 11.0



Please shed your valuable information and experiences on this. And im open to other suggestions too. Thanks

This post has been edited by naveenkalai7: Mar 27 2020, 03:14 PM

as you are running stereo setup its better to stick with music oriented purpose.
I have not auction any of the system but i am looking the spec for each of them.
Denon & Marantz are under same company but comparing both model you mentioned, Denon is having higher output power. Cambridge somehow is having the lowest power output.

Speaker wise Dali having broader frequency range which is important for stereo setup. It will goes as low as 53hz. Its going to give you more complete audio freq if you do not have a subwoofer. Sensitive for all these speakers are about the same 85-86.5db on paper, dali should be the easiest to drive. All the speakers are rear ported, and should be distance from wall / cabinet for better audio experience. .

If you have more budget you can buy better amp maybe ~ 75w per channel for future proof. 40w/45w amp might not statisfy you if you are going to upgrade to floorstanding in future

my vote will goes for denon + dali. Lets see what other shifu will recommend

Thanks for the info bro, appreciate it..

Reason buying bookshelf is because my hall cabinet is medium size and wall mounted.. so the space is limited..

Floorstander wont be suitable for my current setup and my wife also wont agree for that

ok bro.. dali advertise themself to be wall mounted capable.. i am not sure how they do it i didnt go and study the technology but i am seeing a rear bass reflex port. maybe other shifu here can advise

Marantz MCR series are smaller and better than PM5005.
You may look into MCR511 (wifi+bluetooth), MCR611 (wifi+bluetooth+cd+fm).
it is that good that i own 4 different generation of MCR now and sold away PM 7xxx series amp.
some online shop have bookshelf combo package.

you already have player ?

This post has been edited by ktek: Mar 27 2020, 05:58 PM

dali zensor1 will win all. it has 5.25" bass

no player bro, my sources are android box and astro uhd decoder therefore will be connecting those to the amp..

Just wanna have simple setup for daily usage... Mostly music and movies bro.. not sure this is called home hifi or home theater.. 😅😅 sorry if being unclear

not sure which droid box you have. got rca audio ?
i just search astro uhd box. it is so small. only hdmi & optical audio.

your amp choices not support optical, so it need to go through hdmi from tv output rca audio.

Using Xiaomi mi box bro, have HDMI and RCA port.. thought of getting a decent DAC like fiio then connect.. Please advise whether this hifi setup will woke out bro..

Alternatively also thought about active bookshelf like q acoustic bt and edifier s2000 pro..

straight Rca will do. dont expect audio grade output ya...
android weakness is sampling rate
im not sure mibox can support usb audio Dac. if spending for extra device, why not buy better amp with dac from beginning.

watch mibox, u need to operate 2 remote (mi+amp)
to watch astro, u need 3 remote (astro+tv+amp)
it will be disaster

i never try Qa bluetooth or s2000p. usually edifier tuning is not suit to my taste at all
just make sure they got enough input for all ur devices

i think we can call it home audio multimedia setup. support a few source player.
neither hifi nor theater level yet.

This post has been edited by ktek: Mar 28 2020, 12:51 AM

Long way to go boss 😄

In that case, which amp you would recommend for such setup bro.. is PM6006 marantz good?

This post has been edited by naveenkalai7: Mar 28 2020, 08:24 AM

pm6006 have 2 optical port to support astro & more devices, like tv or playstation
when using optical cable, you already upgrade overall sound quality becos it is digital signal.
final step to produce sound will be responsible by pm6006 digital-analog converter (DAC) .

good sound & easy to operate (reduced remote control)

This post has been edited by ktek: Mar 28 2020, 08:40 AM

Noted bro, then I'll go for it.. btw which speaker you would recommend to pair with Marantz amp.. read that Marantz will produce dynamic sound which not suitable to all speakers..

I'm using Mi Box for my main playback at home too, initially use optical out to my Edifier AirPulse A300 "multimedia" speaker, and later on USB connection after latest update to Android TV version 9.

The Mi Box don't do bit perfect over USB unless going thru some hack wizardry, but the sound is good enough even via optical. I'm just casually enjoying the music and sound from movies, not critically listening.

The Airpulse A100 is a little over your budget, otherwise I will ask you to take a look. Yeah if the electronics dead the speaker becomes paperweight, that's the problem with these multimedia speakers. However I don't need to deal amp and so many cables.

Cambridge Audio AXA25 or AXA35, although highly acclaimed by "watt hifi", I have seen online many user experience faulty cases, seems very bad QC.
Strange you didn't consider Yamaha A-S501, which have higher power output amongst the budget integrated amplifier category, with DAC too! It has subwoofer output port (cross over at 100Hz) in case future if you thought of adding subwoofer to compliment the bass anemic from bookshelf speaker

TS, your budget is 2k for whole system or each for amp and speaker?
Just the amp you eyeing alone will cost almost 2k.

For amp I would suggest you to get something that have more functions and plenty of inputs. More functions such as have DAC, bluetooth aptx-hd or LDAC. Input of optical, spdif, usb for DAC means lesser chance for your amp to be obsolete. 1 unit that integrate all those function might mean it will be very expensive, as such consider getting 1 unit of DAC that have multiple functions and inputs, and 1 unit of AMP for powering the speaker.

For speaker it is very very subjective since each speaker have their own sound signature and every person have their own preference. For living room where you're sitting 2 or 3 meters away I suggest to get speaker with bass driver at least 5.5" size. For treble driver, now this is the main thing that makes each speaker unique with it's distinct sound. It have a lot of varieties, the most common is dome tweeter, but even that have different of soft and hard dome plus combination of materials. There's also tweeter made of planar, electrostatic, and ribbon just to name a few. Then there's the horn design. All this combined will give different type of sound signature. The best would be to demo the sound yourself, or now due to MCO, read/watch review and listen to speaker sound comparison.

If you're looking for high end audiophile also can consider going second hand route, the price is much more lower than new. Google for "hifi for sale" to find the marketplace.

Now this LYN forum being more of IT literate people, me included, I would would suggest more on getting something that is bang for your buck instead of brand. For DAC you can get something from FiiO or Topping or Shiit which have a lot of functions at reasonable price. Then pair it to AMP for passive speaker or straight to speaker if it is active type. There's tons of DAC to choose around so check which one that tick all your requirement.

You can check out this Youtube channel for a lot of speaker sound comparison. Use headphone.
https://www.youtube.com/user/skubny/videos

But wait, it's not about those hardware only. Your speaker placement is also very important. It makes a lot of difference on it's bass, treble, clarity, soundstage, and more. See these videos for some of the advise.








No matter you got what type of hardware, be it tens of thousands audiophile grade system or like edmund_yung with his ribbon tweeter 6.5" bass "multimedia" speaker that's designed by Phil Jones, as long as the sound is pleasing to your ear, that's all that matter.

depend ur previous audio set. what is the motive to upgrade.
if quality wise, spend all the budget on best speaker.
if function wise, spend all to amp.

then u will get satisfaction

am I the only one who will suggest a SMSL AD18 as an amp and spend the other RM3500 for a really good bookshelf set w stands

Better KIV the bookshelf, just get floorstanding since bookshelf + stand occupy the same footprint... it's asking too much for tiny bookshelf to sound wide spectrum from 30Hz-20kHz without a subwoofer..

True. Though people always get fooled by the floorstanding illusion. Plus they always make speakers look more "pro" to average joe.
Generally it look less "busy" with bookshelves on slim stands than clunky floorstanders. But yes floorstanders over bookshelves anytime for bigger sound.

Really depends on what TS chose. Idk where I heard this but speakers are furniture too. They must look good too.