Micro Hi-Fi paired with turntable

[Ordnael]

Disclaimer:
Not an audiophile myself, although I understand and appreciate the quest for great audio but the price of admission for barely entry level audiophile hi-fi stuff is just to steep for someone that just wants to enjoy music with a minimum degree of quality.

Context:
My old Philips LX-3600D which I've been using only as a receiver to play music, on my living room/kitchen open space, either radio, CD or a paired Sony PS-LX300USB turntable has started to randomly jump from input sources while playing, meaning one minute I am listening to a vinyl record through the Aux-in source of the Philips and the next I am suddenly hearing FM radio!
Since I don't have the technical expertise or will to repair the the Philips then it has to go! And it's too bad as that home cinema has a subwoofer, but all the speakers are connected by proprietary Philips ports so... though luck!
(Curious facts both the Philips and the Sony are hands-me down from my dad and brother, not that I am cheapskate...well I am ...in healthy doses... and it felt wrong to turn them down and be wasteful throwing way good working devices...the Sony still works well)

After much, way too much consideration I've decided for the micro Hi-Fi paired with a turntable route, instead of going for the separate amp, separate cd player, separate speakers paired with my Sony turntable route. Also the wife really wants a device with Bluetooth (another nail in the Philips repair coffin).
The bill: Micro Hi-Fi System with RCA-in and Bluetooth capability that I can get preferably from a brick and mortar store for better (face to face) post sale warranty support. Budget 200€

So I've been ogling these micro hi-fi equipments that might fit the bill:

Aiwa MSBTU-500 – Aiwa Europe

eu-aiwa.com

Kind of my template for the device I am looking for
Pro: Can get it from a brick and mortar store for as little as 115 to 160€
Con: Not sure of this nu Aiwa quality also not sure on the Sound quality specially because the next model:

MSBTU-600 – Aiwa Europe

eu-aiwa.com

Pro: I am no expert but it seems more capable of quality sound than the 500 series and I can get it for around 180€
Con: Can't get it from a brick and mortar store yet*, may order it now through a regular store but then I might get in trouble with shady warranty procedures with online store that sells it.
Then there's this:

D-M41 - Mini HiFi System with CD, Bluetooth and FM Tuner | Denon - US

Experience innovation with the D-M41 mini Hi-Fi system. Stream via Bluetooth, play CDs, and enjoy FM radio. Perfect for small spaces like offices or bedrooms.

www.denon.com

Pro: It's Denon, from what I gather it's good, like really good compared to the other 2, although output power is lower, maybe sound quality is better? Can someone educate me about power output and audio quality? Also the only system with a pro-ish review:
https://www.whathifi.com/denon/d-m41dab/review
Con: It's over-budget like almost twice. I can get it for as low as 370€ from a brick and mortar store. I might just wait and keep ogling it, maybe black Friday will bring a nice discount. For a renown quality brand like this I think I should fork something extra.

My wife might get a 100€ gift card from the store she works for by Christmas, I already planted the idea that maybe we could wait for that card, and make the purchase from her store. The Denon will be kinda more expensive as her store doesn't sell the receiver+speakers bundle so I'll have to make the purchase in separate, but without further discount than that gift card I am still looking at 350€.
*She already spoke to a manager about getting the store to sell the Aiwa Msbtu-600...but for now no promises.

What do you think about these micro hi-fi systems? Do you have something like this at home? What's your audio setup? Do you have other suggestions? Another perspective? I'll appreciate your input.

 

[Moriarte]

Power output of the amplifier and sound quality don't necessarily correlate if that's what you're wondering about. There are 11w amplifiers sounding.better than 300w amplifiers and vice versa. It's all about individual components and their complementarity along the sound path. I think picking up that integrated Aiwa/Denon solutions are fine, especially considering they have over-the-air capability to stream your music from mobile devices (very convenient). The best thing you can do is listen to the device you're going to buy, I can't stress this enough. Human ears (and brains between them!) are vastly different, not to mention with age the higher frequency perception fades. What sounds terrible to you (in any price range), can sound amazing to me, so I'd suggest finding a way to listen first and purchase later.

Maybe you'll enjoy a boomy bass, maybe a tight, punchy one. Maybe you want none of that bass business in your life altogether? Maybe you want sharp highs tickling your brain, or maybe you want want them tamed as you get tired from sharp highs... No one knows, even you. Before you listen, that is!

I have a pretty system of my own at home: 2 speakers, subwoofer, tube amp, pre-amp, turntable, tv, dac. I've probably spent hundreds of hours over 15 years slowly getting it together, tweaking it and experimenting with it. Overall, this is not the quest that I'd suggest to the faint hearted - I'd wholeheartedly suggest buying an integrated HiFi system assembled by professionals instead and just enjoy the damn music. You are definitely on the right track, maybe you can save up over time and buy something in the next price range, other than that - listen before you buy.

Then, there is the subject of source sound quality, which trumps further considerations. Vinyl is interesting to listen to, it is a source of music that aged very well. It is not as detailed as some modern digital recordings, but there is a certain elusive atmosphere conveyed through vinyl recordings, created by clicks, hisses and other distortions. Professionals argue why that is, I wouldn't want to get into that at this point. There are streaming services, like Spotify, most of them offer low-medium quality music, but offer vast libraries to download from. Roon is a far better streaming service, offers high quality audio streaming. And then there's getting music yourself or listening to well recorded CD's. To this day CD's are one of the top choices for high quality music, but not all CD's are created equal. That is because some sound engineers are magicians, while others should be jailed. Another source is downloading/buying digital recordings from internet. This is where you can get the highest quality possible.

Good luck in you audio travels!

 

[Birdjaguar]

Can't get it from a brick and mortar store yet*, may order it now through a regular store

I know nothing about audio, but this sentence caught my eye. "Regular store" now seems to be online and "brick and mortar" is the exception. Times are changing.

 

[Ordnael]

Very sound advice and insight @Moriarte, thank you, but I don't think I will have the opportunity to have these systems demonstrated to me though. I can get them through brick and mortar stores but I don't think they are stocking them. Just the other day I was at a store from a chain from which I can purchase these systems but they didn't have them in exhibition, they had other systems yes but they also weren't playing. And the the ones they have don't fit the bill, Bluetooth capable is easy to find nowadays, RCA-in is way, way harder to find in micro Hi-Fi systems, hence why I only pointed those 3 systems I am ogling.

I know nothing about audio, but this sentence caught my eye. "Regular store" now seems to be online and "brick and mortar" is the exception. Times are changing.

Worst than that, some brick and mortar stores have their own online marketplace where other stores can sell and thus they only exhibit some of their products. The store chain my wife works for is considering joining that bandwagon too!
I remember when my stepfather bought is own Hi-Fi System (separate amp, speakers, cd player and radio receiver...all different brands!) in the late 90's and he probably had the opportunity to test them. Now we have to take the plunge online or drive far way to very specialized stores that only sell the cream of the crop most expensive Hi-Fi components.

 

[banzay13]

I recommend buy something like this. Or, if we talk about small things (technics sb ex-7, was made in Spain, so can be available in your country), something like MA Silver line rs2 (but you'll need subwoover, if you like bass, like Polk audio or something), with good stereo amplifier and sound card like EMU 0202/0204 you can get great sound for cheap

 

[EvaDK]

Any decent amp will usually do the trick; getting objectively good audio quality with minimal noise in the signal, was a problem that was solved many years ago. Even in most budget amps available on the market. It's usually your choice of speakers depending on your budget, that represents the most vital link in the chain. Different speaker brands emphasize different sound characteristics and the only way to find what suits you best, is to listen to them with your own ears.

 

[Samson]

And it's too bad as that home cinema has a subwoofer, but all the speakers are connected by proprietary Philips ports so... though luck!

It seems to me this is the critical point to clear up. I think most of the expance, or at least most of the difference in expence between different options will be the speakers and their setup.

I wonder what "proprietary Philips ports" means? I googled and found this thread, with the suggestion I was about to make and a warning:

I'd hazard a guess that you can just cut these off and re-use the speakers. Many systems connect speakers via the bare wire and so all you'd need to do is strip the wire to do so (I'm sure there are plenty of tutorials online).
It also depends what you're looking to connect them to. As they look like a non-standard connection you may well be looking to replace the connectors or find adapters. For example, you can easily find bare speaker wire to RCA/phono connector.
OP- be careful just cutting those connectors off and wiring the speakers into a normal amp! Very often, that kind of connector is used for "Home Theater in a Box" systems which use low-impedance speakers (typically 3-ohm) to get more "loudness" out of the system at the cost of audio quality. This trade-off let's an HTiB system use a small amplifier that fits into a head unit that's typically also a DVD or Blu-Ray player and still produce room-filling volume levels. On the other hand, most "normal" home theater speakers are 8-ohms, and most "normal" home theater amplifiers and relievers are only stable down to 4- or 6-ohms. As impedance goes down for any given voltage (and the voltage in an audio system is fixed) current goes up, so using low-impedance speakers on a standard-impedance amplifier will cause current spikes which in turn will damage the amp, the speakers, and in some cases even the speaker wire.

[EDIT] Sorry about the massive link, the post/edit window is broken for me.

 

[Ordnael]

Apparently my wife will be getting the AIWA MSBTU 600 directly from the importer for a real cheap price sometime this week...eventually I'll write something about the device once I get to play and listen to it's speakers for a bit.

 

[Ordnael]

The device has arrived yesterday and I listened to it for about 2 hours using different sources (didn't try the usb source as I just don't have a pen laying around with mp3 anymore) and playing different types of music. From Camel to Queen on the rather too flimsy for my taste cd tray, which after noticing such flimsiness is probably safe from further bruter handling, from Mike Oldfield Crisis (partial listen of Moonligh Shadow) to an hour of Ghost's live concert on the RCA AUX inputted record player. Also played a bit of Abba trough the bluetooth connection and listened to Maddona via radio.
The speakers sound very good, way better than the little speakers I had from the old Philips LX-3600D...actually these are very sizeable speakers. The receiver is also quite big...I did take some over the napkin measurements and I am sure they were right but when handling the devices I realized they were bigger and heavier than what I pictured in my mind. Most importantly the receiver is quite attractive and quite functional and I'd like to think that the weightier feeling I got from placing it into position means it has a proper inbuilt amp and cd player...and after the listening session I believe it has. You need the remote to facilitate/access other functions (it has an clock and alarm function) and for some reason the designer though that having big buttons for bass and treble control makes sense when the volume control on the remote are much smaller buttons! Oh well I guess it makes more sense to use the central steel brushed just outta of the lathe machined feeling knob on the receiver...also more cool to use anyway..i guess

I am happy...and if you are looking for a similar Hi-Fi (ish) system I recommend the AIWA MSBTU 600...(do take the proper measurements, I had to do some cumbersome placement of the record player with the new system)
The system still sports the words Japan and Japanese in the boxes and documents as a badge of honour (I guess) and I want to believe that, at least, the design is japanese as a japanese manufacturer that worked for AIWA, before being bought and then sold by Sony, is now holding rights for AIWA products in Japan and for extension Europe and Asia...Americas AIWA is a different species though from what I gathered on the internet and wikipedia way before I got the system

 

[Samez]

Thanks for the update - just what I needed as I am also looking for compact hifi equipment for an old RCA turntable.

 

[Ordnael]

Ressurect from the dead my thread (picture the archville from doom ressurecting an imp)

I find myself with a big stockpile of cassettes, mostly from my father in law, a great music enthusiast, and while brother in law got him a vintage Sanyo deck to complete a Frankenstein of vintage systems, I would like to listen to these tapes on my AIWA MSBTU 600.
Now I know what you're thinking:
"Silly Ordnael, just get a vintage deck like your in law and plug to the RCA AUX IN."
And my answer would be:
"Yes but my dear CFCs I already have a turntable plugged to that very same RCA AUX IN (this micro hi-fi only has one), and I really don't want to get plugging and unplugging while moving the micro hi-fi and playing contortionist!"
So what about one of these?

Amazon.co.uk

Does anyone here has experience with a device like that?

 

[Hygro]

I am 100% skeptical of all things “hi fi”. You will get a bigger change in sound moving your head in your room an inch than you will changing most components.

And that’s actually the under appreciated part. Listening position, speaker placement, room features, room/acoustic treatment can change frequency based volume ridiculously. You can have frequencies literally null to zero due to your environment, or drop 30 dB, or spike 30 dB.

A little harmonic saturation from your receiver might be pleasing, although begs the question why the artist didn’t include it themselves (!!), but pales in comparison to what happens when you turn your head slightly or sit off center.

I do like using hi fi gear however, it does “feel” nice.

 

[Ordnael]

Not trying to take anything from your point but...
...Last Saturday I listened to Wish You Were Here by PinkFloyd from end to end with my brother and wife's uncle on my turntable plugged to my AIWA MSBTU 600 and let me tell you my speaker placement is awful (as I don't have the space and didn't planned ahead with the furniture), they are just standing on each side of the receiver merely 1 or 2 cm from the device. We were discussing sound and hi fi stuff and high end stuff (the uncle used to be in a band playing the sax) my brother is somewhat knowledgeable about that stuff too...cutting short we agreed that while my system is far from great, that album was really sounding great...and that's enough for me!

edit because i mistook Wish you were Here for Animals

 

[Ordnael]

After further investigation and reading about these Amazon.co.uk , I believe the devices are not good enough for my needs, some say they play well but with under 50€ price tags they will eventually breakdown and motor speed will drag the tape making it sound weird. The vintage deck my father in law has suffers from this as well, from time to time the motor drags the tape playback making BeeGees sound like Barry White. Those devices are, apparently, quite capable for digitising some tapes into handy mp3 files before the motor gives in though.
Maybe I'll go to a flee market or something and find a smaller vintage deck on (my father in law's vintage deck is almost the size of my AIWA MSBTU 600 receiver!), find some proper space nest to my stereo system, negotiate said space with wife, and just get an rca in switch like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/AtNeDcVh-B...78226&sprefix=rca+in+swit,aps,125&sr=8-4&th=1