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One of the first questions people ask us — either on the phone or when they walk into the showroom — is 'what should I be spending?' It's a good question and it deserves an honest answer, not a sales pitch.
Here's how we think about it, based on years of helping people find systems they're still happy with five years later.
The right budget is the one that matches what music means to you
That sounds vague, but it's genuinely the most useful starting point. Someone who listens to music in the background while doing other things has different needs from someone who sits down specifically to listen and expects the experience to absorb them completely. Both are valid — they just point to different budgets.
Also worth saying: you don't have to buy everything at once. Many people start with a good amplifier and speakers, then add a proper source later. Building a system over time is completely reasonable.
Under £500 — a real starting point
This is where we'd gently push back on anyone who says you need to spend serious money to get into hi-fi. At £400 to £500 for a complete system, you can put together something that will genuinely change how you hear music.
A Denon PMA-600NE integrated amplifier (around £300) paired with a pair of Q Acoustics 3020C bookshelf speakers (around £180) is a combination we've recommended dozens of times. Add a WiiM Mini streamer (around £80) and you have a complete streaming hi-fi system for under £600 that would embarrass most Bluetooth speakers many times its price.
What you're giving up at this budget: deep bass extension, very high listening volumes, and the kind of fine detail retrieval that only comes with more expensive components. But you're gaining something real, and most people at this price point are genuinely surprised by how good it sounds.
£500 to £1,500 — the serious upgrade
This is the range where most of our customers find their long-term home. At this budget you have access to amplifiers and speakers that audiophile reviewers genuinely recommend, and the difference from the entry level is immediately audible.
The Arcam A15+ or Marantz PM6007 at the amplifier stage (around £500 to £600) paired with KEF Q150 or Wharfedale Evo 5.1 speakers (around £400 to £600) and an Arcam ST5 or WiiM Pro streamer (around £200 to £400) gives you a system that will satisfy most people for years. That's a complete setup in the £1,200 to £1,500 range that regularly wins awards and consistently impresses in our listening room.
£1,500 to £3,000 — the enthusiast level
At this point you're into equipment that gets genuinely exciting. Integrated amplifiers from Arcam's SA45, the Primare A35.2, or the Audiolab 9000A represent some of the most rewarding listening available at this price. Pair any of them with speakers from B&W, KEF's R series, Monitor Audio or Dali Opticon, add an Arcam ST25 as your source, and you have a system that stops conversations.
People who come into our listening room and hear a system at this level often sit quietly for a few minutes. At this price point, the difference between what you're hearing and what you were hearing before is the kind of thing that makes you dig out albums you thought you knew and listen to them again from beginning to end.
£3,000 and above — the reference level
We're going to be honest: at this point the gains become more incremental and the decisions become more personal. You're choosing equipment that satisfies highly experienced listeners with strong opinions. The right choice at this level genuinely depends on your room, your musical taste, and what specifically you feel is missing from a lower-budget system.
Brands like Arcam, KEF, B&W, Monitor Audio and Primare all have ranges in this territory that we're qualified to advise on. If you're thinking seriously about a system at this level, a conversation in our showroom is genuinely the best starting point — not a buying guide, however well-intentioned.
One thing that's always true regardless of budget
The speakers make the biggest difference to how a system sounds. If you have to compromise somewhere, don't compromise on the speakers. A better pair of speakers on a more modest amplifier will almost always sound better than modest speakers on an expensive amplifier.
We'd rather help you choose the right speakers for your room and budget than sell you the most expensive thing on the shelf. The systems people are still happy with years later are usually the ones built around speakers chosen for the space they live in.
All of the systems mentioned in this guide can be heard in our Hayes showroom. We're open Monday to Saturday, 9:15am to 6pm. Finance is available on all orders over £499 — which makes the jump to a genuinely better system much more manageable. Call us on 020 8813 7666 or just come in.
Hear the difference between budget tiers for yourself
Book a free listening session at our Hayes showroom and hear systems at different price points side by side. We'll help you understand what you get as you move up through the budgets, without the pressure to buy.
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