Gordon wrote on Jan 25^th, 2021 at 8:37pm:

The Australian speaker industry has produced some world class components selling them for far less than imported gear. As with any technology it helps to find out if parts are going to be available.
I’ve been lucky in having an ex-boyfriend working as an audio/video repair technician for a leading Australian retailer. His advice on reliability, parts availability etc have saved me a fortune and a lot of angst over the decades. However, if you go sniffing around any retailers asking to speak to their technician about a prospective purchase the staff usually go to great lengths to keep them hidden behind the scenes. These guys know too much ! Which brings me to one of my great annoyances, the total lack of anything like evaluation of component reliability in the audio/video press. As one audio reviewer (now retired) told me "Don’t want to damage our advertising revenue, do we"

As to Onkyo and Denon not being in the big league, that’s not true of Denon’s high end range. Ultra expensive, well put together and  sonically superior to many other Japanese brands.

Oh, and here’s another trap for the unwary. It pays if you’re buying new gear to ask about warrantee conditions. For instance, some audio gear manufacturers (Pioneer comes to mind) don’t keep a full stock of parts in Australia. You can wait up to three months for a part to arrive from Japan (or Indonesia or wherever they are sourced) only to learn you gain no extension of your warrantee period. In other words you’ve just lost 3 months off your warrantee period. This is yet another trick audio video retailers don’t want you to know about. Strangely, under Australian consumer protection law they somehow manage to get away with it.

But hey, this is all getting a bit too esoteric for our original poster who just wanted a few recommendations.

Many years ago I was at work when Brad Serhan was there installing studio monitors, got chatting and he said he'd do me a ripper deal on a pair of demo bookshelfs. I got his details and went to his house that night.

About 3 months later he called me and said he wanted to do a small tweak to them, and he changed the crossovers.

That was my first pair of speakers, and I still have them.

Sprintcyclist wrote on Jan 26^th, 2021 at 4:01pm:




'  ........  Power per channel85 watts per channel, two channels driven @ 6/8 ohms, 20Hz – 20kHz, <0.07% THD

Input Sensitivity/Impedance250mV/27k ohms

Signal-to-Noise Ratio (IHF-A)100dB

Frequency Response (@ 1W)10Hz – 130kHz (+0dB/–3dB)  .......... '


https://eu.harmankardon.com/HK+3700.html

That is a real stereo.

Sprintcyclist wrote on Jan 26^th, 2021 at 4:15pm:

I’m sure you gain a lot of enjoyment out of it and that’s what matters. As to your use of the term ‘real’ it leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Also quoting power output specs, even if they are accurate often mean nothing. Given a large pair of horn loaded speakers of high efficiency 3 watts can blow your head off.
I could go on and on about all this but again I’m aware all of this isn’t answering the original posters questions. But come to think of it he hasn’t answered mine  about what it is he’s actually expecting from his hard earned cash. Makes sensibly recommending anything almost impossible.

The Heartless Felon wrote on Jan 27^th, 2021 at 6:13am:

I don’t recall you telling us how big  the room is you’ll use your gear in, how loud you want to play it - at party levels or maybe indulge in a little  Wagnarian hysteria at high levels? What sources (blue ray?) you expect it to handle and how much you want to spend. It would even help if we knew you were a closet pipe organ fan for obvious reasons. I’m only trying to help but my hands are tied by simply not knowing what you expect.
You may find if you visit an audio retailer they’ll hit you with exactly the same questions.

Yes, I did
"Thank you Ayn. I am by no means a hi-fi snob. all I want is a quality sound system that plays digital radio and cd's (mostly classical)."

And, while I would appreciate all of the suggestions made if I understood 'em, I simply asked if anyone knew anything about a specific sound system.

' ......  Harman Kardon BDS 280 Receiver & Wharfedale Diamond 121 Speakers Hi-Fi Stereo System .......... '

$900

Speaker General Specifications
Color      Gloss Black
Brand      NAD
Enclosure type      Bass Reflex
Frequency Response      50 Hz - 20 kHz
Power      100 Watts
Woofer Bass Driver Size (mm)      127 mm
Tweeter      25 mm
Impedance (Ω)      6 Ω
Sensitivity      86 dB
Amplifier General Specifications
Warranty      Australian Manufacturer Warranty

Disc Player Specification
Disc Capacity      1
Disc Remote      Yes
Bluetooth® Wireless Technology      Yes
Wireless LAN (Wi-Fi)      Yes
Signal-to-Noise Ratio      90 dB
Total Harmonic Distortion      0.1 %
USB A Ports      2
Dimension
Bookshelf (H×W×D)      315 x 174 x 225 mm (ea)
Amplifier Dimension (H×W×D)      78.5 x 283.8 x 400.2 mm

https://www.digitalcinema.com.au/harman-kardon-bds-280-receiver-and-wharfedale-d...

Specs are better than most peoples hearing