Purchasing and setting up a home music system

Yes, I'd be looking for a high quality receiver and speaker system too. I am also looking into purchasing a Blu Ray Player/Recorder to fit with these components. I also have an Xbox 360, although I would like the sound output from this to come from a Smart TV. Budget wise, I'd be looking at around £1,500-2000, although I could stretch up to £3,000.

Sounds like this system is for both music and video. It seems like you are in the UK and, unfortunately, I am not up to date on prices there. But, here are some thoughts.

First, I would think twice about the 5 CD changer. Although they are convenient they generally are not very high quality, especially if you want high quality music. And from what I see at first glance, the Yamaha does not support wav or flac.

Since you are also considering Blu/Ray you might want to consider an Oppo 103 for both video and audio. It is a very good Blu Ray and supports all sort of music and video formats. It is also a very good CD player. You can plug a USB drive into it and it plays wav and flac, including high resolution files (above CD quality). People have used it with up to 1 TB drives with good success. My experience is with 100 GB of flac files and it works fine. You will not get the flexibility of a PC based music player, but it is pretty good. Before buying a changer, I would use the Oppo for single CDs and rip commonly used CDs to wav or flac and put them on a large USB drive attached to the Oppo.

If you are more interested in music than video, I would stay away from most of the Japanese recievers like Yamaha, Denon, Onkyo receivers. They have lots of features, but music is not their strong suite. Marantz could be a better option. Better yet, NAD is known form a very musical sound. They do not have as many features as the Japanese brands, but they do sound good. The 757 might be a good option, although I do not know the UK prices. Cambridge Audio may also be an option. The NAD is smooth, the Cambridge Audio is more forward and driving. I like NAD, but it depends on your tastes.

For the iPod, I would suggest looking at an external dock. NAD has one for its receivers which allows you to display the iPod menus on your TV. I would not compromise my audio quality on your CD player or receiver to get a direct iPod connection.

For speakers, there are lots of options depending on your room size and configuration. One example, BMW 684 mains, CM Center, 685 surrounds. Wharfedale, Tannoy would also be options.

whathi.com is a good source of reviews for products available in the UK, although I do not agree with their Oppo review. They used the DACs in the Oppo, whereas the best thing to do if you have something like the NAD would be to bitstream the CD to the NAD and use the DACs in the NAD. But is a very good start for reviews.

Hope that is a start.

Both the Oppo 103 and the 105 can function as a DMR (Digital Media Renderer). My understanding is that the DMR feature would allow one to control digital audio file playback through the Oppo using software such as JRiver installed on the PC. I've not done this myself since I have an Oppo 95 which does not have DMR capability, but I am told it can be done. I agree wholeheartedly with the advice to steer clear of CD changers. For a player, if it's available where you live, buy an Oppo. It can't be beat for the money. I also second NAD in your price range if it's available.

Gz3827 - Only the 105 has aysnc USB. I am not sure I would go for the 105 over the 103 just for the async USB. The NAD DACs are pretty good. I might start using the NAD DACs, rather than the more expensive 105. If he wants to use a PC with JRiver (which I use) a usb to S/PDIF converter might make more sense down the road.

Given the budget is for everything (source, amplification, and speakers), I agree with Dtc that Oppo 103 would be a better choice than 105.