Right Choice? Denon CEOL Piccolo DRA-N5

[Dan Lees]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forums and I don't consider myself very knowledgeable about Hi-Fis or anything audio related. In fact I'm completely new to this. I have recently purchased an Iphone 5 that now has a fair bit of my music on. I'm also quite into computers and have a large mp3 collection, therefore streaming music appeals to me. I'm planning on getting into Spotify too.

For this reason I'm planning a purchase of a Denon CEOL Piccolo DRA-N5.

I'd planned on pairing this with a pair of Q Acoustics 2020i speakers.

I was also going to buy Soundstyle Z2ii Stands for the speakers.



As I don't really know anything and feel a little out of my depth I was seeking a bit of advice before I buy.



My main questions are:

1) Is the Denon DRA-N5 a good choice.

2) Are the speakers overkill and should I be looking to get 2010i speakers instead? I was hoping that the 2020i speakers would give me more scope to upgrade in the future if needed.

3) Will the stands make a difference, as otherwise I will be plonking the speakers straight on the floor.

4) I always thought a speaker cable was a speaker cable - then I started to look on various retailer websites and realised that it is a lot more complicated than that. Am I right to avoid 4 core cables and go for a 2 core (for single wiring) cable with 4mm banana plugs?

Also, I know another silly question but am I right in saying one cable needs 4 banana plugs - 2 at each end? I'd just never imagined a cable would cost so much!

Also - last cable related question - should I avoid the cable being too long? Is it unreasonable to purchase two 5 metre cables and will that make a significant difference to the sound?



Any help or guidance is greatly appreciated.

 

[Actran]

4) I always thought a speaker cable was a speaker cable - then I started to look on various retailer websites and realised that it is a lot more complicated than that. Am I right to avoid 4 core cables and go for a 2 core (for single wiring) cable with 4mm banana plugs?

Also, I know another silly question but am I right in saying one cable needs 4 banana plugs - 2 at each end? I'd just never imagined a cable would cost so much!

Also - last cable related question - should I avoid the cable being too long? Is it unreasonable to purchase two 5 metre cables and will that make a significant difference to the sound?

2 core with bananna plugs is just fine. Buy yourself 50 ft of 12 ga cable from monoprice For only $13.71 each when QTY 50+ purchased - 50ft 12AWG Enhanced Loud Oxygen-Free Copper Speaker Wire Cable and a 5 pack of bananna plugs For only $6.01 each when QTY 50+ purchased - 5 PAIRS Of High-Quality Gold Plated Speaker Banana Plugs, Closed Screw Type

They are very easy to install and doing this yourself will save you a ton of money. Monoprice (or even youtube) will have an abundance of videos showing you how to do it.

As for the denon box, I'm a Denon fan. They make a good mid-range product with some neat features. I think you'll be happy with the connectivity once you get it all set up, but 65W seems a little low to me though I'm coming from the home theatre perspective. There aren't a whole lot of inputs on the box either, but if you plan on running most of your music over the network, it may be fine. $499 just seems like a lot for the box alone when I paid $450 for my 2312 last year.