Hifi System - Features

The essential components of a integrated hifi system are as follows,

1) A power supply.
2) An amplifier.
3) Speakers.
4) One source unit, such as a cd player, tuner, tape deck.

There are few, if any, integrated hifi systems which now feature a record player.

For a budget of £30-100, the additional features to expect are as follows.

• RMS output between 0-80 watts (watts defines the power and how loud a system is)
• RDS and a selection of presets for a tuner.
• Headphone socket.
• Remote control.
• Stop, play, pause, skip, repeat, random play functions.

For a budget of £100-200, then expect the features above, plus.

• RMS output between 80-150 watts.
• DAB digital tuner.
• LCD display, to read CD and Radio station information.
• iPod dock.
• MP3 encoding, transfer music from a CD to an mp3 player.
• Built-in subwoofer, to produce extra bass.
• Five or more mode preset equalizer.
• Three or five disc CD changer.

The majority of major manufacturers, like Philips, Panasonic and Sony do not build integrated hifi systems which cost more than £200. Above £200, the high end manufacturers such as Denon, Onkyo, and Teac take centre stage.

The feature list of high end systems is usually no more extensive then those of £100-200 priced systems. The difference is in the quality of the components, which produce a superior sound performance. The appearance, reliability and build quality is where the money goes.

The aim of an integrated hifi system costing above £300 is to match the sound quality of systems made up from separate units. It's not unusual for the manufacturer's of high end integrated systems to have originally been the builders of high end separate units.