Another amateur in need of advice

$4k speakers will sound terrible with $400 amp, the other way around - it depends on many things.

^I have to disagree. I’ve powered $4K Spendors with a $400 Yamaha A-S500 and the sound was more than good. In terms of bass extension and PRaT, it was better than some $2K^ integrateds I’ve had in my rig.

Would it be ill-advised to pair a more sensitive speaker with a more powerful integrated amp like an Exposure or the Aria?

I think that largely depends on the speakers, but IME, it’s best to match them based on efficiency (which BTW is a combination of avg impedance, phase angles and sensitivity), essentially matching moderate-power amps with moderate-efficiency speakers and so forth. I tried powering my high-efficiency Heresy IIIs with a 160 watt/Ch Parasound Integrated and it was not a good match. Somehow it excited their cabinet resonance and resulted in bloated bass. I’ve also powered them with an 85 watts/Ch amp - better, but not as good a pairing as my 45 watt/ch amp.

For some bad news. In your price target range, you simply won’t get today’s version of audiophile

I have to disagree with this as well. One can get very respectable gear and better -than-good sound for $5K. Yes, some manufacturers have sold-out with cheap class D garbage, but OTOH, there’s more options for good budget systems today than there ever was 40 years ago.

An awesome $5K system could look like this:

• Technics 1200GR w/ Hanna EH cartidge:~$2K with typical dealer discounts.

• Lounge LCR Gold preamp: $650
  

• Odyssey Audio Cyclops integrated amp: $1095, Yamaha A-S801: $900 or used Cayin A50T: ~$1K
  

• KEF LS50s, Tannoy XT6Fs or Klipsch Heresy IIIs: $1200, $1500, $1800 respectively with typical discount.
  

I’d pit such a system against many costing 2 or 3X as much and against countless vintage options, and that’s with brand new, warrantied gear, not to mention what could be put together with lightly used options. It’s actually a very good era in which to be an audiophile.

+1 helomech

Taking it all in, thanks all! 

@helomech Thanks for leading me onto the Tannoys! Never heard of them prior, and they seem to be pretty stellar!

I'm leaning toward the Tannoy XT8. The room where this system would be placed is unfortunately somewhat big, so that sorta steers me toward floor standing speakers. Would the XT8 be a good match with the Belles Aria? 

Tannoy has been making speakers (in England) since the 30's. The English use "Tannoy" for speakers like we use "Kleenex" for tissue paper (or Band-aid for self-stick bandage).

Cleanshirt,

Audio Doctor in NJ, should be on your short list of places in your area to visit. We have the products you are interested in and are easy to get to from NYC, via the Path, or by Bus, not to mention by purchasing from NJ we can save you NYC sales tax as well.

We carter to the begining audiophile as well as the advanced, and we are the NYC area displaying Quad dealer, we also have Rega, Nad, Nuprime, Kef, Dali, Paradigm, PSB, and a few others speakers and electronics lines that are really good and are in your price range.

You should not be intimated at visiting the NYC dealers as most of them will treat you fine even if you are not a high roller. The only issue with many NYC dealers is they will not have a good selection of affordable gear. Most of the NYC stores due to high rent sell mostly more expensive rigs however, most of them do have a few options at the lower price points. 

Right now we have demo speakers from KEF R series, for a very good price, as well as demo Gradient and Gershman loudspeakers as well, most demo models are being blown out for 50% off so you could snag yourself a $4,000.00 pair of speakers for $2k and have the pleasure of listening to them and knowing they will work for you.

We have other demo amplifiers to get you a fantastic system that will work for your budget, heck we even have a Rega Brio demo for $500 not the current one but the last one and we have a liberal trade up policy for display goods.

Helotech, you have some good suggestions, the new Technics turntable looks very good, the issue with your entire system recommendation is that this is a novice buyer who is basically shopping based upon research and not experience, he really doesn’t have a clue what he is going to like the sound of, and other than the KEF LS 50 he would be buying blind 100%.

The most prudent thing is for this begining and budding music lover/audiophile to actually listen to a system and then make his decisions on what actually sounds good to him, rather then guessing.

This is what a dealer can bring to the table, he is next to one of the world’s biggest cities with many dealers that he can visit and thus he can hear many different things that he may really like.

And other than room size we still don’t know what kind of music, does he play loud, are the speakers physical size important, are the speakers looks important, will he ever want to play movies on the system.

Go forth Cleanshirt and start to visit as many dealers as you can and then formulate what exactly calls to you. You will start to learn how and what does what and then you can start to educate yourself to making more intelligent choices based on having actual experience.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ