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Beginning Audio System

Heya, i've decided that I want to start building my first Hi-Fi audio system. The problem is that I really don't know where to start or what most things are. Things like "pre-amp" and "tube" dont really make much sense to me yet :(
What i'm really after is an Amp with 5.1, probally no more than 60watts, a CD and SACD player, two good speakers for stereo music, a subwoofer and two more speakers to work with the good speakers for when I listen to surround sound. I don't think i'm going to have enough money for the two surround speakers to be of highest quality. I'll porbally connect everything with optical wiring aswel.
My budget is about £500 .. could someone point me in the right direction and explain what the different speaker types and amps are?
Thanks alot
Tom
promocopy
tomryan
796 posts
 
What kind of keyboard do you have?!? Guess I'd have to give a crap about computers to find those things...but I am curious.
pabelson
344 posts
 
Here's what I'd recommend to an American newbie with a <$900 budget, all new:

Receiver: Pioneer VSX515-K ($170 at J&R)
DVD Player: Panasonic DVD-S29 ($65 at J&R)
Main Speakers: Paradigm Titans ($229/pr list)
Subwoofer: Paradigm PDR-10 ($379 list)

That's a nice sounding 2.1 system to start. Next add a center (CC-170, $199), then surrounds (Atoms, $199/pr). If you absolutely must have SACD, J&R has some Sony's for $120.

Don't know whether that particular gear is available in Promocopy's corner of the British Empire, but he can probably find equivalents in the same ballpark.
bigjoe's avatar
bigjoe
693 posts
 
sweet code!
promocopy OP
1 posts
 
Hey! i've got the normal UK keyboard, which has the £ sign above the 2 :P
In the end I went out and bought:
Cambridge Audio A5-B Integrated Amplifier
Cambridge Audio azur 340-c cd player
Two Gale 4040 speakers (bi-wierd)
That cost me just under £480 which is about $850
What do you all recon?
gunbei
2,327 posts
 
Tomryan,

I guess that's the advantage of being in the graphic design field with access to thousands of fonts and also the knowledge that certain key commands when done in combination will yield an endless array of mathematical, Greek, Latin, Cyrillic and a litany of goofy fonts and type styles. Also, "copy and paste" works quite well too, heheh.

Yo ho! Dean
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