Design an entire system for $800? ?


Help my cheap friend. He has nothing to start with. Cd only. Put yourself to the test. New equipment only(he is to busy to hunt the used market).Good luck
128x128seejungle
I think TWL offers a great solution. Even the guy who started the thread is passing the buck to us to help his cheap friend. I love it.

Another viable solution might be to purchase broken equipment that looks impressive to provide the illusion of a good system. You know, big beautiful speakers with burned out drivers, and electronics that light up but don't work properly could be bought for pennies on the dollar. Heck, he could save a lot on interconnects and speaker cables... Set up would be a snap because he wouldn't actually need to connect it together. The equipment could be placed about the room wherever it looks the best.

Then he could gaze upon the gear proudly while humming his favorite tunes to himself. If he is very clever, he could then imagine that the system sounds as good as it looks. :)
Twl, you could have saved us all this time if you'd just posted earlier. I hear that plastic clips softly, and produces mainly even-order harmonics. And the slate-blue color option is currently "in", fits nicely into period homes, etc. The classic white and piano black fit well in a modern urban setting.

I love it. Seriously, cheap + quick is a hard order to fill in hi-end, so I hope all the help you provide isn't dismissed quickly and cheaply as well. I've been there before.
Acoustic Energy Aegis One speakers (or whatever the latest gen of this speaker is called), inexpensive wooden speaker stands (like Sanus, you can find them by doing a Yahoo shopping search), 12 gauge speaker cable from Hoem Depot or Radio Shack, or any electronics store. And, drive the speakers with a combo minisystem like the Yamaha mentioned above by DK, or my favorite, the TEAC Ref 100 or Costco equivalent (store the little speakers that come with the minisystem in case he wants to give the system away later). $600-800.

I have hooked up the little TEAC to an old pair of Monitor Audio MD300's in my father-in-law's house, and it's very enjoyable. Depth, width, nice imaging - just lacks a little detail, which isnt always bad.

Nothing unreasonable about your cheap friend's request.
First you start with a Dynaco pat4 preamp , a dynaco st70 power amp, a pair of large Advents for speakers , a Dual 1219 Turntable some lamp cord for speaker wire , Oh my God what a flashback
The key for someone like this is to keep the electronics costs to a minimum. You can sometimes buy a 2-channel receiver and a CD player made by a company you've actually heard of from a place like J&R for well under $300. That leaves you $500+ for speakers, with plenty of choices from the likes of Paradigm, PSB, B&W, etc. (Speakers are personal and room-dependent, so I wouldn't begin to recommend them, but these the manufacturers are well thought of, so they're a good place to start.)

And I think a few posters here owe you an apology.