2. amps-preamps
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Inexpensive Amp and Speakers

I'm really really new to home audio. I have done some audio stuff in my car, but nothing with home audio. I am currently just using some Cambridge SoundWorks $50 speakers haha, and I really started to notice that the sub and mids sound like crap. I checked out the Zalytron website and was thinking of getting the budget German 2-Way speakers. I would probably order all the parts and materials but put the box together myself to save some money.

Now I need a receiver and I am clueless as to what to get. The only audio place around me is Circuit City and they sell moslty crap, so I can't really demo any receivers and plus they wouldn't have the speakers I am going to use anyway. I looked a little on eBay for new and used equipment but I really didn't know what to look for. I need some suggestions on any kind of amp for around $150. It doesn't need to be anything fancy at all, because I'm ONLY going to be playing music out of my computer, so the amp just has 1 set of RCA inputs and a line-out for a sub it'd be fine. I think that about 100w per channel would be fine, but I'm not really sure how many watts those speakers can handle.

If anyone has any suggestions on other speakers and amps I could look into I'd be very greatful to hear what you have to say. I'm sure almost anything will be better than these cheap speakers I'm using now!
jcdem
seandtaylor99
1,262 posts
 
NAD, Rotel, Cambridge are receivers I'd look for at $150 (which is really pushing it).

Mission probably make the best monitor speakers at this price ... here's an example
http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?spkrmoni&1020708090

If not mission try NHT.

Keep browsing ebay and audiogon .. something will come up.
dekay's avatar
dekay
5,552 posts
 
If you have local thrift/resale shops keep checking them out for receivers (they average $20-$40 in my area - LA) and I even run across ones from NAD from time to time. You will need to take along interconnects and speaker cables to test them @ the shops (which usually have CD players and speakers on hand for this task). Once you find a nice receiver, that checks out (take your time) you can then spend the money saved on speakers, if you wish. This is the only way that I know to go on a tight/low budget.
ellery911
549 posts
 
I will add one more vote for NAD
jcdem OP
15 posts
 
Any specific model by NAD? I saw some on eBay but some are more than 10 years old and I don't feel right buying something that old and trusting it to work everyday. I also saw that a lot of them only pushed about 20-45w continuous and most were at 8 ohms. I might be wrong but I think that I need a bit more than just 20-45w per speaker, and I want to run at 4 ohms.
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