upgrade advice for budget-minded beginner

Hi Ethan. Rich's advice (Rar1) is excellent, as usual. Notice that he's talking about your front end. For many of us, speakers are the last thing to upgrade. This is because it is easier, musically, to live with speakers that partially reveal a great source, than to live with speakers that let absolutely all of an ordinary source come through.

If the Onix is really the same as the old Music Hall 25/Shanling CD-S100 I used to have and traded to my brother for a nice guitar, go for it. It is the best you can find for the money, even including vintage. Upgrade the power cord when you can, it will like that.

I like the NAD C320 BEE so much, I bought... no not the company, I bought three of the amps. If you are an audio phool you might get more pleasure out of buying ( and restoring ) vintage for the same money, but the NAD is simple to use, does all you need and sounds great. If you are a borderline phool, it is tweakable, with better jumpers, power cord and terminals.

Note that this combination of source and amp is not going to cost a whole lot. Easy to find too. You can get the C320 BEE used here ( and maybe the CD-25 too, but for only a tad less than the Onix new ).

Once you have all that, plus cables, your next upgrade step will be... no not the speakers. Start all over again at the source, and work downstream through the amp. Then you can change the speakers!

I would get a better pre-amp and see how things sound. Consider the excellent solid state Nakamichi CA-5 Pre-amp. The Denon CDP would come next. I wouldn't necessary disregard older CD players. Rotel's RCD-855 is a great CDP. Don't laugh but my CDP in my main system is an 1986 NEC CD-650. Had an a chance to audition the Thule CB-150 CDP and was very impressed. You never mentioned your cables. This is extremely important. I'm using a mix of cables and IMO the Wireworld Oasis 3 is a fanastic IC for the $. You really don't need to spend a whole lot. Good advice from all the previous posts. Good Luck!

there is a partially upgraded Jolida 102b tube amplifier; it is one of the better chinese tubed units available. Would be surprised if not already sold at it's 375 price. This unit responds very well to basic parts upgrade as it has a good basic design and good transformers; just cheap part to hit a price point. With about 20 watts on tap I'd give it a try with your B/W speakers; you might like it. This is an integrated amplifier with a real active preamp section with four line level inputs so you would replce both your existing preamplifier and amplifier in one cheap fell swoop.

You can do upgrades to the unit (better capacitors, power supply mods, NOS tubes) down the road as your budget permits. Response Audio sells these units modded and stock and will also work on yours. You should be able to find them with a search.

The simplest way to "tame" you bright sounding CD player (which most are until you hit serious money) is to acquire a decently priced digital converter with a tube analogue output stage. The three units I would recommend, from least to most expensive are:

a) California Audio Labs Sigma II...exc entry level unit with single triode tube (12ax7/ecc803s) in output stage..has one optical and one coaxial input..price for a sigma II, which is extremely rare, would be perhaps 300 give or take 25 bux.

b) California Audio Labs Alpha.....this unit was the more expensive model and uses a pair of triodes in the output stage....Alphas are regularly up for sale for between 400 and 500 depending on if the original box (a real good one for shipping) is present, or not. This model has an AES/EBU (xlr) intput in addition to the coaxial and optical.

c) California Audio Labs Alpha with 24/96 board....this is the hard to find one....only way it was identified was by a label on the rear of the unit. That, or an inspection of the innards by somebody familiar with the product. This one soundds better with standard CD recordings; dunno why but it does. This one will set you back probably 600 if you can even find one.

California Audio Labs is long in the dustbin if audio history so if one fails you may have an issue getting it repaired. Might want to stick with the Sigma due to its low cost.

d) Audio Note DAC 1 Signature...this is the older (not the 1x) model and is very, very nice sounding and really takes the edge off of digital recordings. I had one for ten years and recently replaced it with the current Audio Note 1x Signature. Probably 550/600 but they rarely come up

e) Audio Note 1x Signature...the recently discontinued small chassis unit is very nice sounding, too, and has the non oversampling technology of the current models that replaced it. I bought one some months back for 700 inc shipping from Singapore; very nice unit but moved it along when I got hold of the current version at the Right Price.

Don't worry about your CD player until you listen to it with a decent quality tubed dac; you'll be surpised at how much better everything will sound.

A good rule of thumb to follow when upgrading is to listen to the system in your room before you buy (if possible). I would also say that speakers determine the huge majority of what you hear, w/preamp, source, and amp coming in second, third, and fourth. (I would not sink any money into fancy cables, as cables are for the most part a ripoff.) Third, not all tube equipment has a warmer sound, and tube equipment can often be slightly noiser than SS. And above all else, trust your ears over the opinions of others, fancy ads, or reviews, as many an Audiogoner (myself included) has fallen for the ol' "If the experts think it sounds good, it must sound good" trap. Good luck!

If you're willing to buy used, and I highly recommend it on a budget, here are a few ideas of items in the classifieds right now. I would pair an original Rega Planet cd player at around $275-300 used (an outright steal at the current used prices) with a Naim Nait integrated for around $500. Or alternatively instead of the Nait try a vintage tubed integrated like one of the many Fisher Models for $350-500. With upgraded components you might find your speakers a bit more to your liking, and you can always upgrade them later when budget permits. Good luck and happy listening!