buying a stereo for my 16 yr. old

wino: reason it's "dropping like a rock" (just a guess) is nobody seems to have a yen for it. -cfb

While you didn't state if your 16 yr old is male or female, you might want to include a subscription to AudioXpress with the system. I think that male's would find it more interesting, but you never know. It is a mag that is based on upgrades / modifications / speaker building / tubes / DIY projects, etc... all things that a newcomer at that age would REALLY dig. After all, didn't you dream about building the "baddest" speakers in the world at that age ? This will tell them how and do it step by step. Sean
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www.audioXpress.com

Put together a system for my son for his 11th b'day and he loves it. Pioneer PD M650 6-disc CD player, Carver HR752 receiver (remote), NAD 6050C tape deck, B&W DM302 speakers, wall-mounted swivel speaker supports. Interconnect is Monster, speaker wire is 10 gauge stuff I had lying around. Total cost of everything was around $400 and sounds pretty good all things considered. Knowing him, he'll swap stuff and tweak as he goes along. The apple never falls far from the tree....

I think Winoguy may be talking about the Reference 500 series, which the UK buff mags said was pretty good, competitive at its price point. Doesn't really appeal to the audiophile market, but to those who want "good sound" (pleasant and tuneful without worrying too much about fidelity). The price is coming down, I'd guess, because TEAC is coming out with a new model.

Doug is talking about the Reference 100 mini-system, about $169 at Costco, and very good for a kitchen or bedroom system. I bought one for my 11 year old. Even better, my father in law has one to which I hooked up old Monitor Audio md300 large bookshelf speakers, and it sounds great. Very deep and wide soundstage, fair imaging and smooth frequency response. Not the last word in detail, but a killer for $169 plus the value of the surplus speakers.

If you want it simple and good sounding...

The NAD L40, B-stock from Q-Audio in Cambridge MA, for about 250, a pair of the small Paradigm speakers or any similar small speaker and decent wire, and you have excellent sound, remote, cd & tuner all for around 400.

If you want to be really cool, have the speakers be gallo micros or blueroom minipods