2. amps-preamps
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Anyone else feel left out?

'Gons talk a lot about equipment (new or used) that is way beyond the financial means of most people. Thousands of dollars for a Dac? Ten thousand for a pair of mono blocks?
The pros and cons of 15k a pair speakers? Cabling that costs as much as college tuition? How about a system where the cd player is no more than $500, pre and power amp no more than $500 each, speakers no more than $1k a pair and cabling no more than $10 a foot. Jazz and classical music will be enjoyed. This would be a system that would still be superior to most home systems, but would be within the reach of a wider range of music fans. What are your recommendations for a system of new equipment, used equipment or a mix of both?
jw94055
rsbeck
887 posts
 
Here's what I would do ---

I would use a computer for your front end. Rip your CD's to the hard drive, uncompressed. Then, get a top notch USB DAC like the Apogee Mini-Dac. Then, get powered speakers like Mackie HR824 -- buy them used and you can stay within your budget. Now, you only need to buy a pair of XLR balanced interconnects. This whole system will come in for the same budget you're talking about and it will compete with traditional systems costing two or three times as much. You get the technological advantages of internal bi-amping, active crossovers, jitter-free digital, wonderful sounding DAC, the elimination of speaker cables, balanced line level signal and interconnects.

Computer -- $1,000
Apogee Mini-Dac -- $1,000
Mackie HR824 -- $1,000
Balanced XLR interconnects -- $20
jax2
3,031 posts
 
Rsbeck has a nice plan and fine recommendations. I'll give you an alternate (and there are many) should you want to stick with tangible discs for playback. I'd juggle your budget a bit differently than you laid out and stick to used gear.

Jolida JD-100 CD Player $600 used
Quicksilver Mini-Mites (25 watt mono amps)$650 used
Audible Illusions 3A $1000 used
Soliloquy 5.3 Floorstanders $800 used
Signal Cable Speaker wire @ $140 for biwire
or
Home Depot (TAS) extension cord @ $20

This would be a VERY rewarding system IMO

Marco
sfar's avatar
sfar
1,758 posts
 
Sure, what you're talking about is certainly possible and quite a few people here have put together systems in that price range that are extremely enjoyable. It takes obsessive monitoring of the used equipment ads, lots of auditioning and/or swapping out of gear to find what suits you and being honest with yourself about both what your really hear and what you can afford.

I'm absolutely thrilled with my current setup. It replaced a much more expensive batch of gear when I moved into a much smaller space and the sound is better in every way, mostly because I'd learned a lot in the couple of years between putting together the two systems. Here's what I've got, with the prices I paid, all used:

ProAc Response 1s speakers - $525
HSU VTF-2 subwoofer - $350
Audio Refinement Complete integrated - $550
Music Hall CD25 with opamp upgrade - $400
Dh Labs Air Matrix interconnect - $100
Dh Labs Q10 shotgun biwire cables - $225
Sanus speaker stands, sand filled - $130

I like everything about what I'm now hearing and am content to wait until I can spend three times the money to try to make an improvement.

There could be literally hundreds of combinations of high-quality, fairly-priced stuff that have a similar total cost. It just takes some effort to find the one that thrills you. Finding that combination for yourself at a price you consider a real bargain has its own satisfaction, beyond the satisfaction you'll get from the listening.
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