I m a beginner. Please help

The SOURCE CD player or Turtable are your most important items.Dont let anyone tell you different.
Can a graet 50K speaker change the signal it recieves.can it make a bad signal sound good.No it cant.
GARBAGE IN = GARBAGE OUT.
ITS THAT SIMPLE.
A cheap source will keep you spending counless $ to get better sound.
I cant tell you how many people keep upgrading speakers and are never really pleased.
The need to upgrade their source so they can really hear what their amps and speakers really sound like.
Put you bigest bang in the source.

Thanks for the comments from fellow posters. Monsterbill puts things into perspective as Dave probably prefers to keep to a budget. But my experience tells me that cables are just another "component". Yet unlike electronics, they are more readily obtained and tested in ones system. Because of this, I'd say anyone putting together a nice sounding system that they want to own for an extended time ought to consider spending a bit more on cables than they might imagine. Granted, it's hard to specify dollar amounts, but keep in mind that the goal for the beginner is to keep their system for a very long time or until their tastes change. I don't think any of us started out believing that we'd end up swapping every component in our systems (several times over) before we found something easy to live with. Instead, cables offer the quickest route to learning these points. Here's a rough example from personal experience. A friend bought a pair of beautiful ProAc 1SC speakers ($2,100 retail) and a Krell300i ($2,500 integrated amp). He had an inexpensive Marantz CC65 cd player ($500 retail, stock). With the wrong cables, his system sounded bright, harsh, and uninvolving. With carefully selected cables, he had a simple system that recreated the musical experience--in short he was satisfied. So, while not a rock bottom budget system, it helps demonstrate why imo many people budget too much on their cd player and relegate cables to an afterthought. It's not necessarily the case that the right cables will cost more, just that they ought not be bought "off the spool" without some thought given to the choice. Of course overspending on the cd player will make buying the first cheap cable a near knee-jerk reaction. Monsterbill, thanks for the website. Can you can be more specific about any budget system building articles?

Hi Dave; at this point in your audio/music interest, I'd suggest not getting too hung up on such things as inter-connects, power cords, and speaker cables. Concentrate on the basics of a good system whatever your budget is-- this would include source, pre-amp, amp (or integrated amp), and speakers. Initially consider modestly priced but good quality ICs and spkr cables-- a trusted dealer can help here. Power cords, ICs and other wires get discussed here, sometimes heatedly, because they are controversial-- especially when it comes to cost vs perfromance. and also because most experienced audiophiles already have what they want in components. So for now, I'd suggest focusing on the basics, many of which have been discussed in the above posts. Welcome, and Cheers. Craig.

a cable should not be required to tame a bright system.if its bright your problem is with the speakers or amp.
Though considering the amp Krell I am not surprized.
kidding aside.If you friend had a 1500.00 used CD player it might not be so bright.Remember garbage in=garbage out.
Dont get caught up on cables in the bigining.
Once you have had a system for a few months you will now its sound and then you can try different cables and be able to tell.dont rush.

Welcome Dave, great advice above. I agree with most and feel you've gotten some great guidence. I would prioritize speakers of 90db or higher as your first concern. Once you've established one or two speakers you like I'd test for good matching with an amp. or if your budget is limited a good integrated. Once you've established your system look for a good matching front end. I would not skimp on the cd player though, just leave it till the end. I think a guideline for budget might be 35% speakers,30% amp/pre-amp,25% front end and 10% interconnects and cables. This is only a guideline but something on this order is a good start. I would recommend getting "The Complete Guide to High-End Audio" by Robert Harley. This book is avalible at most bookstores and make a great read for the beginner. Later once your system is up and running you may decide to try conditioners, power cords, different cables, footers and shelving, etc. but don't rush into it. I'm afraid some of us (me) get way to passionate about our systems and talk about these tweaks as if that was the end all, it's not. You must start somewhere and the advice above all leads to the begining. Feel free to write me or any of us through our e-mails if you want more in depth help. I'm alway very honored and excited when people write for advice or just to chat. Have fun above all, good-luck, it's nice to have you aboard. J.D.