Finally stepping into the hobby after 30 years of watching from the sidelines


Ok, so I hope you are all ok with a longwinded post from a first time user of the forum.  I have been obsessed with vinyl and tubes since my dad played records for me as a 5 year old.  My wife and I are finally in a place that we can take the leap into the scene.  We want to grow our system over time and may even create 2-3 systems along the way as we have a bed and breakfast where we want to make analog part of the theme. 

We have made up our mind that our first speakers will be Vandersteen 2CE sigs.  That is about as far as we have gotten.  We definitely want to power them with tubes and have very little idea of where to start.  Obviously the mainstream option would be a Mcintosh mc275 and our local HiFi salesman would LOVE to sell us a pair of those.  However, we know that there are several cheeper/better options out there and would love some input from the board.  We'd like to keep the first amp under $3,000, but we aren't locked into that.  Keep in mind that we are ok starting with a single amp and then adding a second one along the way to mono them.  Also, we would love some help with a table/arm/cartridge!  One with an integrated phono stage is fine to start with and we would again be open to upgrading and adding a stand alone phono stage later on.  

We will be doing some electrical work soon to run a 40 amp fuse to the BnBs espresso machine and would be open to setting up a dedicated line for our main system at that time so that we can have clean power.  Has any one had any experience with this?  Any ideas or recommendations that you may have would be a big help here! 

Thank you all in advance, and we are really excited to finally be part of the scene! 
128x128cottguy
Does any one have thoughts or info on Audio Space?  It looks like their products were well thought of some time ago, they seemed to disappear for a while, and now I've seen them pop up in a few places.  Cosmetically, their products haven't changed at all.  So I'm wondering if they were updated or if they were so solid that they don't need to be updated?     
Cottguy, have you considered Atma-Sphere? Their designs have no output transformers. I owned a pair, and found them to be very clear and sweet, and very decorative in a retro way, with their 12 glowing tubes. People would often comment on them, even if they weren't running at the time!
Atmasphere s30 would be a very nice piece to build around that would also attract some buzz visually.

Let us know when this is all done and ready.   A trip to Colorado might be in order.  :^)
Well, I thought it would be time for a quick update since we are a week out form RMAF and I'm narrowing down my decision.  Here is what I'm thinking:

Speakers: Zu Soule Supremes or Druids
Amp:  Audion 120 Super Sterling SET, Audion Silver Night 300B SE, or Line Magnetic 518IA
Table: Still researching a lot here, but I'm thinking Hanss T10 or Nottingham interspace Jr.  to start with and then upgrade the front end in a year or so.  We are probably going to end up over budget due to the amp/speaker selection so we will move the table to one of the bedrooms when we can upgrade. 

Any feedback is always appreciated!
Cottguy, if I may suggest, do not choose any speakers until you have seriously auditioned them. This is a critical component.
By the way, right now there is a VAC integrated wih MM phono. Great amp, excellent price.