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Friend needs advice for $8,000 system

My friend is starting out from scratch with an $8,000 budget. He listens to all sorts, but mainly indie rock. He's keen on the Magnepan .7 speakers and lives in a small apartment, so listening room about 4x3 metres. Don't worry about cables. We just need a power amp, a turntable, a cartridge, a phono stage, NOS tubes, and a DAC.


How do we achieve:


Truthful tonality/timbre


Truthful harmonics


Liquid sound


Transparency


Speed/Dynamics/Pace/Rhythm/Timing


Soundstage Coherence



All for $8,000 new.



Cheers!


uberdine
mtdining's avatar
mtdining
131 posts
 
I love hearing Schiit described as good. I remember that level of inexperience. It was painful. It was really expensive as I kept having to switch stuff out every three months!
mtdining's avatar
mtdining
131 posts
 
OMG! Someone recommended subs. Subs have no place in a good music system until you are way beyond $10k. Much better to have speakers with real bass (no Maggie’s or electrostatics). Subs are not for music, but for its foundation, the hall.
mtdining's avatar
mtdining
131 posts
 
I’m also thrilled when people add tube noise to a DAC, countering its one advantage over analog.
mtdining's avatar
mtdining
131 posts
 
People seem to think any engineer can take off the shelf parts and compete with decades of experience. It is aldehyde the chef, not the ingredients that make magic in audio.
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,868 posts
 
@phcollie recommended a very competent system. The odyssey integrated, while all SS would save you some coin and allow a low end tube phono stage. Ignore the ego driven personal attacks. Music is rarely about that kind of thing, or should be.
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