Newbie to the awesome audiophile world

My recommendation is to buy what you love the sound of. It’s like picking a favorite color....it’s unique to your tastes, and there’s no wrong way to do it.

As a rule of thumb, speakers tend to influence the sound the most, but the more revealing the speakers are, the more you can hear the other components, so in a high res system, everything matters...learn how to optimize your components to get the most from them. It’s also worth noting that smaller speakers with a little less bass output are easier to match to a room than large boomers. You can always add a powered subwoofer system later on if you feel the need for more bass. Speaking of the room....it’s a huge factor, so you may need to address your room as well.

I’ve owned a lot of amps over the years. None have brought me more pleasure than Bob Latino’s VTA ST-70 from Tubes4hifi. Tube amps can have incredible resolution that offer insight like nothing else can, and are easy to listen to. It’s within budget as a kit, which depending on your skill set might be a tall order, but it’d sure help you learn about and appreciate what you’ve got....food for thought. Used components and kits can help you get better sound for your dollar.

It’s a journey with a learning curve and filled with great music....enjoy it!

My audio system was paid 500 dollars for the three main parts (amp-dac-speakers)...

The sound is so great that i will not upgrade it....

The most important thing is how to embed the audio system in the mechanical dimension where we must learn to controls the resonance, in the electrical grid of the house where we must learn to decrease the general noise floor, and in the acoustical field of the room which we must learn to controls and expand in quality....

Dont buy costly component, learn first how to put them at their true potential level....

No costly component will give to you hi-fi by virtue of his price only.... And no components will magically solve by itself these 3 embeddings problem....

Read and think, listen, dont spend much money before a few years and before knowing how to embed an audio system....

Upgrading is a costly myth....

 

I hear you and was not meaning to disrespect your points at all.

I didn't think that at all.  One thing  newbies have going for them today is, GOOD stereo equipment has never been as inexpensive as it is now.  When I compare modern day stuff price wise, to stuff I purchased back in the day, I was robbed!!

I once bought a Sansui Receiver for $245.  63 watts per channel, the marketing boys squeezed out every last watt back then.  I shudder to think what the other specs were, probably all bogus anyway.  But, it had a wooden case and a nice light show.   I was in heaven.

My last receiver cost $299 new.  Harman Kardon, HK 3490.  Night and day.

Cheers

I have to agree with a number of the posts as 1) you do have to consider the sources and 2) there are so many options and each of us have our own personal “bias” as it relates to the sound we like. For many years in the late ‘80’s and early ‘90’s I went on the quest for the best system I could put together - finding the most transparent speakers, neutral electronics, best turntable, etc - ultimately ending up with a system that cost over $20K (but wow what a system). At some point, real life (family, moves, etc) kicked in and all of this became secondary and time was spent on other priorities. About 4 years ago, I realized that I have time and missed just sitting down and listening to my records and CDs and was tired of listening to my digital sources on ear buds (OK, I did have some rather nice headphones) and restarted my search for some basic components. However, I was much more focused on the pure enjoyment of the music than the hunt for the best components and ended up with a PS Audio Sprout integrated amp and floor standing speakers from Q Acoustics (the 3050’s) - both had been well regarded “budget” components. I can’t recommend those enough (both have been updated since) and in all transparency I have since “upgraded” my system mostly by finding many of the components I owned in the late ‘80s. I share this because I was able to put together a truly enjoyable system for about $1000. The PS Audio Sprout had a decent phono stage (moving magnet only) as well as a built in DAC including Bluetooth. I think there are a number of these types of integrated amplifiers now on the market (NAD, PS Audio, Music Hall, etc) and you may find that these provide all that you need and will let you put more money into the source.

I think in addition to budget we need to know where the OP is coming from in terms of listening experience and expectation as well as where he wants to go.

OP, if your listening experience with high end audio is fairly low then that is a huge advantage as far as I am concerned. Inflated tastes are expensive.


And I agree with rok2id about what you can get for the money these days.


I have a modest $500 system at my cabin that sounds great to me and I enjoy it every time I'm there. It does not sound like my primary system but it most certainly doesn't sound 40x worse even though it cost 40x less.


Does that have anything to do with my lack of experience? My lack of critical listening/hearing ability? Sure could. But if I can't and won't ever be able to distinguish and appreciate some minute sonic distinction then it certainly does not make sense to pay for that distinction.

While I think listening to various speakers and amps in high end shops or on loan in your home is great advice............it isn't very realistic for most people. Most of us do not have high end audio shops nearby and even if we do the selection is likely to be limited especially when it comes to speakers that only cost $1000 a pair.

My recommendation: Find a pair of speakers that review well and meet you budget. Find an integrated amp that reviews well, meets your budget and technically meets the requirements of your chosen speakers. Chances are it will sound great and you will love it. Buy some large gauge high quality speaker wire, cut it to length and put decent quality banana plugs on them. This is simple and cheap. No need to spend 25% of a $2000 budget on cables yet. Do that later if you feel like you need to. 

Then spend time positioning your system in your listening room and hearing the differences. Then spend time getting the highest quality source material you can get. I'll be pilloried for this but don't expect crappy recordings to be made un-crappy in reproduction no matter how good your system is.

Don't let anyone suck the fun out of it by making the process painful. And don't get sucked into never being happy with what you have...unless that makes you happy.