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Complete newbie needing guidance/purchase advice

Hi folks-

First of all, let me apologize in advance for a lengthy post. I'm a brand new forum member after recently being introduced to this site by an acquaintance who heard I was looking for sound advice... As my thread title states, I'm completely ignorant when it comes to the audiophile world, but I really want to start building a system and learn something in the process. A little background on me: I've been making a living as a recording artist and studio musician for almost 20 years, but my career choice as a music-maker has somehow ironically detached me from the simple pleasure of just sitting and _listening_ to music for the sheer enjoyment of it. My wife and I are currently in the process of remodeling our bonus room into a media room, and one of my objectives is to at the very least turn it into a space where I can do some critical listening.

I currently don't have anything decent... Just some old Bose bookshelf speakers and a Yamaha surround receiver. The closest thing to 'something decent' that I own are a pair of Etymotic ER-4S headphones coupled with a Headroom headphone amplifier.

The big limiting factor is my budget. Given that fact, maybe I have no business posting here... I will probably need to build this piece-by-piece over time, so I'm content with having to stretch the process out. I'm not concerned with having to have the 'best' of anything; I would just really like to make listening to music an engaging and emotional experience for me like it was for me many years ago.

Would a speaker purchase be a good place to start? I was perusing the Audiogon classifieds today and saw that there is actually a pair of DK Designs LSA-2's for sale local to me. The asking price is at the top of my speaker budget, a little over a grand, which I realize is probably 'chump change' in the audiophile world. However, I've read some reviews and they seem mostly positive. Would be super-convenient to be able to find something nice that was used and local, but as I said before, I'm completely new to this. Another related question: Is it better to go with floor-standing speakers, or can decent sound also be accomplished with bookshelf speakers combined with a subwoofer?

Also, what are the other 'basic' components that would need to be purchased? The only other thing I know I'd love to have would be a decent turntable; I'd love to be able to go and purchase some of my favorite classic albums to listen to once again. Do I need a separate preamp and power amp combination? Are there any 'receivers' that do a decent job of covering both tasks?

Any other feedback or direction you experts could throw my way would be greatly appreciated... Thanks in advance!
renaissanceman9
tobias
1,534 posts
 
IMHO Renaissanceman9, those are great suggestions from Unsound. Stringreen's point about the expense of upgrading is well taken too. At $1K it's a (fun) challenge to put together a system that plays something close to music. At $2K you can get closer.

Money does help, but no matter how much you spend, it is always possible to step wrong and buy gear that plays sound, not music. This fact, plus what money can buy, are the two reasons this is a learning game, and consequently an upgrade game. You buy something that you can live with until you can afford what you really want. You buy used to make your dollars go further and come back to you on resale. You avoid committing the error of choosing at a dealer and then buying the gear second hand.

Most of all, you enjoy the music. Although I would agree with Stringreen that it makes financial sense to go for the best as quickly as you can, it doesn't make sense to go into debt to do it. Enjoy the best you can pay for now.
toddnkaya
493 posts
 
Stringreen, I am not screaming to you or at you. I am screaming at your condesending remarks about so called lowfi and midfi junk. First you tell him to save his money, just buy a headphone system, until he can afford the "good stuff".
In your next post,you say he should hold off from buying low budget amps and value oriented crap, to avoid wasting his money on updateitis and frustration. How about giving the OP some solid advice on a $2,000 speaker that would bring him listening pleasure, like Rebbi and all the other posters.
And finally on your pontificating comment "on stuff that people like you think makes music". This just shows that you are in fact an audio snob, who seeks to belittle the majority of us folks on here who own low to midfi systems and enjoy our sound and music.
Todd
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,470 posts
 
Todd...I AM belittling you because you don't know what you're talking about, and insist that you do. I am drawing on my past. I know instead of spending so much money on stuff that is proported to be value oriented, I should have bought the stuff that really did it for me. I am not telling him what to buy, only to be sure that what he buys is not just a stopgap few month or year stepping stone to his needs. As far as finding happiness in headphones, I have Sennheiser 650's driven balanced by a balanced headphone amp....it was less than 2000 dollars and sounds better to me than almost any speaker I have heard....and it comes incredibly close to reproducing the actual event. I am a pro musician and make my livlihood from being at live events. This is the last post on this topic from me.
inna
7,296 posts
 
$5000 buys a very good system. Used of course except possibly a cartridge.
I would wait until this $5k are actually available and buy the entire system at once. Patience is a great virtue. If you do it piece by piece, most likely you will screw it up big time. If you are very lucky you will get something decent but not the best this substantial amount of money can buy. And whatever you do trust your ears.
Let the Bose play for now.
magfan
1,583 posts
 
When buying a new system from the 'newbie' level, you can either.....

1. Take a poll at any price point and buy someone elses system.

2. Listen to gear and find what YOU value and go for that in your choices.

I suspect you can, by following #2 get to 90% for 10%....IOW, get high value with few compromises without incurring debt into the next century. What price level? Depends...and depends. I like some very budget stuff. The audioengine speakers do some real right stuff. One of the T-amps if i liked high sensitivity speakers. Maybe one of the music server things.....I'd skip the CD player and leverage my PC or MAC.

Price goes up as bandwidth goes up....and if you want lots of bass in a large room, than Ante Up. For a small or nearfield system? You could bring it all in for a grand.....give or take.
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