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Newbie Needs Assistance

I am getting back into "Audio". around 15 years ago I had an AV receiver driving some Kirksaeter Silverline 120’s. I still have the speakers but the amp is long gone. My wife and prefer tubes. Budget is 5 - 6K for amps and eventual speakers. I have researched out and come down to the following:

Eventual Replacement Speaker for Kirksaeter:

Salk Song Series

Focal Aria 926 - I have heard the Chora 826 but not these

Amp Options:

AVA Transcendence 10 RB and a Vision Set 120

Tsakaridis Aeolos Tube Integrated

Input will be BlueSound Node and eventually possibly a turntable.

I have not heard either of the amps but they both fit in as far as price point (2,000 - 2500) leaving me roughly 4k for speakers. Has anyone heard these amps or speakers? I forgot to add music we listen too. Everything from Sinatra, Dean Martin to Led Zeppelin and alternative rack and a lot of blues including B.B and SRV.

boots72
rocray's avatar
rocray
1,448 posts
 

I definitely agree with a better DAC for the Bluesound. I found the internal DAC on the first three Nodes to be somewhat adequate,an external DAC made a substantial difference. 

soix
9,456 posts
 

@sns I’ve obviously got my head up my butt on this Raven thing.  What’d I miss?

millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 

You missed nothing. Except all the guys accustomed to head up butt even further up butt.

OP if you're serious about a fine tube system on a budget then it will take a while but order a Decware amp and ZP3 phono stage. The good news here is you only pay 10% deposit now and balance on shipping. Meantime get Tekton Double Impact and research turntables and cartridges. 

geof3
1,129 posts
 

I’m not sure I would hang up the vinyl idea. There is something special about it, period. There are plenty who will argue that unless you spend a gazzilion dollars on a rig that it just won’t sound good. I disagree. You can do pretty well, but you might need to stretch your budge a little. The BS Node’s DAC is adequate to start, or find an Int or preamp (if you decide separates)  with an onboard DAC. Keep in mind all the goodies like cables etc, they can add up too. You have a reasonable starting budget, especially if you buy right used.

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