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Advice for the Budget 'Phile

I recently acquired a Rega Planar 3 turntable and am looking to upgrade my amp and speakers to better take advantage of it. I have $800 to spend. I listen mostly to roots blues on vinyl and modern pop/rock on CD; this system will also be used for watching movies (so I need a flexible, all-around system). Below you will find my current choices. Any advice on them or alternatives to them would be appreciated.

Integrated Amp (puchasing use)
Creek 4330 (with added phono stage)
Rotel RA971
Cambridge Audio A500 (with added phono stage)

Speakers (used):
PSB Image 4t
NHT SuperTwo
Vandersteen 2C
(I'm not very confident about my speaker candidates; I'm tempted by monitor speakers by Paradigm, B&W, etc. but I don't want to lose good, musical bass reproduction).
Thanks.
shersta
inscrutable
313 posts
 
Any chance you can live with one or the other of your existing components for a while? Tough to take advantage of the P3 at $800 for both integrated and speakers. Assume you're using a MM cartidge? If so, you might get by with a used receiver and put more $ in the speakers initially. BTW, I have the S2's in my HT and am pretty pleased with them. As with all NHT's they are revealing/accurate and tend to reward or punish you for your amp selection.
rar1's avatar
rar1
1,771 posts
 
try this site ... Accessories4less.com ... they are the authorized liquidation site for Acoustic Research ... they have the AR302's for $300/pair new ... the 302's were a Stereophile class C or D back in 1995/1996 ... have owned them for the last 8 months or so and am very happy with them ... good luck ...
joe_b
421 posts
 
In your price range I would recommend considering the Vandersteen 1C as it will be easier to drive and sound better with the electronics you are considering. It will sound as good or better than the other speakers you are considering, providing it is properly interfaced. The Vandersteen 2CE is much more demanding in terms of the quality of electronics needed to feed it.
centurymantra
133 posts
 
I just happened to notice a used pair of Vandersteen 1c speakers in the new today listings just prior to looking at this post. They are being offered for $300. This would give you $500 for the amp you're looking to get,which should be ample dough for the amps that you were considering on the used market. I might offer a suggestion of a Rega Mira integrated amp to match up with the Rega TT you currently have. I happen to own one of these and it has proven to be a solid performer with a nice sound. I'm imagining this could be found on the used market in the 400-500 range.

Good luck.
jstars1
3 posts
 
For an integrated try the Audio Refinement Complete or the Audio Analog Puccini. Either can be had for around $500 used. For speakers try a used pair of SPICAS. Both the TC-60 or Angelus are huge bang for buck bargins. I have the Complete/Angelus combo and it comes very close to my much more expensive Audio Research/Audio Physics combo. Or if you are really feeling froggy try a Decware Zen Amp and a used pair of Klipsh Herseys ( a sweet combo !). The ZEN amp has a volume pot on the back, so you could run your CD direct into the amp and use the pot on the back of the amp or if your CD player has a volume control use that instead. The Zen is a tube amp, but its very owner friendly, only $30 to retube. Cheers !
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