Help me down grade

Where will the new speakers be located (shelf, close to wall, et cetera) and how large is the room?

Also will you be keeping the TT and/or CD player, or are you looking for something more compact?

The speakers will be mounted on the wall or a shelf

The room is 13 x 19

tt and cd player are going. Yes, something smaller would be better.

Thanks
andrew

The speakers will be on the 19 foot wall not the 13 foot wall

Andrew

A Squeezebox or Sound bridge are digital music controllers of sorts, somewhat similar in function to the traditional analog radio tuner.

However, they take digital signals in from multiple digital sources, generally over a wired or wireless (WiFi) network connection, the same as how laptop computers say connect wirelessly to a WiFi network and also the Internet.

Common sources of digital music that they connect to are various Internet based music or radio sources and digital music servers that might run on a laptop say in your home.

These devices also have an onboard DAC, though they are not as good as various outboard DACs available at reasonable cost today, so I would suggest that an audiophile will want to use these with an external DAC. They connect to the external DAC using the same kinds of wires typically used to connect CD transport or clock device to DAC. The DAC then connects to the pre-amp analaog line level inputs in the same way as would a conventional CD player.

See my system listing for an example of how this can work to deliver top notch sound on an otherwise conventional 2 channel rig. I use the Roku Soundbridge specifically in my system.

"Momma's got a squeezbox, daddy never sleeps at night."

My sincerest condolences on your upcoming nuptials. Losing your stereo system is but the first step in your emasculation.

That said, if you insist on downgrading, get a nice tubed integrated amp, like a PrimaLuna, hopefully it has a built in phono stage. Keep your analog gear, you could probably sell your Cary CDP and get a inexpensive replacement (Marantz CD-63SE). For speakers, you could get a pair of Proac or Dynaudio monitors.

Last word of advice, grow a pair and let her know that you can simplify, but it will cost more $$$, like a pair of Dynaudio Special 25 Anniversary speakers. I've been married for 25 years now, and I have trained my wife to stop asking for 'downsizing'. As each time I do it, it costs more and more $$$. Yeah honey, I can go from seperates to an integrated amp, because I love you. Then she finds out the $2K in seperates changes into a $5K integrated amp.....these new, smaller speakers cost $8K compared to those bigger, uglier speakers.....she learned fairly quickly.

I'm not a bad guy, I buy her some very nice toys too (diamonds, vacations, etc), but you have to train them that it's not ALL for them and NOTHING for you. Otherwise you will be in for a long, miserable experience.

Best Wishes,

John