New Audiophile - Upgrade Amp First or CDP First?


I'm somewhat ashamed to say (at least in this crowd) that I've been living with Technics and Philips for years and years. I always wanted an audiophile system, but never wanted to invest the funds before now. At least I had a pair of Infinity RS-5B speakers.

Anyway, it was recently that I knew I finally had to bite the bullet and upgrade. I started with a great used pair of Paradigm 11se Mk II speakers. Not brand new or anything major in the audiophile world, but a world of difference for me who needs to start at a budget.

My plans next are to upgrade to getting an Outlaw RR2150 receiver and an Ah! Njoe Tjoeb 4000 CDP with the updgrades including the upsampler.

My question is, which one should I get first? I'll only likely be able to afford one at a time. Which would make the biggest impact in improving my system - replacing my Technics amp with the Outlaw or replacing my Philips CDP with the Ah! Njoe Tjoeb?

Also, I'm open to any other advice/suggestions from people who've been doing this longer or a lot longer than me. Thanks!
soulgoober
Unfortunately, I don't have an audiophile store in my area or I probably would have started there. I live in Ashland, OR and I think the closest one is Eugene, about a 3 hour drive.

I know that at this price range my options are limited and it won't sound like truly high end gear, but I know it will be a vast improvement over what I have, and that's great with me for awhile. Hey, everyone's gotta start somewhere!

Thanks for the responses, and please keep them coming. :-)
Is your plan to go to seperates...if so, there is soooo much gear that would fall in your price range. You could get a pretty good pre/amp/player combo from around $1500...In addiiton, I recently heard some of the new CEC stuff...CD player and integrated amplifier for $1600 NEW! This stuff was compeating with Audio Research at 5x the price...that being said, don't limit yourself, do your research, and maybe even take a road trip to hear some things that may interest you. You will thank yourself in the long run if you take your time now...or you could just go on an "Audiogon" buying spree, and sell the stuff you don't like...that is what I typically do!

Take care, best of luck,
Ben
What kind of music do you primarily listen to; size room, accoustic signiture of the room? Before anyone can recommend anything they need to know that first. In general I would say the amp/pre combination such as an integrated amplifier before your cd player. I believe you stated you have a philips player. What model? Some of the older philips models where very good. I owned a cd-80 and it was a very good player even compared to todays low cost (sub $1500) players.

You are going to get tons of suggestions and become very confused if you are not careful did I mention frustrated as well. Good Luck.

Chuck
Someone said:

"You could get a pretty good pre/amp/player combo from around $1500...In addiiton, I recently heard some of the new CEC stuff...CD player and integrated amplifier for $1600 NEW!"

Do you have any specific model numbers? That would help me a lot.

In terms of what kind of music I play and size room, etc.:

I play mostly rock: late 60's psychedelic, 70's progressive, 70's krautrock, general classic rock, folk, acid folk - that's 90% of my collection. I also play some free jazz, some ambient electronic, some 80's shoegaze - a handful of other genres, but that's mostly it. The room is pretty small, maybe 9X12 or so. It's my office/music room and it's somewhat crowded but has a decent amount of empty space as well. It's a perfect rectangle except for a small section that was made into a bathroom with door), so think rectangle with a very small rectangle taken out of it.

I don't recall the Philips model till I get home. It's a 3-cd changer with a burner on the other side which is why I bought it. That said, the burner stopped working years ago and the 3-cd changer unit has been deteriorating slowly for awhile - it skips a fair amount - definitely needs to be discarded and I'll probably just throw it away instead of replacing it when the time comes - I can't imagine anyone would want it with its faults.
Sounds like you answered your own question! If your player is not working properly why would you not replace it first.