Friend needs advice for $8,000 system


My friend is starting out from scratch with an $8,000 budget. He listens to all sorts, but mainly indie rock. He's keen on the Magnepan .7 speakers and lives in a small apartment, so listening room about 4x3 metres. Don't worry about cables. We just need a power amp, a turntable, a cartridge, a phono stage, NOS tubes, and a DAC.


How do we achieve:


Truthful tonality/timbre


Truthful harmonics


Liquid sound


Transparency


Speed/Dynamics/Pace/Rhythm/Timing


Soundstage Coherence



All for $8,000 new.



Cheers!


uberdine

Showing 6 responses by mtdining

You could also do Concept, Hana EH, Satisfy Black, Cronus Magnum III, 75fs.
utterlydestroy the Maggie’s!
OMG! Someone recommended subs. Subs have no place in a good music system until you are way beyond $10k. Much better to have speakers with real bass (no Maggie’s or electrostatics). Subs are not for music, but for its foundation, the hall.
You could achieve goals if you ace the Maggie’s.
Clearaudio Concept, Luxman 550AXII,
Paradigm 75Fs.
Cant do it with Magnepan at any price.
I love hearing Schiit described as good. I remember that level of inexperience. It was painful. It was really expensive as I kept having to switch stuff out every three months!
I’m also thrilled when people add tube noise to a DAC, countering its one advantage over analog.
People seem to think any engineer can take off the shelf parts and compete with decades of experience. It is aldehyde the chef, not the ingredients that make magic in audio.