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Need New 2 Channel System for under 25K

Hi,

Trying to help a friend set up a new 2 channel system for his office where he spends 12hour days.
Hi budget is $25K MAX on the entire system.  The office is 8'x12' with 8ft ceiling. It has a large desk and several book shelves and large window. 

He wants to stream from the Internet or from his NAS drive and play CDs.

He wants to spend the money in phases and he is not in a rush.  He also wants the system to be bookshelf based (make sense for a smaller size room like this), but wants to start by purchasing electronics first (this is because he has a pair of lower-midlevel Focal bookshelves and a pair of lower-midlevel Sonus Faber bookshelf's so he wants to play around with those speakers first and then upgrade to the strategic bookshelves when he gets some more funds.
 Ability to plug in headphones into the electronics is definitely a plus and headphones themselves are not part of the 25k budget as he has Sennheiser HD600 and his happy with them for now. 

According to him, physicals size of components is not that important to him, but I know that it will become important later in a small office like his.  He is also into esthetics of his systems.

So I we were thinking of going with 'used' components to get more value but with relatively newer models
For example, if it is possible to find in USED but good condition: 
 1. -Simaudio 680D V2, and 600I V2 together for $12.5K, that would be good  (no CD playback here however and no headphone amp, but thats ok)
 2. -Bit later get a pair of Focal Diablos for about $7.5K if possible 
 3. -That leaves about $5K for cables, power conditioning, cords, Interconnects, etc.

The electronics can stand on his desk (if they fit), or can be put on a rack (which would also need to be purchased)

The Simaudio components are good size and very good quality and I think the system would synergize together very well.

Can any one suggest something comparable or better for the money based on the requirements.  Also If we can get a comparable system in a different brand for less money, that would be great.  (i.e. Perhaps  Lumin Streamer/DAC with a Pass labs INT 250 and pair of Paradigm Persona Bookshelves :)

Please let me know if there are any other details I can provide.
Thank you in advance!

Ag insider logo xs@2xjmarshak

Showing 3 responses by arion

arion's avatar
arion
156 posts
 
The room being an office I assume room treatment is out. Our collective experience tells us that there is nothing less fatiguing than a well balanced sound with minimal room interference and phase anomalies. 

Decent speakers properly aligned (with advanced room correction) to the room will likely sound better that great speaker in a room full of issues. The quality of components does matter but they won't compensate for room issues. 
arion's avatar
arion
156 posts
 
Considering the room integration challenges you have ahead, I suggest you consider starting off with a Trinnov Amethyst (about $10K retail) and adding powered speakers or monitors plus compact amps. This approach allows flexibility and future upgrades. $25K will easily cover this approach and minimize the frustration of room integration.

https://www.trinnov.com/amethyst/

" The Amethyst includes an 11-source preamplifier with built-in Speaker/Room Optimizer, Trinnov’s innovative HybriD Phono Preamp, a Network Renderer, a 24 bit/192kHz DA Converter and a 2-way intelligent, active crossover engine. It also features built-in Wifi connectivity for simplified operations making it the perfect centerpiece of any traditional or modern Hifi Installation."

You can even build a sophisticated active system using the Amethyst for under $25K.

Full disclosure: We are Trinnov dealers and use their ST-2 with all our active speaker systems.

The Amethyst has an excellent DAC built-in. I recently ran our music server directly into it (not using our usual DAC) and was pleasantly surprised the it performed is on par with our $30K DAC, actually better in some ways.

Mike
arion's avatar
arion
156 posts
 
As a manufacture we make it a point to sample dozens of product every year. My motivation is to point people to excellent products and positive solutions. You should seek users opinions. If you misconstrued my suggestion as me trying to sell you something, I apologize. That wasn't my intent. We typically don't even sell Trinnov products without our speakers.

You might also consider building a system around a Lyngdorf TDAI-3400. We have no affiliation with Lyngdorf. The main focus of my suggestions is room integration. The room is 50% of the formula to getting good sound. These systems with advanced room correction (not cheap DSP) will make it much easier to get great sound.

An added benefit to these systems is that they have multiple presets. That means you can have a configuration (preset) for background music, critical listening, loud rock-n-roll, jazz or whatever you want. You can select these presets on the fly. So, when you are done with lunch and listening to music and it's time to get back to work, you can select the background music preset. 

Mike
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