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Please Advise me on Building a System on a Budget

Hello everyone,

I am an aspiring audiophile who loves music but I have never had the money to buy any real nice equipment. I am looking to build a relatively nice system for the first time and I am on a budget. I am looking to spend only around $2000 on everything. I am looking to get everything used and I am willing to hunt on ebay and craigslist for bargains. I want to stretch this $2000 as far as I can. I have a few questions that I hope some of you experts could help me with.

Ideally, I need a pair of speakers, a preamp, an amp, a record player and some type of digital source like a cd player (or SACD player). I know that is an aweful lot to ask for on a $2000 budget but tell me what you think I could do.

One question I have been wondering is if it really makes sense in 2011 to spend big money on a cd player or SACD player. I don't quite understand people who are spending a thousand dollars on a top of the line NAD player or other unit. Wouldn't it make more sense to have a hard drive based unit or computer playing lossless audio files? Wouldn't that be able to produce the same quality audio but be more convenient?

My initial thoughts would be that I should have a PC with a solid DAC as my digital source (or hard drive based player) and then get a good record player. Does this sound reasonable? Or is there some reason why playing old fashioned CDs through a NAD or other device would sound superior? Also, would you recommend a SACD player? Of course, there are plenty of high resolution FLAC files that I could conceivably play from a hard drive unit as well.
Please advise on this.

What I was thinking of as far as budgeting was concerned is: Spend about $700-$800 on the best used speakers I can find. Spend about the same on the best Pre-amp/Power amp combination I can find. And spend the rest towards the rest, particularly the digital and vinyl sources.

The $2000 is not a hard and fast budget but I seriously do not have a lot of money and I want to get the best audio I can for a reasonable amount. I would rather spend more on the speakers and amps and maybe wait on a record player.

What can you suggest? Thanks. I look forward to hearing your suggestions.
jrodefeld

Showing 1 response by blkadr

blkadr
739 posts
 
Watch craigslist/ebay and pick up a Sony Playstation as mentioned above. Sounds crazy, but this thing does sound great and is -so- cheap, it can be a starter source while you put your system together. Must be the PS 1 with rca outputs on back.
If you choose something like the Zu Audio Omen which is 98db efficient, I offer another bit of blasphemy: I suggest you pick up a T-amp. The one I have is the HLLY tamp-20 and can be had on auction for less than $100. It's the only T-amp I have heard, but with the PS1 and Klipsch Forte IIs it is simply wonderful. Source and Amp total cost was $85.
I know this might strike you as ridiculous, but you would be up and running with amp and source for peanuts, and with high efficiency speakers you have endless options of amplifiers to audition. I reccomend the T-amp to anyone with compatible speakers as an essential cheap accessory back-up amp. Stamp me as crazy, but know I am not one of those audio anarchists that think all amps sound the same and that all high dollar gear is a scam. Just stumbled onto something cheap that really works for me. I like listening to my super cheap system as much my other (modest)stuff.
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