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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 2 responses by jrodefeld

jrodefeld OP
3 posts
 
I just wanted to follow up on how much I would need to spend for a record playing system to notice the difference. I have been wanting to get into vinyl for a while now. I think it is certainly fine to exclude the record player from the $2000 budget.

But how much would I have to spend on a system to make the quality of vinyl anything close to what the enthusiasts rave about? Would I need a better system all around than what I am looking at or would I just need to spend more on the turntable?

It seems that most individuals who have very expensive systems always seem to love vinyl and have it as a vital part of their listening experience. Let's say for $2000, all I had budgeted was speakers and amps. I bought the best I could for that price.

Then let's say I spent $500 on the best used turntable I could find. Are you saying this wouldn't be worth it? It wouldn't yield the type of audio quality that vinyl enthusiasts love?

Putting aside the current discussion, what would be a decent budget for a system designed for vinyl?
jrodefeld OP
3 posts
 
I wanted to ask about Magnepan speakers. Jazzerdave suggested I look at the MMG's. I have long heard about the raves that audiophiles have heaped on the 1.7 and 3.7. I have also heard that they represent some of the best values in audio. I haven't heard too much about their lower priced stuff though.

I know I cannot stretch my money to buy the 1.7's but I am open to their cheaper models. Could someone tell me how their lower priced speakers sound in comparison to other speakers of the same price? Is there certain types of music that are better represented with the maggies that others?

Would they work well with vinyl? Are they lacking in bass? I would like to go for Magenpan's but I need to know a little more about them first.

What types of amps would be advisable to use?

I am looking for a tube based integrated amp. Could you give me any more suggestions?

Thanks a lot.
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