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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 sqlsavior

sqlsavior
46 posts
 
Your budget and approach are similar my own. Here's what I came up with, including shipping:

Denon DL-103 lomc cartridge, $180 new on ebay
Denon AU-300 $237 transformer, $237, new on ebay
Denon DP 1200 turntable, $275, used on ebay
Hafler DH-110 preamp (for phono stage only), $195, used on ebay
Music Angel Chinese tube preamp, $183, new on ebay
Hafler DH-220 power amp, $190, used on ebay
Magneplanar MMG speakers, $650, from Magnepan factory
Hsu STF-2 subwoofer, $370, from hsuresearch.com

Total: $2279

An alternative to the Denon front end might be a Rega RP-1 ($450) plus a Dynavector 10x5 high-output moving coil ($450). Too bad the Denon DL-160 (another homc at $180) is discontinued. Some alternatives for the preamp(s) are other old classics like the Apt-Holman, Audire Legato, certain Adcoms, but beware - the phono section and preamp are crucial, and there is a lot of shlock out there, which can be hard to detect until it is replaced with something good. :) Research the reputations of particular models to find something nearly universally praised - good sound hasn't changed much from 50 years ago, really.

I also endorse other's recommendation to try the Magnepanar MMGs with the factory program. They are a budget reference standard for good reasons, and certainly worth hearing in your own home just for the education. Have fun! :)
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