thanks for all the advice everyone.
The integrated tube amp idea was what I originally planned, and yeah, I was aware the XCD88 is identical to the Musical Hall player which is why I thought 1500 for a 40x2 tube amp, CD player, and two sets of monitors (Ref1 and Ref.5) seemed like a killer deal (if anything I could give away the cheaper pair of speakers for Christmas). The only reason I'm skeptical is because
1) I've never heard of "Onix" and am afraid it's some cheap, chinese crap.
2) My B&Ws seem pretty power hungry and I wasn't sure if 40 watts per channel would be enough. My Yamaha stays in Class A until about 20 watts but can go up to 160 and still more complex music tends to sound compressed at high-ish volume levels (could be due to the pre, but I'm not sure).
I know my Kenwood preamp is crap and needs to get the hell out of my system, so I'm really just debating on whether I should buy a bargain pre like the Eastern Electric or a CJ (was considering a Dared but I'm scared they're even crappier than I imagine them to be) and see where things go, or just spend the extra cash now and change nearly everything.
As far as cables go I figured as long the right AWG was used it didn't make a difference. I'm using generic 14AWG speaker cable and 3ft. car audio RCAs. I just figured there wouldn't be an audible difference from cables with a lower-end system like mine.
Again, thanks for the help and I'd be happy to hear any more suggestions.
The integrated tube amp idea was what I originally planned, and yeah, I was aware the XCD88 is identical to the Musical Hall player which is why I thought 1500 for a 40x2 tube amp, CD player, and two sets of monitors (Ref1 and Ref.5) seemed like a killer deal (if anything I could give away the cheaper pair of speakers for Christmas). The only reason I'm skeptical is because
1) I've never heard of "Onix" and am afraid it's some cheap, chinese crap.
2) My B&Ws seem pretty power hungry and I wasn't sure if 40 watts per channel would be enough. My Yamaha stays in Class A until about 20 watts but can go up to 160 and still more complex music tends to sound compressed at high-ish volume levels (could be due to the pre, but I'm not sure).
I know my Kenwood preamp is crap and needs to get the hell out of my system, so I'm really just debating on whether I should buy a bargain pre like the Eastern Electric or a CJ (was considering a Dared but I'm scared they're even crappier than I imagine them to be) and see where things go, or just spend the extra cash now and change nearly everything.
As far as cables go I figured as long the right AWG was used it didn't make a difference. I'm using generic 14AWG speaker cable and 3ft. car audio RCAs. I just figured there wouldn't be an audible difference from cables with a lower-end system like mine.
Again, thanks for the help and I'd be happy to hear any more suggestions.