Dave,
Do you have any WAF (wife acceptance factor) needs? If you don't need the system to be esthetically pleasing, you can spend WAY less than $5000 for a killer basement system. Oh, and no need to worry about heat either. Simply build a system around a good SET amp that uses only a single output tube per channel. This will keep the heat down and will reduce retubing cost.
Since you only list a CD player as source, you could go with a good CD player that has variable volume control and completely skip the preamp. This again keeps your cost down and reduces heat.
Lastly, speakers could be any high-efficiency design from a simple open baffle (piece of plywood with a quality full range driver stuck in it), to a complex horn loaded system using a single driver. I'm currently using this single driver speaker (I bought the review pair):
http://www.hempacoustics.com/Review.pdf
They aren't pretty, but they are inexpensive and very easy to build. They sound fantastic too!
So, You could buy a good CD player with variable volume control for $800-$2500, a good 2A3 SET for $500-$1500 and a pair of high efficiency speakers for $400 (open baffle DIY) to $600 (HempAcoustics DIY) to $1800 (Omega Max Hemps) and have a great sounding system. It would cost between $1700-$5000 depending on your choice of components.
There are lots of other alternatives, but I like the "simpler is better" philosophy.....
Enjoy,
TIC
Do you have any WAF (wife acceptance factor) needs? If you don't need the system to be esthetically pleasing, you can spend WAY less than $5000 for a killer basement system. Oh, and no need to worry about heat either. Simply build a system around a good SET amp that uses only a single output tube per channel. This will keep the heat down and will reduce retubing cost.
Since you only list a CD player as source, you could go with a good CD player that has variable volume control and completely skip the preamp. This again keeps your cost down and reduces heat.
Lastly, speakers could be any high-efficiency design from a simple open baffle (piece of plywood with a quality full range driver stuck in it), to a complex horn loaded system using a single driver. I'm currently using this single driver speaker (I bought the review pair):
http://www.hempacoustics.com/Review.pdf
They aren't pretty, but they are inexpensive and very easy to build. They sound fantastic too!
So, You could buy a good CD player with variable volume control for $800-$2500, a good 2A3 SET for $500-$1500 and a pair of high efficiency speakers for $400 (open baffle DIY) to $600 (HempAcoustics DIY) to $1800 (Omega Max Hemps) and have a great sounding system. It would cost between $1700-$5000 depending on your choice of components.
There are lots of other alternatives, but I like the "simpler is better" philosophy.....
Enjoy,
TIC