Just to clarify my intentions. I am not a college student, nor am I seeking advice for a particular "college student" I'm 38 years old and have had an interest in audio and video since my early teens. Most of my focus was put into A/V systems in my 20s and early 30s, having lived in apartments and condos until 6 years ago. When I moved to a single family home I finally had the room to set up a 2 channel system, something I had wanted to do for a long time. I haven't updated my current system on my member profile for some time, but the equipment I had was my newbie 2 channel stuff from 5 years ago. When I look back at the equipment I have purchased over the years (several old components in various states of repair stacked in my basement) I realize many of the choices I made satisfied a desire at that time, but my money could have been spent more efficiently with items I could include in an upgrade path, later as part of a secondary system, or could recover maximum value on resale. When I look at the equipment that's out now and include my knowledge about where to spend my money, upgrade paths, etc I wish I could go back to my 15 year old self and say, forget about that Dolby Pro-Logic Receiver and get yourself a clean vintage Sansui... I thought this would be a fun exercise because I think we all would have changed our path if we could go back.
$1500 for a whole system, budding audiophile
Just imagine you're in high school now. You're going to budget $1500 on Amplification, speakers, and a source/ sources. Where do you spend your money to get you through college and an entry level job? Let's assume you have the computer covered and not include cables or headphones in the budget. New? Vintage? Mix of both?