$50k - $80k Budget…Opinions please.


Long story short, I sold my beloved 2-channel to reduce family debt. In about a year-ish, I’ll be in a position to rebuild with a hefty budget. I loved my Harbeth + Pass Labs combo. My REL sub died before I really got to integrate it, so opinions wanted there as well. I fully understand the diminishing margin of returns when moving into some arenas, but that’s ok, opinions are strongly encouraged.

I listen to a lot of Miles Davis/Coltrane, Radiohead, Tool, Pearl Jam, Brent Cobb. I’ve often preferred “organic” or neutral, not sure how technical that is.

toddcowles

Showing 1 response by jamesdowningelliott

After having been through a ton of gear (all the Harbeth and REL S series included), I am confident that nothing will outperform Fleetwood Sound DeVilles. For those of us that like a slightly warm presentation, they give you that musicality but don’t sacrifice detail or efficiency like the Harbeths. My DeVilles sound like my Harbeth 40.2 with the towels taken off! Retail is around $16-20k depending on the options you choose. 

For the rest of the system, a lot depends on what you want to focus on. My guess from your post is that you like a warmer sound, so I would pair the Fleetwoods with a Luxman integrated amplifier or some tubes you like. The other no brainer pairing with the Fleetwoods is either of the Technics GaN integrateds - honestly the $2800 ones sounds outstanding with those speakers. It is just one of those pairings that works super well. DAC is part of the amp itself, so all you need is a nice little streamer, a turntable (go with technics 1200G) and a couple cables. You’ll be all in for $30k or less and have a shockingly better system than most people with $80k systems.