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Best or most profound sleeper product

As with wine, I think that price certainly does not guarantee quality. Oddly, many people in this hobby refer to their equipment by its' price in the same manner that people will refer to " a hundred dollar bottle of wine." I have had many wines that were less that $20 that were pure joy. I think that the same must be true in this hobby. An example: used Pioneer PD-65, $300 for a good transport or Conrad J pv-10. For the benefit of other newbies (like myself), please list the 'sleepers' that you have found. Cheers
Martin
truthrider
drrdiamond
671 posts
 
EAD T-7000 LD/CD transport with AT&T to drive a good D to A.
With almost no jitter this transport will rival the best of them.

Richard
mrvordo's avatar
mrvordo
151 posts
 
I recently got a NAD L40, pre, amp, tuner, CD all in one, B stock with 1 year warrantee for $399. For anything close to the money this cannot be beat.
Excellent tuner, so if you up grade, it still will have a function.
The CD is not as detailed as my Krell KSP 20i, but I never feel like I am missing anything. And it has a digital out if you want to use it for a transport.
Pre outs, so that you can increase the power (only 20w per from the amp), but sounds great if not pushed hard.
I have it hooked to a pair of outdoor Energy speakers ($400 retail) for my deck and it is awesome sounding for the amount I have in it.
alliedtvandsound
74 posts
 
In the Interconnect/speaker wire department XLO's Pro-125/1-M IC (Single-ended only) @ about $80.00 US$ is very, very good (for the price), as is XLO's Pro-600 spkr wire, (about $6/ft.)

peter jasz
esoxhntr
196 posts
 
Any older Naim gear - 32.5, 72, NAP 110, 140, 180. Not very expensive, will run until the next ice age, very musical, especially for the dollar outlay. Does not want or need expensive interconnect and/or speaker cable. These pieces reward a good source, yet tend to accomodate a weaker source as well. Also, any speaker in the Energy Conisseur (spelling???) line - outstanding value.
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
I can start with the $89 Aiwa XC-30M, XC-35M, or XC-37M Five Disc CD Changer used as a transport for any DAC with a Delta-Sigma design. The MSB Link DAC is a Delta Sigma DAC, so if you pick up a Link DAC-1 for $150 used, you can have a nice setup with the Aiwa for under $300 (including the digital cable). Put a 5 pound bag of sand or lead shot on top of the Aiwa as a tweek and maybe some vibrapods (another sleeper at $6 each) New Aiwa's are available on eBay for around $55 usually.


The $250 B&W DM302 speakers fits the bill also.


For preamps, the Conrad Johnson PV-10 mentioned above, along with the Blue Circle BC21.


For amps, I have being playing around with Blue Circle's new "entry level" CS power amp for a couple weeks in my home office/den system. If you don't need the extra power, this little amp does not give up much to the BC22 that cost $1000 more. Adding the BC62 power cord to the CS takes it to another level. (I guess I should post a review of it!)


For cheap cables, I really like Stu Wein's MAS Black and MAS Grey at $50 and $85 a meter pair respectively (new). Right above Stu's are the Millersound cables.

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