Best Value System

I would have to value any system in the 10 to 15k range. Hell, I got into my first house for less than that.

Grado SR-80's or below. an older cd player with a good volume control(denon or sony etc..) stock power cables as cheap and a great system too. i use this for my bedroom system. less than $200.00

You could get a great sounding system for $5,000 or less. I have had the following equipment and sounded great and on the used market is good value. I have substantially more expensive equipment now and the difference is either non existent (Krell Amplification compared to aragon for the Thiels)or little (accuphase transport & Krell D to A - $14,000 new retail, dedicated power & conditioner. I'm sure there are many systems in the $5,000 range that could be compreable or better but I liked this system.

Preamp - Audio Research LS2B - $800 used
Thiel 3.6 used $1,500 or less
Amplification Aragon 8008 Balanced - $1,200
Almost any decent CD player $1,000
Cables $500

"Thf":

I agree with "Gary17" listed above, you ought to be able to put together a great sounding system for about $5K, and in many cases, a lot less than that. The "core" of my present system falls into that range (the speaker system, amp, preamp, tuner and cables......... and for about two years after putting that system together, I used a DVD Player as a CD Player........ a Pioneer Elite DV-37). But over the last two years, I fully tricked my system out (I added a Meridian 508.24 CD Player (it costed $3,995.00 when it was brand new, but got it used last year for about $1,600.00), and a VPI Scoutmaster/JMW Memorial 9 Arm/Grado Sonata Reference Cartridge LP Playback System with the VPI SDS System ($4,000.00 with everything) plugged into a maxed out Phono Stage (a Monolithic PS-1 Phono Stage with the matching HC-1 Power Supply)), and it was the components mentioned after the core of the system was assembled that has put the price tag of my system over the top. The core components of my system ran around $5,000.00 all by itself. So, it's been proven over and over again, you can put togeter a great sounding system from around $5,000.00 to about $15,000.00.

From my experience, here's what I would spend my $5,000.00 on:

Speaker System: Vandersteen 2Ce -- $1,000.00 (used)
Power Amplifier: McCormack Power-Drive DNA-0.5 (Special Edition) -- $900.00 (used)
Preamplifier: McCormack TLC-1 -- $500.00 (used)
Compact Disc Player: Meridian 506.24 -- $1,000.00 (used)
Cables: Pick Your Own...... But don't spend any more than $500.00

I listened to this system (sans the CD Player....... the CD Player used years ago was a Pioneer Elite PD-65) years ago, and I remember it sounding so right to my years back then. Had I gotten it brand new that year, it would've costed substantially more than the $5K I would pay for it today, but boy (???), what a system. If I don't say so myself, this system rocked back then, and I have every reason to believe it would still rock the house today.

My $0.02 worth.......

--Charles--

As you can undoubtibly tell by reading posts here the best value system is not always the absolute outcome of high quality components or money spent,regardless of the amount. There are many contributors here who have systems that cost many times that which any of us could hope to spend and who own products that are considered outstanding both for their quality and their performance. Yet, they are unhappy with the results. The same can be said of others who have thankfully spent much less on products that are still considered very capable, and who have produced systems that would make any audio magazine reviewer proud. They just are not getting what they wanted. You can read about this every day right here. This is what I love about this site. All the evidence of individual experience, and all of it reinforcing -again and again, that value is something that ultimately comes from within, regardless of what we are told or would really like to believe. The people who have acheived sucess here seems to be the ones have included themselves in the equation of what works, and this not appear to follow any of the best of or price point equations given here as the best approach.