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Help a confused newbie build his first setup...

Hello everyone,

After saving my pennies for the last few years, I have finally saved up the money to buy some speakers but to be honest I am confused with two thing and would love everyones opinion. First off, what would be a better bang for the buck, floor standers or monitors?. I am a musician by trade with good ears that listens to everything and love to hear things as truthfully as possible. To me accuracy, neutrality, musicality, and soundstage are very important. For instance, I am not concern about bloated, unrealistic bass, since I know exactly how a bass should sound like. I need a speaker that can handle different situation effectively. Additionally, my living room is connected to a dinning room and kitchen. The living room itself is 20 X 12 with 10 foot high ceiling.

My other concern is how much do I need to spend. Right now all I have is a dac going going to airport express. I was thinking of buying a good speaker first then buying a fairly cheap amp and upgrade later. Is that the right way to go about it? I do know I want to use SS amp for this setup since it is overall easier for me. All this being said, I have collected $1000 so far but am not sure if this would be enough to get a good setup. I do not mind saving up if I have to.

What would be your ideal setup for the following price points (amp included if possible).

$1000

$2000

$3000

Thank you in advance and let me know if you would like more information.
aldres

Showing 3 responses by kijanki

kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,448 posts
 
"good sound throughout the house" - planar speakers have narrow sweet spot AFAIK.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,448 posts
 
Aldres, buying lower level gear will cost you more since eventually you'll replace it - unless you have, like many of us, "gardener's syndrome" and need to trim and re-pot anyway. I would buy at least one main component of high quality that you can live with. The biggest change for me (eye opening) was the speaker Hyperion HPS-938. It is imitation (but according to reviews even better sounding) of very expensive Wilson Puppy. Read reviews here: http://www.hyperionsound.com/hps-938_Review.htm
It also got whole bunch of awards (including "speaker of the decade"). What surprised me the most was quality of the bass. I knew about breathtaking midrange but bass was complete surprise. It is not the fact that bass is tight and very dynamic but rather that it sounds very natural/musical at the same time. Attack and decay of the bass string, for instance, sounds very realistic and pleasant. This speaker cost more than $5k but I bought 6 month old dealer demo (dealer in Pennsylvania) for $3k with full warranty and like new condition. Perhaps dealer is willing to negotiate even better deal now (slow sales). Used are sometimes sold at Audiogon at approx. $2k. It is very warm sounding speaker that is easy to drive (6ohm, 3.8ohm min, 90dB/W) that works great with my 100/200W Icepower amp.

Your question suggest $3k as your absolute max. I would try to get Hyperions and fit it with $100 receiver + cheapest cables for now. When you can save more get better amp and CDP or DAC - one by one. My setup is very simple - DAC with volume control + power amp (Rowland 102) using cheap DVD player or Airport Express as a source, but sound quality is first grade. There is something about these speakers that make them 10x better sounding than 3x less expensive Paradigm Studio/60 I had before. By better I don't mean more impressive, just the opposite - less hi-fiish and more natural (better integrated) with lifelike imaging.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,448 posts
 
Blindjim, I suspect that progress in speaker technology is much slower than progress in electronics especially in signal processing. Starting with the speaker makes more sense to me. As for the split, I would place 45% in electronics and equal amount in speakers. Cables should account for about 10%.
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