Helping a friend build a new system


A good family friend has recently retired and is looking to build a system for his home office. He used to own a nice sound system some 25 years ago but hasn't been actively pursuing the hobby. He was visiting my home a few weeks ago and I guess listening to my system must have inspired him to finally build a new one. He asked me to help set up a new system (new to him, he's willing to buy used). I asked him a bunch of questions to find out what he wants and how much he is willing to spend. His responses are summarized below:

1. Budget -- since he's retired he wants to keep the total system budget to around $7-8K (including cables)
2. Components Needed -- bookshelf speakers, integrated amp, cables. He already has a CD player which would do for now, but he might get into streaming later on. He owns a few hundred CDs.
3. Room size -- around 10x12 with 10 foot ceilings. Fully carpeted with some furniture.  
4. Music genres -- jazz, blues, vocals (he's a big fan of Frank Sinatra, Chet Baker, Billy Holiday, etc.), and R&B
5. Listening preferences -- he is looking for an 'intimate' and cozy experience and wants to try tube amps with high sensitivity bookshelf speakers. He mostly listens at a moderate volume and can be sensitive to high frequencies.

He also mentioned that he has some hearing loss since he's in his early 60s and suffers from a mild case of tinnitus. I'm not sure if this plays a role in the choice of components but I thought it's worth mentioning just in case.

I will really appreciate it if you guys can provide some pointers. Please remember that he is retired so $8k is absolutely the max he can do. System synergy is important. And, please no Tekton or class D recommendations. He really wants to try some affordable tube gear as a starting point.

128x128arafiq
@arafiq

glad to see your report that the vtl is in house and is making lovely sounds... david and luke manley have been stalwarts on the high end tube amp scene for many many years, they have always voiced beautiful, yet clear sounding tube amps, and have built some of the most impressive high power tube amps extant

i am not at all surprised to learn that this newer, well packaged integrated is a very good one, the vtl products have always been exemplary, it is just that sometimes in the past their customer service may not be too responsive, which has been their managerial downfall at times, hopefully this shortcoming has been fully addressed nowadays

so what speakers did you get your buddy?
@jjss49 -- we are really thrilled with the VTL. On Sunday, we did a side by side comparison with my Audio Hungary Qualiton a50i for almost 4 hours in my main system (SHL5+, Luxman DA-06). It was a lot of fun. I will share my impressions at some point.

So as for speakers, my friend listened to my Harbeth M30.1s with the VTL, and to say that he is hopelessly smitten is an understatement. So now he wants to buy my M30.1s. At this point, we have pretty much narrowed it down to either M30.1, Fritz Carrera BE, and Proac Response D2 -- in that order. My main concern with Fritz is that it is rear-ported and I’m not sure how it will work with only a one-foot clearance from the front wall.

I called Fritz on Thursday by the way. Had a very casual but informative chat with him. I really appreciated the fact that not once did he try to sell me something. How refreshing. If I end up selling my Harbeth 30.1s to my friend, I might think about snapping up a pair of Carrera BEs for myself. But I have no idea if it will be a side way move or not. OTOH, if I sell my Harbeths to him it gives me an excuse to go speaker shopping again :)
wonderful journey, keep us apprised. RAM has a super matched EL-34 on order of $45 each. Those might provide a nice Phat distraction…later…