I m a beginner. Please help

Dave, Welcome. It seems you've come to the right place and, after reading the responses you've gotten, I'm struck, yet again, by how many really thoughtful, intelligent and generous people are involved with this hobby. There's not much I can add to what has been said except to avoid jumping on the "Review" and "Name-brand" hi-fi train. When I started getting into hi-fi, I read every hi-fi mag and review looking to find the secrets of the ocean upon contemplation of a dew-drop. It doesn't work. Not trusting myself (and my limited knowledge), I'd read the reviews and seek out the "stellar" equipment in which so much reviewer praise had been lavished. I'd be lying if it didn't affect what I heard. I think it wise to consider reviews (and, in keeping with this, some of the larger names), but not to be ruled or dictated by them. As most of the other posters have said, tust yourself and your ears. There isn't a governing board that decides if your rig is righteous enough to be considered "hi-end hi-fi" (as, I think, I thought, almost expecting to be judged on the name-brands I had purchased - what a knuckle-head I was). There's a lot of great smaller companies out there that don't flash big ads (Meadowlark to name only one) but give great bang for the buck and provide exceptional sonics. It always comes down to the music and filling your home and family with all the wonders music can give. Thanks for putting the question out there (I wish I would have had the intelligence to do so when I started, it would have saved me a lot of frustration and dough) and good luck in your hi-fi adventure. Again, welcome.

Dave: Whether things like power cords make a difference is a subject of controversy, to say the least. The "everything-matters-just-trust-your-ears" school is well-represented here on Audiogon, and among the better-known audio mags. But there's another school, the "there's-no-effect-without-a-cause-and-where's-the-cause?" camp, which holds that one's ears are easily fooled into believing differences exist even among demonstrably identical sounds. You need to consider both sides of this argument, so I suggest that get yourself a few issues of The Audio Critic, just to round out your education. (I'll come back with details on a few worthwhile back issues in a day or two.)

Beyond that, here's my basic advice. The three most important factors in how well your system reproduces music are the recordings you listen to, your speakers, and your listening room. Sufficient amplifier power is also critical. Everything else is trivial by comparison, unless you intentionally seek out equipment with a particular "voice," which many people on Audiogon do (and which is a perfectly legitimate way to pursue this hobby, though it's not a fancy I share.) You have to decide what your priorities are, and listen and buy accordingly. Enjoy.

This is to follow-up on Rrgordon's advice. While most of what he has to say I agree with--particularly his recommendation that you look into good integrated amps--he has covertly taken a stand on one of the bigger dichotomies in the audiophile world. Namely, there are some out there who feel speakers are the most important component, and others who belong to the "source-rules" camp. Without arguing one way or the other, I would like to say that if you are looking at a modest system of around, say, less than $1200 for the whole thing, you should probably be spending close to equal amounts for each of the speakers/source/amp. Cabling, etc., is probably not the most cost-effective priority at this level. As your budget creeps higher, this balance will almost assuredly change, as you adopt your own theories. Check out www.goodsound.com for more advice on budget system building.

The SOURCE CD player or Turtable are your most important items.Dont let anyone tell you different.
Can a graet 50K speaker change the signal it recieves.can it make a bad signal sound good.No it cant.
GARBAGE IN = GARBAGE OUT.
ITS THAT SIMPLE.
A cheap source will keep you spending counless $ to get better sound.
I cant tell you how many people keep upgrading speakers and are never really pleased.
The need to upgrade their source so they can really hear what their amps and speakers really sound like.
Put you bigest bang in the source.

Thanks for the comments from fellow posters. Monsterbill puts things into perspective as Dave probably prefers to keep to a budget. But my experience tells me that cables are just another "component". Yet unlike electronics, they are more readily obtained and tested in ones system. Because of this, I'd say anyone putting together a nice sounding system that they want to own for an extended time ought to consider spending a bit more on cables than they might imagine. Granted, it's hard to specify dollar amounts, but keep in mind that the goal for the beginner is to keep their system for a very long time or until their tastes change. I don't think any of us started out believing that we'd end up swapping every component in our systems (several times over) before we found something easy to live with. Instead, cables offer the quickest route to learning these points. Here's a rough example from personal experience. A friend bought a pair of beautiful ProAc 1SC speakers ($2,100 retail) and a Krell300i ($2,500 integrated amp). He had an inexpensive Marantz CC65 cd player ($500 retail, stock). With the wrong cables, his system sounded bright, harsh, and uninvolving. With carefully selected cables, he had a simple system that recreated the musical experience--in short he was satisfied. So, while not a rock bottom budget system, it helps demonstrate why imo many people budget too much on their cd player and relegate cables to an afterthought. It's not necessarily the case that the right cables will cost more, just that they ought not be bought "off the spool" without some thought given to the choice. Of course overspending on the cd player will make buying the first cheap cable a near knee-jerk reaction. Monsterbill, thanks for the website. Can you can be more specific about any budget system building articles?