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Intro system budget problem

Im new, and I mean the blissfully ignorant to anything Hifi new (dont take that the wrong way, I know its a fever :P). Well I just took my first step into the realm and purchased a pair of Ohm Acoustics Microwalsh Tall SE's. The problem? I need everything else. I have a $2500 budget now at $1000 dollars for everything else (will have future upgrade investments). In the 3-4 weeks it will take the Ohm's to ship out here, I would like to have something ready to use and (not)abuse them. I was informed by numerous friends that speakers should be the single largest investment so I threw a good amount of my budget at the Ohms.

Again I dont know much about audio, the setup, or specifications and I need everything, speaker wire, receiver(integrated?) and whatever else. What I know is my out of the box cheap walmart Sony receiver 5.1 HT setup in a small 12'x16' room. I stream music to the receiver via media server support from my computer. I have iPod but no connection to receiver.

I have done a lot of reading on this forum prior to me making my account today and I appear to have a very strict budget (for the hobby), and would just like to be at least pointed in the right direction before I blindly go about building my system all wrong in specifications.

Thank you for your insights!

Brian
daseiler
daseiler OP
5 posts
 
Swampwalker
Thanks for the response. I listen to mostly rock, some metal and dabble in electronic music from time to time. Im not sure how to relate a lot of these terms to experience, but I do like my bass, will be getting a sub-woofer to compliment the ohms sometime.

Jazzerdave
I had looked at the peachtree products and am very pleased you have good things to say about them! The option of just turning it into a source with later upgrades is extremely attractive.

Gz
Im on the Blue Jeans site right now, thanks for the reference!
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,198 posts
 
Peach tree Decco or Nova if you can squeeze it used would be an easy and nice fit.

You could upgrade to an outboard amp later and use the Peachtree as a DAC and pre-amp only later if you ever feel the need.

NAd integrated is a good path also. Probably a beefier amp there for the $$s if you like louder rock/pop type music. Squeezebox Touch might be had also for the budget to stream music off the computer and internet via a Wifi or wired network and includes a decent DAC as well.
daseiler OP
5 posts
 
Thanks mapman
If going the NAD route there seems to be a lot of options used and new. Which ones should I be considering?

So what im looking at now is either peachtree and call it good or NAD(X) + Squeezebox
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,198 posts
 
Daseiler,

What music server program do you use and what file format for music files? Is teh server an Apple or PC?
daseiler OP
5 posts
 
I stream off my iTunes library using either TVersity or PLEX depending on if im using laptop or PC, both windows 7. Does iTunes use compression that has loss? Is there a way around that?

Also I notice there is a NAD C375BEE for 1k on here used, if I could "squeeze" that and the squeezebox together would I see much higher gains over the Nova? I still lean to the Peachtree however because its presentation is in another league but im in it for the end result too, the sound. The choices!
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