I’d say the Rogue Tube Integrated and the flagship Rega CD player. I helped a friend put together a small system for his apartment and he chose a Rega amp, Rega CD player, Herbies Audio Super Black Hole cd mat, Rega phonostage, Clear Audio turntable, Wireworld cables and I sold him my Monitor Audio GR Gold speakers. It all sounded good except for his vinyl rig for which he purchased an Ortofon Red mm cartridge. I’d really reconsider purchasing a vinyl rig because of the need to spend a lot in order to get acceptable results. A good sounding phono stage and cartridge combination will be costly. Plus, living in an apartment, you’ll at least need a good power conditioner. Consider that most all of those Grateful Dead Rhino remasters are strictly on cd and the MOFI Grateful Dead reissues are available on hybrid SACD. As far as classical is concerned, 98 % of new classical recordings are solely in digital format. I like vinyl as an option but I only play early mono micro groove because all of the stereo options are remastered for digital and a stereo cartridge is a compromise without a great tonearm.
Looking for a good system for my apartment. Any advise?
I have a medium sized living room. Any ideas for this fledgling audiophile?
I'm looking for a decent turn table, amp, speakers and a cd player. Money IS an object so if there is anything you can recommend that won't break the bank but still offer a nice sonic experience (We love classical, jazz and the Grateful Dead).
Thank you.
fojomo
I'm looking for a decent turn table, amp, speakers and a cd player. Money IS an object so if there is anything you can recommend that won't break the bank but still offer a nice sonic experience (We love classical, jazz and the Grateful Dead).
Thank you.
fojomo
74 responses Add your response
The most important factor is your room/speaker interface. Get a pair of speakers that drive your room and fit in the space you have. Borrow or beg anything that might work. Try everything. Don't overlook used or vintage or unusual, like small Maggies. Once you find speakers, get an amp big enough to drive them (if Maggies, you'll need some power, more efficient speakers will give you more options). Then spend whatever's left on front-end gear. The best cheap turntable available is the $699 Pioneer and the $1,000 MoFi is also a good buy. The right speakers will make the rest of the gear sound good. A Linn dealer will tell you the opposite, that the front end is more important, but he's trying to sell a turntable ranging from $4k-17k. At your budget level, it works quite the other way. |
I have to disagree with purchasing Magnipan or any other electrostatic speaker. I own Quad 2905's and while they sound great, I've had to replace a good number of panels due to a mistake which caused arcing. The best way to own electrostatics is to own two pair so that when one pair is getting repaired, there's another pair as a backup. And while the comment that vinylrestingplace makes is true, that speakers will make the biggest contribution to a system, don't overlook how an amp or cd player will improve the sound and will reduce listening fatigue. Used Harbeth and Spencer speakers come up frequently on the various sights from reputable sellers. I'm somewhat calculating in my head what this system will cost based on the recommendations in this thread and I don't see how you'll do yourself any favor by investing in a vinyl setup. If I can be candid, for a good vinyl setup, you'll need to spend roughly 2,000.00 for a good mc phono stage, about $ 1,200.00 on a turntable and $800.00 for something like a Hana cartridge. On the other hand, you could do something like buy a running Thorens TD 160 and modify it and then the Rogue amp, I believe, has a phono stage but that will still eat into your other pieces. |
I've owned 3 pairs of those Quads for a dozen years, and only one panel has failed. Also a HV transformer. They sound great in the stereo room and unbelievable as HT center channel. Magnepans sound very fine too - but different. And they're a whole lot cheaper and a whole lot more robust. Magnepans do not have a HV supply, and so arcing is NOT a possibility. But it's a good idea to keep them out of the sun or the cement which holds the mylar to the frame will deteriorate. |
How loud do you listen to music? I listen to classical mostly, but it is LOUD (a Shostakovich symphony has mega decibels at the climaxes). If you are limited to how loud you can listen, because of being in an apartment, or you just don't like lifelike volumes of sound, I would recommend a pair of dipole planar speakers. Magnepans, or similar. They can be made, for not very much money, if you are handy that way. Very lifelike presentation, quick, low distortion. If you occasionally want mega bass, add a subwoofer or two, start with inexpensive models. After you have speakers that work for you, get the least expensive turntable and amp. My personal faves for absolute best bang for buck, is an original NAD 3020 Series 20 (in excellent shape - meaning someone has gone over the solder joints and recapped and fixed any problems with the controls being problematic) and a Technics SL-D2. The NAD can drive most speakers, even planars and Linn Isobariks, and the Technics is rock solid and seems to last forever. My two cents. Good luck! So much good vintage and new affordable gear out there |
@twoleftears. One deficiency of looking for speakers first is that if the amp you have currently doesn't have the control over the speakers you are testing to demonstrate what the speakers under test are capable of. Last year I was looking to upgrade my system so I started by looking at speakers. One of the hifi shop owners suggested that I bring my amp and speakers in so I could get broader comparison. Making a long story short, When I heard my speakers through a resolving and powerful amp that was able to get the bass I'd been missing from my own speakers I ended up buying an amp instead. It was like I had never heard my speakers!!! The surprise to me is both amps rated for 100Watts RMS per channel. Old amp Rotel RA-1570 - new amp Simaudio 340dpx - speakers B&W CM5 S2. So the caveat I have with starting with upgrading speakers first is make sure you have good enough gear to drive them when you are testing them so that you can tell that you are listening to the speakers and not deficiencies in the amp. |
After reading everyone's posts (thank you!) and doing a bit of research, I think I've narrowed my options down to the following:
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Rega IO for $360! https://www.audio-connexion.com/REGA-87183.html Rega R CD player, Rega table for what you can afford, Rega RX 1 speakers and the rest on cables, stands, etc. Signal Cable makes a nice product for little scratch. |
Cullen Cables https://www.cullencable.com I agree with the Rega CD player over any other at this price point. fojomo, you need to choose a cartridge. |
@fojomo, if your setup is directly between your speakers, 8-10 feet is usually good for speaker cables. I like the locking bananas that blue jeans cold welds to their cables. Highly recommend them. I had these at one point! Signal Cable Silver Resolution is a step up. May want to check them out as well. I had these after the blue jeans. I can recommend Cullen Cables as well. My set-up uses all Cullen Cable powercords and Analysis Plus cables. I’d take the Ragnarok! The headphone amp is really great. Later when you get some cans, the Ragnarok will power any headphones really well. If you get the fully loaded Ragnarok, it comes with a dac, phono stage, headphone amp... covers many bases. They offer a 15 day trial as well. |
I believe the Canare speaker cable is one of the best buys in audio. The locking bananas would be nice. Check out the Blue jeans Cable site. They sell the Canare speaker cable and Belden digital coax. Both are sold by the foot. It is generally recommended that the digital coax should be 1.5 meter so I would go with 5ft. You might check out digital cable threads on this forum. The Belden cable is so inexpensive it could easily be replaced later. I would not worry about cables too much until you have spent time getting familiar with your system. Always an opportunity to make adjustments at that time. I would also check out the Signal cable and Cullen cable sites recommended by b_limo. They make a highly regarded cable for the money. I have purchased many of my cables used. 50% or less of retail. |
Canton Chrono 70 - $1895 NAD C388 w/ Blu OS Card $2199 NAD C538 CD Player $349 NAD C588 Turntable $899 (Comes with Ortofon 2M Red Cartridge) NAD PP2e Phono Stage $189 Total is $5531 The C388 would have the Blu OS streaming from the unit or you can connect a PC to it directly if you prefer to stream off of a PC. Most retailers will give you 10% off which would put you on budget at $4978. One perk is that all the parts would fit together aesthetically and it would look good. The other thing is you should get between 30 and 60 days as an in-home demo and your only obligation would be return shipping. Which, in fairness would not be insignificant. The reality is you don't NEED an external phono stage as the C388 has one built in but the PP2e is a nice unit, will give you better sound and would give you more flex if you wanted to try a different cartridge, especially a MC like a Denon DL 301 or something like it in the future. Full disclosure, I am a Canton and NAD dealer. If you are interested PM me. |
I use Canare Starquad microphone cable for interconnect. Buy it bulk for $1 a foot. Starquad is available almost everywhere. A recent audition put Switchcraft connectors near the pinnacle - WBT. Switchcraft connectors are available from Digikey for peanuts. Anybody with a soldering pencil can do it for you. Put the dollars you saved into the cartridge. Of course, you could spend the entire $5K on cabling, but I wouldn't - and I doubt if you'll find much better than the above for any money. IMO. YMMV. |
