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Please Advise me on Building a System on a Budget

Hello everyone,

I am an aspiring audiophile who loves music but I have never had the money to buy any real nice equipment. I am looking to build a relatively nice system for the first time and I am on a budget. I am looking to spend only around $2000 on everything. I am looking to get everything used and I am willing to hunt on ebay and craigslist for bargains. I want to stretch this $2000 as far as I can. I have a few questions that I hope some of you experts could help me with.

Ideally, I need a pair of speakers, a preamp, an amp, a record player and some type of digital source like a cd player (or SACD player). I know that is an aweful lot to ask for on a $2000 budget but tell me what you think I could do.

One question I have been wondering is if it really makes sense in 2011 to spend big money on a cd player or SACD player. I don't quite understand people who are spending a thousand dollars on a top of the line NAD player or other unit. Wouldn't it make more sense to have a hard drive based unit or computer playing lossless audio files? Wouldn't that be able to produce the same quality audio but be more convenient?

My initial thoughts would be that I should have a PC with a solid DAC as my digital source (or hard drive based player) and then get a good record player. Does this sound reasonable? Or is there some reason why playing old fashioned CDs through a NAD or other device would sound superior? Also, would you recommend a SACD player? Of course, there are plenty of high resolution FLAC files that I could conceivably play from a hard drive unit as well.
Please advise on this.

What I was thinking of as far as budgeting was concerned is: Spend about $700-$800 on the best used speakers I can find. Spend about the same on the best Pre-amp/Power amp combination I can find. And spend the rest towards the rest, particularly the digital and vinyl sources.

The $2000 is not a hard and fast budget but I seriously do not have a lot of money and I want to get the best audio I can for a reasonable amount. I would rather spend more on the speakers and amps and maybe wait on a record player.

What can you suggest? Thanks. I look forward to hearing your suggestions.
jrodefeld

Showing 1 response by geondalou

geondalou
7 posts
 
Hello, I am Geo'ndaLou and I just now (6:50 pm cst) saw a Mark Levinson power($750) amp in one listing and an Audio Research power amp ($625) in another separate listing here on Audiogone. I have NEVER seen these types of components listed so inexpensively anywhere. Either would give you KILLER sound for pennies on the dollar! I now use an Inspiron 1525 pc as my source, and it I am very pleasantly suprised at the quality of reproduction it supplies. I plan to auire a dac for about $1100.00 in the near future. There is a pair of Magnaplanars for $500.00 listed also, you can find a chinese headphone amp to use asa preamp here or on Ebay for around $200.00 or so. I use Canare wire extensively throughout my system, and it is vry neutral in character. Later you could get a good sub to flesh out the bass, but this would give you close to concert quality sound, just give the components at least a month to burn in. Hope this helps!
My System:
-Jolida 3000B tube preamp
-Jolida 3000A tube mono block power amps:200 watt/ch monitor amps
-Dell Inspiron 1525 pc: 4gb ram, 320 gb hd
-Kenwood 2001 tuner: had it since I was 17, it ain't goin' nowhere!
-Adcom 545II power amp, 200 watt/ch(4 0hm) : subwoofer amp
-Musical Design D-75 power amp, 120 watt/ch(4 ohm):alternate monitor amp
-Marchand Electronics XM-9 3-way electronic crossover
-Sound Dynamics 300 Ti 8in-3-way monitors: Treble frequencies
-Custom 15in ported subs: I could tell you who made them, but then he would kill ME!
Canare cable throughout: Killer!
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