2. misc-audio
  3. 1325112063

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 3 responses by inna

inna
7,871 posts
 
$2000 including analog front end is tough. Could you stretch it to $2500 even if not right away? Remember, you will also need a lot of cables and you don't want junk.
In this case, I would probably start by choosing good used integrated amplifier with or without phono stage. Unless you are very lucky I just don't see how you can have acceptable separates within this price range. Even vintage Tandberg or Audiolab would most likely be too much. There are many good speakers for around $500-$600 though. And, yes, I would go with computer based digital source.
inna
7,871 posts
 
How about Snell type C with Tandberg 3012 integrated to begin with? It has a decent phono stage and can be found here or on ebay for $300-350. I saw Snells on Audiogon a few times for about $700 asking price plus shipping. Then you would have about $900 left for the rest. That's not bad.
inna
7,871 posts
 
You have waited for a long time to have a good system, and you want serious stuff. That's not Rega or Pro-Ject. You want either Technics direct drive turntable or Nottingham belt drive. Within your price range Technics 1200 with tonearm should be realistic. Moving Magnet cartridge will cost you about $350 new. I would get Goldring 1042, directly from the UK. Some like Audio-Technica 150 and Grado.
More to discover