2. amps-preamps
  3. 1016478410

semi-budget sys - under 1450

Apologies if you've seen this on audiorevew.com...

Speakers I'm down to:
B&W 602S3s or Paradigm Studio 20s or 40s
Integrateds:
NAD C370 (sounds worse, but hey, it's 105 watts)
Rotel RA1060 (what I thought I wanted until some damn aimable salesman my age played my wife and I the
Arcam A75 (which is my current fav but a stretch for my wallet - only 50 watts, but lordy what soundstaging - it's uncanny)

play mostly rock, nice nice soundtrack) and left-field electronica (no boom-boom-boom-boom, thanks) and just enough jazz to make me listen close to cymbals and timbre while demoing.

if i get the paradigm studio 20s and arcam a75 for purity, i would have to add a subwoofer at some point. if i get the B&Ws and anything else, I'm gonna wanna bi-amp (unless it's the NAD, in which case I would probably just sell/trade-in it) I think. what would you do? throw more speakers at me if you want but let's try to control my urges to build a $2000 core system instead of a $1400-1500 dollar one. thanks everyone!
cbinkleye862

Showing 1 response by salsero

salsero
16 posts
 
You may want to see into a jolida integrate ($700), a cambridge D500 (I think) CD player ($450) and sound dynamic RTS-3 (Audio Advisor $200).
The integrated is a tube preamp/solid state amplifier - many think this is the best of both worlds, plus you can later upgrade the tubes and power cord for better sound. The CD player is stereophile recommended class C - many tweak the power cord.
The speakers are rated at 90db sensitivity - don't require much power to fill the room plus they sound well at 45Hz (i.e. good bass for a small speaker!!)
You can then look up for good interconnects and speaker cables in audio advisor plus speaker stands - OK, you maybe a little over budget now - but it will be nice!!
Good Luck, Salsero
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