Solve this fun puzzle

The second post is says alot right. For that price range it is pretty simple: a pair of mini-monitors, a cd player, and an integrated amp (I'm not sure if a cd with volume and a power amp is necessarily better, I think it depends more on the specific components whether one arrangement is better than the other). You can do it for $900. The marantz cd-63 and 67 are classic cd players, I don't know how good they are compared to some of the newer stuff in the past few years, but one of those players at a used $200-$250 is good. NAD electronics are always worth looking at in that price range too. Some kit speakers might be a good way to go, like audioc.com Emerald's at about $300 kit form. I can't think of any integrated in your price range off hand outside the creek's and NAD's. I got my sister some entry level Rotel pieces as demo's from a dealer $207 for the cd player and $207 for the integrated,and then bought a pair of minimonitors at half-off for $400 instead of $800 list. A little pair of Epos used might have a nice sound. avahifi.com has the biromod wharfedale diamond 7.2's at only $259 pr. you may want to check out. For you $900 though don't start investing in tweaks, you'll get more for your money investing in those three components.

Sorry, I didn't address the question specifically, as far as selecting between the three there's no hard-n-fast rules. For $900 all you can do is distribute the money more-or-less evenly between the three and just see what comes up. As soon as you start spending less the $200 on a piece your creating a weak link or imbalance in the system; I mean a $170 pair of speakers on a nearly $500 integrated may not give the best sound attainable for that total sum. In the end it depends on the specific components though.

There are two schools out there on where to start assembling a system. I personally started at my speakers and am matching back into the chain. Others feel that you should start at the front end and work towards your speakers. Really, at the end, you want to end up with a system that sounds good to your ears. You will find some awesome recommendations in this site. The most knowledgable folks are at this site. I know this probably wasn't any help to you. I wish you luck in your search... it's a blast!

What kind of music do you listen to ? Size and shape of room ? Volume level that you like to listen at ? Do you ever plan on adding sources such as a tuner, tape, TT, etc... ? Any size or placement constraints on speakers ? Sean
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If I had $900 to spend used. Cambridge Audio D500 CD Player +/- $250. B&W DM301 +/- $175; Integrated Amp choose either Cambridge Audio A3i, NAD C320, Rotel RA970 +/- $250; (We are up to $675.) Onkyo Integra Tuner (T4015/T4017/T4057) $50; MIT Terminator 3 Speaker Cables $75; Nordost Solar Wind Interconnect for CD player $75; Straightwire Chorus cable for tuner %25.. Total $900 probably +/- $50.