2. misc-audio
  3. 1079590518

System for a dorm - how is this?

Well I am back in school, Law School now, and I am looking to get a system set up for my dorm room. The room is about 12ft x 17 ft rectangle. I listen to almost everything from jazz to metal, but usually it is more along the lines of Dylan, Cash, Wilco, Death Cab, Thursday, indie type stuff I guess.
I am looking to spend in the $1200-$1500 range unless the extra $500 would really upgrade the system.
One problem though is that I would like CD and a turntable, so it may hurt with the budget, but lets see what we can do.
Right now these are the things I have been looking into.

-Cambridge Audio Azure 540 or 640 Integrated Amp
-CD - A NAD (which one?) or Rotel 1072 or Cambridge Audio Azure
-Turntable - Simiko Pro-Ject 1.2 or the one below
-Speakers - EPOS - ELS3
AND as a possible alternative or addition: a headphone and and the Grado 80 (something like that)

So what do you think? What would be good speaker cable and interconnect cable to start looking into? Will these pieces gel together well? Thanks for the help for a newbie.
jmurray16

Showing 3 responses by sfar

sfar's avatar
sfar
1,768 posts
 
Some other budget recommendations, in addition to the excellent ones you're already considering

- The Music Hall CD-25 sounds remarkable for the money, I don't know that it's better than the Rotel, though
- B&W DM303 speakers, at the same retail price as the EPOS'
- For a couple hundred dollars more, but in a whole different league, these Soliloquy 5.0 monitors
- If you go with the Rotel 1072 CD player, you could match it with a Rotel 1060 integrated amp for a nice-looking setup that uses just one remote
sfar's avatar
sfar
1,768 posts
 
One of the best bets for inexpensive speaker cable is Canare StarQuad 4s11 or 4s8, available from markertek.com, especially if you want to bi-wire a speaker like the Soliloquy's.
Click here and then click the links on the left

Markertek's pro audio cables with RCA ends make very good inexpensive interconnects at $26 a pair. Click here Order two, one red and one black.

At the next level up you could also consider DH-Labs least expensive speaker cable, the T-14, and their BL-1 interconnects.

Yes, the Soliloquys were a nice speaker at $1,100, at the closeout price of $495 they're an outrageous bargain. They'd be the basis for a system that might last you awhile.
sfar's avatar
sfar
1,768 posts
 
The suggestion of the Philips 963 DVD/CD player is a good one if you've also got any interest at all in video. I helped a coworker put together a system recently that she's very happy with, the 963, a pair of the Soliloquy 5.0's I recommended above and a Creek A50i integrated amp. She was equally interested in music and movies (but didn't care about 'home theater.')

Substitute any of the less expensive integrateds that have been recommended for the Creek and you'd be within your budget (except for the turntable, but you're going to be busy with law school and not have the time to track down vinyl, and except for the TV, but these are the kind of complications you're faced with when you ask opinionated strangers for advice.)
More to discover