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June 6, 2013 - 6:54am
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$1000 setup for a musicophile but audio neophyte
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I thik that the Wharfedale Diamond 10.1 would be a very good choice for your speakers.
I would recommend the Harman-Kardon 3490 Stereo Receiver as the choice for an amplifier. I have had many vacuum-tube units over the years, and tubes are a pain in the rear for the most part. I still have a tube preamp, but I won't screw with the constant problems and unreliability of tube power amps any more.
It has good sound quality, plenty of power, and a LOT of very good features! It is selling for $350-400 on Amazon most of the time. It has a phono preamp built in, and also a dedicated output for a subwoofer. A center speaker is something one can do without unless you want to go to a full 5.1 system.
Then I would get an OPPO BDP-103, which is a CD/SACD/DVD/bluray player which also has wireless streaming built-in. It has excellent music sound quality for the money (far far better than your old CD player), plus all sorts of other features for free...lol. It goes for $500. If you go to the OPPO website and look at the many many features of the 103, you will be amazed.
I guess I just spent $1200 for you...rofl. I think every one of those items is excellent value for the money, though, and will give you a very nice system with a lot of capabilities and options.
Thanks for the thoughtful reply and advice - much appreciated.
If I go with the system you recommend, how would you suggest integrating my PC and iPod? Could I use the receiver's internal DAC via the optical or coaxial inputs (from my laptop's USB), or would I need to get a separate iPod-compatible DAC and/or HK's Bridge II iPod dock ($129)? Obviously I could use the analog outputs from the computer & iPod in the meantime if necessary but that would not be ideal.
I might also hold off on the OPPO for now, given that I don't have a TV, and pick up a cheap Playstation 1 on eBay to see if that does the trick for the time being - this would keep things within budget and I can always upgrade to good CD/BluRay player in the future, whenever I get a TV.
Thanks again!
With the OPPO, you can just connect your computer to one of its USB inputs to send music or whatever you want to the system. It has 3 USB inputs and dual HDMI inputs.
The OPPO also has its own streaming capability, so it can connect directly to the internet for Pandora, Netflix, VUDU, Rhapsody etc. which are built-in features of the OPPO.
I know very little about the IPOD. Can it be connected to some adapter to get it connected to USB?