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January 24, 2008 - 9:49pm
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A Complete Newcomer asking for advice.
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Your question is quite broad and leaves enormous amounts of room for almost anything to be considered. However, unless you feel the Bose system is excellent value, I wouldn't suggest duplicating your friend's system. It would be nice to know what dealerships and equipment you have available in your local area and what some of the requirements are for the system. How big is the room? How much volume do you require? What sort of music do you enjoy? Can you devote some time, money and effort towards proper system set up? Are you looking to buy one system and keep it for years or would you build up a better system over time? Etc, etc, etc.
Without any more information than you've provided, I would suggest you look for an independent dealer (not Best Buy/Circuit City) carrying a few different brands. Start with Cambridge Audio, Rotel, NAD or Rega when thinking amplifiers. If you don't require a tuner for radio listening, you can consider an integrated amplifier. The new Onkyo products have been receiving good reviews. A company named Vincent also has been producing good value products.
Speaker lines to consider are Paradigm, PSB, NHT and numerous on line products. A company called Parts Express offers the components to build your own speakers if you are inclined to do so. Madisound does the same. Click on the "equipment reviews" tab at the top of the page and do some reading. I would encourage you to go listen to some live music before you head out to the shops to audition components. Buy what reminds you of the sound of live music and you should be off to a good start.
http://forum.stereophile.com/forum/showf...=true#Post33838
Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it. Im an hour from Minneapolis, so there shuld be some audio stores around. I did locate a dealer for those psb alpha's so I might go check them out. I have a feeling Ill be upgrading my system the more I learn and the more I can afford. Im in an apartment right now, the biggest room being only 15x10, but volume shouldnt be a problem. And I listen to everything from classical to jazz with all sorts of rock genres in there. As for the setup, Id like to learn to do It properly so whatever it takes timewise, it takes.
Another way you can get started is to not worry about speakers right now. If you listen to vinyl, you should get your turntable set up, get a nice phono stage that has a headphone jack, get a nice set of headphones, and ouila! You have a very nice setup for listening to vinyl. This way, you can start out without too much cash to see if you like the grind of meticulously cleaning records, changing the record after only 25 minutes or so of play, cleaning your stylus, etc. Then, if you believe the quality of the music via vinyl is worth it then you can start building your room based system, which requires going out and actually hearing speakers, preferably in your listening room with your electronics, room treatments, etc.
Amatise, the first set of speakers that I bought for myself was a Bose surround sound setup. I then moved to some Polk Audio R30's. The difference between the Bose and Polk Audio R30's was like night and day. The Polk floorstanders were amazing when it came to listening to music. The Bose were great for movies. The Polk Audio speakers were also a fraction of the price. I recently bought some Focal 716S speakers and the difference between the Bose to Polk was significantly more dramatic than the move from Polk to Focal.
To sum up keep asking questions and go listen to different setups. Remember, the speakers are probably going to sound different in your room with your components.
Junk that turntable. I'd head down to the Needle Doctor in Dinkytown in Minneapolis and listen to the Epos ELS 3 loudspeakers.
You could get everything right there for a nice entry system.
Pro-Ject Debut III turntable in basic black: $300
Pro-Ject PhonoBox phono preamp: $130
Epos ELS 3 loudspeakers: $400/pair
Denon DRA-297 receiver: $300
Total $1130
You could go cheaper but probably not get as good as sound.