Hi,
Everyone has a budget, it scales based on their interest or dedication and access to funds. It's hard to call something budget at $5k in today's world. I would rather it be broken up into tiers, because some people's budget system is $5k and some people's budget system is $10k and some people's budget system is under $500, less even. Are they not allowed to love audio? I don't think there's as big of a price wall for entry to this as some seem to think. But I'm not here to change someone's mind who already thinks $5k is budget system, when it's really nearly end-game quality speakers for most people.
And I think there's never enough emphasis on the idea of having high quality media to listen to
first as an approach to audiophila rather than just buying "good speakers" and anything will sound great (which is not true at all, even with physical media when you break out a post-loudness-wars CD and listen to low dynamic range mess). There's some education that goes with all of this I think which is also often too overlooked at starting out, on understanding what high quality recordings are vs not and how to identity and source them. Clicking "HD" in the corner on a stream service, isn't it. And just any CD or record, also, isn't it. But the audiophile experience starts with the actual recording.
Headphones:
I think the best budget approach to the misnomer concept of audiophile critical listening equipment would come in the form of headphones. And it wouldn't take up the $5000 budget either. It would be actually budget level for the 98% of people out there who do
not have $5k USD to drop on audio equipment as an
entry point to an already elistist filled hobby grossly saturated by attitudes and ideals from 30~50 years ago. I would argue full size headphones and a good source rig so that there's no room influence to worry about, no particular space needed, and plenty of budget left over to buy source media that is high quality. This easily gets overlooked I think in today's world with the idea of high quality streaming vs physical media vs high quality digital media, etc. Especially if one has an interest in physical media like vinyl, the budget needs to include for this and this will cost more than the equipment frankly at this purchase level.
I would put someone on a
Schiit Asgard and either a
Sennheiser HD600,
Beyer DT880's or
Hifiman HE6SE's.
Put the rest into high quality digital media to listen to and save the rest for where the hobby takes you.
If you get into vinyl, maybe something like the
Pro-Ject Debut Carbon EVO. And then put the rest into building a high quality vinyl collection that are known high quality recordings. You can certainly go cheaper on the turntable. There are just a few critical components to a good turn table and the cheap ones all need something to be swapped out, etc. So I think skipping all that may be better and just go to a mid-tier turn table up front.
Overall, all-in, this would compare to many hobby buy ins, from PC building, to XBOX/PS5 with controllers and several games, or Drones, or Photography equipment, a nice entry Telescope, etc. Achievable I would say. Around that $1k mark basically (not including a turn table), which is not super budget, but it's significant still for a lot of people. But this is by no means a budget experience, as this is nearly end-game class equipment for headphone critical listening.
Speakers:
This is also difficult because one could do a $1k speaker setup or a full $5k speaker setup and they will be wildly different in quality. These days, you can totally get an end-game speaker setup in the $5k range. $1k comes with a ton of budget compromise components and results, but still can be great. But I would say this is more difficult because most people
starting out are not going to want to think about the room involved and that having a good room and listening space as being important let alone the idea of treating a room and setting this up with acoustics and audio first, and convenience to other things or compromise to other things coming second. This is a harder sell. Most people starting out will want to buy something and it just work no matter where the they put it. Only to discover putting it in that hard floor, hard wall room full or windows and sitting 20 feet away from it sounds completely awful. I'm not saying to blow the budget on building an audio room or buying a dedicated audio shed if you don't have a room to use, etc, but it at least should be a big part of the learning processing and setup process and matter for the end-user listening experience.
My top picks for the speakers, from bookshelf to small mini tower class, will be the
Philharmonic BMR or the
Ascend Acoustics Sierra-2EX's or even the
Salk Songbirds. And that's with no sub. But, if you wanted to go ahead on a sub, it's not needed at all to start out, but if you wanted to go ahead with it starting out, the
RSL Speedwoofer 10S MKII is what I would pick probably.
Within budget, if one wanted towers and no sub, I would suggest starting with something like the
Polk Reserve R700 at the mid-point tier or the
Polk Legend L800 at the top of the budget. It's actually nuts what you're getting with the Polk L800 and its within this budget range with its full range output and SDA for a great stereo setup in this budget class. Closer to the $1k mark, maybe the
Emotiva T2+ towers. Otherwise, at the top of the budget, you still have the option of
Philharmonic BMR Towers! which are frankly end game class. Granted, some of these tower options take up the budget leaving no room for source equipment, and so may not work here. Still worth a mention.
For source equipment, I wouldn't push hard on discrete up front and instead keep it a little more accessible for connectivity so that a display could be used possibly without much trouble, so maybe something like a
Marantz NR1200 or
Cambridge AXR85 (no HDMI, but a solid multi-source receiver). Or honestly any inexpensive entry AVR or any AVR really, would be a good start, like a
Yamaha RX-385 for an entry but good AVR, or back to something like the NR1200 for pre-amp outs, HDMI, remote, etc as a do all option.
Otherwise, if someone wanted to go discrete up front, maybe a
VTV Hyperex NCore NC252MP and a
Schiit Modius. Or add in the turntable here too if wanted.
The rest I would put into claiming some dedicated space. Setting up some good distance for placement. Some basic acoustic treatment and a nice listening chair or whatever you prefer. And of course, the same idea of putting the rest into the actual high quality recordings you plan on listening to and having room to explore that with the budget.
For basic treatment, I would look at DIY baseboards from a local big hardware store as the framing and HVAC rolls of insulation to stuff in there. Wrap with fabric of choice. Staple. Go for 3~4 inches thick. Place behind speakers on the first boundary wall. Do another pair for first reflection points. Not expensive, helps manage almost any basic room starting out.
And I would start with the idea of measuring SPL, looking at response curves, understanding how to read audio graphs. We have great articles already here in AH website. A small extra resource to add to the audiophile aresenal to get the most from their setup and room, is learning to measure things and understand what their room is doing too. The
MiniDSP Umik-1 is a great start.
Very best,
