Is an audiophile 2ch setup possible with $2000

[gus6464]

My dad recently retired and he spends most of the day in his home office. It is a little rectangular room around 8x10, maybe even smaller. He has a pretty broad range in music taste ranging from the eagles to whitesnake and also some spanish pop and salsa. He wants a good little system where he can listen to music and I thought of a nice pair of bookshelves with a tube amp. Is a setup like this possible for $2000?

I was thinking of having a split budget of $1000 for speakers and $1000 for electronics. Really all he needs is a cd player, amp, and the speakers. Is it possible to get a small tube amp with this budget? The speakers we were thinking of checking out were the Usher S-520, Dana 630, Swan D2.1SE. Can't really think of any musical bookshelves at this price.

If a tube amp is not possible I was also looking at the Parasound Halo A23 2ch amp which is around $800.

 

[OttoMatic]

You're on the right track, and for those requirements (2-ch, bookshelves, integrated or receiver and CD player), I am confident that you can do it for <$2k.

Another avenue that's received good press is the 2-ch Outlaw RR2150 receiver. Check it out at their website.

 

[gus6464]

Are tube amps out of my budget? It has been years since I have had a 2ch setup so I have no clue on what electronics would be needed. Can you connect a cd player directly through the tube amp without the need for a preamp?

 

[jcPanny]

Onix tube amp.

Check out the Onix SP3 tube amp. AV123 used to distrubed this product until recently. You can find them used on Audiogon for <$600.
http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/srch_fs.pl

Add a good pair of bookshelf speakers, and cd player and maybe a small sub (AV123 X-sub, $200) and you should be set.

 

[j_garcia]

My bedroom setup cost $1K and it sounds pretty darn good.

I'd recommend looking at the Outlaw RR-2150 stereo receiver. That guy with any decent speakers and a CD player and you should be good to go.

 

[jostenmeat]

My dad recently retired and he spends most of the day in his home office. It is a little rectangular room around 8x10, maybe even smaller. He has a pretty broad range in music taste ranging from the eagles to whitesnake and also some spanish pop and salsa. He wants a good little system where he can listen to music and I thought of a nice pair of bookshelves with a tube amp. Is a setup like this possible for $2000?

I was thinking of having a split budget of $1000 for speakers and $1000 for electronics. Really all he needs is a cd player, amp, and the speakers. Is it possible to get a small tube amp with this budget? The speakers we were thinking of checking out were the Usher S-520, Dana 630, Swan D2.1SE. Can't really think of any musical bookshelves at this price.

If a tube amp is not possible I was also looking at the Parasound Halo A23 2ch amp which is around $800.

Hm.

1k for speakers, which you seem to have an idea about already

1k electronics for just cdp and integrated, preferably tube. (Sorry Im being redundant here helps me cuz me no smawt).

Well, here's a... damn nm sold already. Keep eyes peeled at Audiogon, but this was a good deal, NAD C542:
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?dgtlplay&1190704040

Less expensive, and less performing C541 $150:
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?dgtlplay&1190995845

Rogue Tube Amps at $800 and $900
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstube&1190941861
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstube&1189522970

I don't remember the model, but I heard a Rogue tubed hooked up to T8s, I believe going for 1k as new. Same dealer sells the refurbed C542 for $350, one yr warranty.

Some ideas anyways, best of luck to you and dad.

 

[dorokusai]

Jostenmeat - Good to see you over here

Is it possible @ 2K?! Hell yea! I've assembled vintage rigs for under $500 that sounded amamzing and left a lasting impression on folks. Audio is the most fun when you work from the ground up.

Regards,
Mark
Polk Audio CS

 

[mazersteven]

Check out the Onix SP3 tube amp. AV123 used to distrubed this product until recently. You can find them used on Audiogon for <$600.
http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/srch_fs.pl

I was going to recommend this amp myself. Good Call jcPanny.

I have no experience, but have read, and been told good things about this amp from reliable people.

 

[mazersteven]

If your going to do the amp thing, I will recommend looking for a pair of pre/owned Polk LSi9's for a 2-channel system. You can find them around $500 a pair.

 

[gus6464]

We are going to try and go to San Antonio this weekend to check out the Usher S-520. He is only here for a week and half visiting so we are going to try and listen to the most that we can on before he leaves. If anything we will buy the stuff and I'll just send it to him. The place we are going to sells rogue audio tubes so we are going to see if he likes the tube sound, if not we are just going to go with an integrated like that outlaw or something similar.

 

[j_garcia]

I found the mids unnatural on the LSis, but the tweeters they used are wonderful. Overall solid speakers, but not my taste. I owned the 7s for about a year and sold them. My brother still has 1 pair of them. I've been listening to some vintage Polks of late and I find their sound from years past to be far more enjoyable.

 

[westcott]

Well, I may be stretching your budget but you could find a good deal on some used Manley equipment. The Stingray is a nice piece of equipment and has a lot of features to make other components easier to integrate.

If this is too rich for your blood, Sound Valves makes a MOSFET 32B that will fit in at the $650 price point. Its not a tube but their sound has often been compared to tubes.

The Onix Melody SP3 is also a very affordable solution.

Antique Sound Lab MG-SI15DT is another good SET.

Audio Electronic Supply SE-1 fits the budget.

Bottlehead Paramour Monoblock Single-Ended Class A Triode Tube Amplifiers is another good choice in this price range.

Also, horn loaded speakers seem to be the better match for tube amps due to their high efficiency\sensitivity. 96dB with one watt speakers should make the tube amp you buy go that much further. A couple of Klipsch RB 61's would be my recommendation. Even a pair of RB 51's would do well in a small space such as yours. The RB 75's would be at the top of the price range.

Lots of choices and I am sure you will find one that you like and fits in your budget.

 

[mazersteven]

We are going to try and go to San Antonio this weekend to check out the Usher S-520.

You will need a subwoofer with the Ushers. With the Polk's you don't. IMO

 

[mazersteven]

I found the mids unnatural on the LSis, but the tweeters they used are wonderful.

Unnatural? IMO I find the mids to be very neutral, and uncolored. Detailed, Excellent clarity, and imaging.

 

[fmw]

I'm a former audiophile. My listening room once had a $40,000 stereo system in it. At the moment it has a $199 receiver (Teac) a pair of fairly cheap JBL floor standing speakers ($700 or so) and an old Harman Kardon CD player ($200 maybe) and a $350 turntable. Does it sound as good as the $40,000 system? No, but it sounds 90% as good. The FM radio quality is every bit as good as the $3500 tuner my old system had. The CD player sounds exactly the same and so does the receiver. When I quit audiophilia, I quit listening to equipment and started listening to music. I'll bet your father is more interested in the music than the equipment also.

Don't waste money on a tube amp. I had a really good one once from Audio Research that sounded exactly like a solid state amp. The lesser ones are more distorted and have curvilinear frequency response curves (you can do that with a tone control.) Remember, the most important part of the system is the room acoustics. Speakers are a distant second. Everything else is trivial. Truly trivial. All the great stereo systems I've heard in my life sounded great because of room acoustics, not playback equipment.

 

[Johnd]

Everything else is trivial. Truly trivial.

That's a pretty far-reaching statement, fmw.

 

[fmw]

That's a pretty far-reaching statement, fmw.

Yes, I suppose. Obviously, an amplifier from a portable radio or an IPOD woudn't suffice to drive a good sounding stereo system. I understand that boom boxes aren't going to sound as good as a decent home stereo. But for the most part it is true, if we're talking about hi fi components made for the purpose. The difference between the sound quality of the amplification in my $199 receiver and my former $5500 tube amp is trivial, as an example. The difference between my old HK CD player and a former $3500 one is zero. No difference in sound at all. The $3500 was built better but the HK is still going strong after 10 years so it is apparently built well enough. Hopefully, you get my meaning. With that addition, I'll stand by my statement.

 

[jostenmeat]

Yes, I suppose. Obviously, an amplifier from a portable radio or an IPOD woudn't suffice to drive a good sounding stereo system. I understand that boom boxes aren't going to sound as good as a decent home stereo. But for the most part it is true, if we're talking about hi fi components made for the purpose. The difference between the sound quality of the amplification in my $199 receiver and my former $5500 tube amp is trivial, as an example. The difference between my old HK CD player and a former $3500 one is zero. No difference in sound at all. The $3500 was built better but the HK is still going strong after 10 years so it is apparently built well enough. Hopefully, you get my meaning. With that addition, I'll stand by my statement.

Im always curious as to the order of importance of components. Through my countless hours of forum reading and asking persons directly, it usually comes up as this, with variations:
1. recording 2. room 3. speakers 4. source 5. preamp 6. amp 7. wires

Anyways, my limited experiences lead me to believe that there IS a difference between components, and a very audible one. My $800 cdp is so much better than my $150 universal player its not even funny. Drastic reduction of sibilance and easily improved separation of the midrange. My former $200 Onkyo has no chance in hell to drive my speakers that drop to 0.7 ohms. Trust me if I though it could, I would have saved my money. Even with my surrounds that drop to only 4ohms sound much better with a 1k amp than an entry level receiver. Better transients, less compression, more volume before clipping.

I still agree about the importance of the room however. I'd like to get a nice version of Audyssey someday in the near future to help out overhang.

I am not a big fan of the Lsi15/25 either. All due respect to mazer and Mark. I should say I never heard them on quality separates, but run through a Pioneer Elite. I thought that they were very veiled, and quite the opposite of detailed and clear. I have also once read that someone else found them to open up after a little time into the audition. I was so quickly disappointed, maybe I didn't give them enough time to "open up". I might not be a fan of that Vifa ring tweeter either. Just my opinion/experience.

 

[j_garcia]

Unnatural? IMO I find the mids to be very neutral, and uncolored. Detailed, Excellent clarity, and imaging.

I found the mids to be quite colored with these speakers to be honest; they have a sort of "nasal", for lack of a better term, sound to them that grew tiring over long listening sessions. I did not hear them on really high end gear either, though I would think they would have been happy with 180w from my monoblocks (@ 4 Ohms). The highs are clear and smooth, bass is clean, but the midrange didn't deliver the same level of enjoyment for me and that is key.

 

[gus6464]

I found the mids to be quite colored with these speakers to be honest; they have a sort of "nasal", for lack of a better term, sound to them that grew tiring over long listening sessions. I did not hear them on really high end gear either, though I would think they would have been happy with 180w from my monoblocks (@ 4 Ohms). The highs are clear and smooth, bass is clean, but the midrange didn't deliver the same level of enjoyment for me and that is key.

I also didn't like the mids on the LSi's when I heard them at Fry's. They were powered by a monster 2ch amp so I don't think they didn't have enough juice. The highs and bass were very clean but the mids just seemed muddled. I preferred the sound of the LSi7 over the 9's. The LSi9 is considered an MTM setup right?