Opinions Needed

Mikey081057

Hopefully this will spark some interest:

I could see someday really wanting a High End 2 Channel System. Bluefox showed me some Dan D'Agostino stuff before which triggered off some sort of primordial desire.

So just imagine, because it is fun....and don't say you wouldn't spend it on..... Just let us know your thoughts on what you would put together with a nice fat stack of cash.

So you have the room, and a $250,000 budget to put in to a kick **** system. How would you allocate the funds?

Would you do like $100k on speaks, $100k on amps and pre, and like $50K on TT, DAC, CD, cables and "incidentals"?

Pictures are cool too!!

Speedskater

The first $50,000 or so should go into building a good listening room.
Next thing is the loudspeakers.
Compared to the above two items, everything else should be easy and inexpensive.

ZLTFUL

$80k on speakers (TAD Labs Reference One)


$4k-6k on amps (John's custom made Carver Statement Monoblocks)
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$13k on pre (Audio Research Reference 5SE)


~$15k on turntable (Clearaudio Innovation Wood)


$5k on DAC (Audio Research DAC-8)


$3k (IT'S ON SALE!!!) on transport (PS Audio Perfectwave Transport)


I would probably go with Shunyata PCs and then engage Doug or Pepster to build my ICs and speaker cables.

txcoastal1

The first thing I would do before dropping that kind of coin is go to a couple big audio shows like Rocky Mountain Audio Fest.

Sprags

I found out the owner of Morrow Audio has his shop just south of me in Kentucky. He advertised that he was selling Legacy SE speakers on Audiogon and asked if he'd mind letting me listen to them. He told me he was a reseller and did not actually have the speakers but that he'd be happy to let me check out his products on his home system. The speakers in his system are Lansche 7's and powered Legacy subwoofers. Driving the Lanshe's are Confident SE 300B monoblocks amps and Confident PP amps and a Confident preamp. He had a BMC CD player and DAC along with a Bergman turntable that had air bearings on the platter and tone arm. I forgot the name of the $5000 cartridge he was using and the name of the $50,000 phono preamp. That system was incredible to say the least. The Lansche speakers listed for $108,000. I was so overwhelmed with how nice everything sounded that I forgot some of the prices he quoted. I believe his system was at least $200,000 and probably closer to that $250,000 price point.

The cables his company manufactures and sells are comparatively speak affordable compared to others I've seen on Audiogon. He gave me a 1 meter pair of interconnects and I have them between my CD player and preamp. To be honest I found it hard to believe that high priced cables could make a system sound better but after hooking them up I became convinced that his product is worth it. A complete set of cables for my system, including interconnects for CD, tuner and phono and speaker cables would cost around $500. A little pricy but not obscene and worth the clarity and openness it brings to the system. I'm not an employee or marketing guy...but do hear how his cables are worth it. His web site is morrowaudio.com. You can see photos of the system I heard. Absolutely phenomenol.

With all that said though ...even if I was a big Powerball winner I don't think I'd spend more that $30,000 to $50,000.

TroyD

Eh, with that kind of dough, assembling a rig isn't much of a challenge.

The FUN, I think, is trying to assemble a rig for $1K.

Give it a whirl...

BDT