$1200 Budget For An Office Rig?

marker

I have won a certificate at work to spend up to $1200 on anything of my choice for my office. Right now I have the Onkyo MC-35 Tech mini receiver and 3 disc mini CD changer with a pair of Polk RT25i speakers along with a Polk PSW303 sub.

I've thought about upgrading this rig with my "blank check" so to speak that I have for some new gear. The room size is 10 x 9 x 10 tall.

I have always wanted a pair of NHT SB3 bookshelf speakers, and they can be had new in box off of Ebay for just a little over $400 counting shipping charges, which would still leave me with almost $800 for electronics. The SB3 speakers go low enough on their own (39 HZ in a sealed acoustic suspension design) that no small sub will probably even be neccesary in a room that size.

For electronics, I was thinking the NAD C320BEE integrated amp and C521BEE CD player, and if leftover budget allows, either a NAD tuner or the Polk XM tuner.

Does anyone have any alternative suggestions for any combination of speakers/subs and electronics (receiver or seperates and CD player and/or tuner) that would be better for the money, particularly bookshelf speakers?

steveinaz

Is your company hiring????

shack

Sounds like a plan to me. That little system would make a very nice "home" system. The only problem I see....if and when you leave the company I assume you will have to leave the "office rig" there since it would be company property...and that might be hard to do.

okiepolkie

Your setup looks good so far. I'll give some other options, just so you have some.

I would look at getting a set of LSi7's($700 from Crutchfield with free Atriums or a $150 gift card-to buy a cd player with) or B&W DM602 S3 (just showing as a option) and something like a C320BEE (around $400) or a Cambridge Audio Azur 640A (around $500).

There are other options as well. I'm just givng a few examples.

Have fun with the new upgrades

Zach

marker

Thanks for the comments guys.

Steve, they are ALWAYS on the lookout for potential new employees.

Shack, that is a good point, but I'm thinking that maybe in a few years (as I have no plans on going anywhere else anytime soon), if I do leave, maybe by then it will all be forgotten about and I can slip out the door with all of it with me.

OP, those are some good alternatives.

Any others care to weigh in?

PS- that would be one bitchin' office rig if I do say so myself, but Woody Jacobs probably has everybody here beat when it comes to office rigs. He has a full 5.1 surround set with RT55i mains and a Cs400i center!

F1nut

My 0.02

The SB3's are very nice speakers and are a great choice, but do require a bit of juice. Although in a office environment I'd imagine you can't really turn it up.

marker

F1, are you saying that the NAD's 50 watts per won't be enough for the SB3, and if not, what would be the minimum you'd rec in a room that size?

Zero, those are some very good suggestions. I have never heard Audio Note speakers though. Are they an internet only brand?

F1nut

Your room size is small and I'm sure you wouldn't be cranking it much, so I'm thinking you'd be all right. They do have a very good bottom end, more than most bookshelf speakers and even quite a number of towers.

I find it interesting that Audio Note doesn't list the frequency specs.

marker

Zero I would like to hear those speakers. I will try to find a local dealer that has Audio Notes to audition them, but if I can't find one, then I will go ahead and go with the NHTs. I might be missing out on some gems, but I would never buy a speaker I couldn't hear first.

The electronics you mentioned look real intersting though.

nadams

Make sure you have a nice, comfortable chair before you go blowing it all on a stereo. You're going to want to sit and listen to it so much, your butt might go numb.

marker

Will do Zero. I could not find any Audio Note dealers near me at all. It looks like the NHT SB3 will be the ones.

Nadams, you are right. Think about it guys, think about how many hours we are in our offices every week. There is the potential to spend more time in there day in and day out for 2 channel listening than you ever will at home, especially if you watch movies.

pjdami

Check out this deal for $995 including DH labs IC and speaker wire. Has won many budget awards from reviews. Epos speakers and Cambridge Audio separates.

http://www.value-audio.com/

Looks like a nice setup.

marker

That does look very interesting PJ. Not bad for a all in one shot seal for under a grand. You should also post this in the thread about putting tohgether a whole new system from scratch for under a $1000.

marker

Well, I went ahead and ordered the following:

NHT SB3 speakers
NAD C521BEE CD player
NAD C352 Integrated amp (80 watts per channel)

It all came in under budget, but I didn't have enough left over for a tuner though. However I do have an old Adcom GTP400 tuner/pre that still works I can use for now. It maybe all I ever need anyway.

Now I can also take the pair of RT25i I did have in the office rig and move it into my bedroom system for a full blown 7.1 surround set up.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. Zero, I seriously considered the integrated you suggested, but I didn't know if it would have enough power for the SB3.

F1, thanks for your input as well

Ultimately, I went with the tried and true that I already know.

Thanks again.

F1nut

Excellent! Let us know how it works out.

shack

Great choices. I bet it will be a excellent rig.

marker

Thanks once again all, especially those who had great input and ideas on this thread.

Everything I bought pretty much had to be new with reciepts and all, so that eliminated the used market.

Upon F1's advice, I thought it was more important to get a more powerful amp for now than a tuner, especially since I already had one I can use on at least a temporary basis. After all, the SB3 has bass output that will embarrass many tower speakers. I don't think a sub will even be needed for music only in that small of a room.

The sad thing about it now though is that my office rig just might possibly even be better than my home rig for 2 channel now, but that's OK since I will be there using it more often anyway.