Lance:
I know just how you feel in that regard. I say this because unlike us men, women (at least most of the time anyway) are not audiophiles. However, there are exceptions. During the course of my 24+ years of being an audiophile, I have met some women who are in fact audiophiles. When it comes to the knowledge of audiophile type of equipment and the appreciation of music, these women can go toe-to-toe with me as far as audiophilia is concerned. But for the most part, women are not audiophiles (and that includes my girlfriend). So with that said then, it is often more difficult for me to put together a system for a woman than it is for me to do the same for a man. Because with women, looks also become a factor. And it is said that in audiophile circles, looks, sound quality and performance do not go hand-in-hand. You either are going to have looks at the expense of sound quality, or you are going to have sound quality, but the components themselves are not going to win any beauty contests when it comes to looks and style. You just can't have your cake and eat it too. Not when it comes to audiophilia anyway. I didn't make the rules or anything. But that's the way it is in the world of audiophilia.
But however, a couple of years ago, I have put together and ACTUALLY bought a system for my girlfriend (which was in some ways, more difficult than putting together my own system (which has taken me years to put together..... if that makes any sense at all)), and this was what I bought her:
Paradigm Speakers
NAD Receiver
Sony CD Player/Changer (from Best Buy)
And if I could recall correctly, I paid about $800.00 for this system, and the last time I could recall, this system is still serving her well today. Now, I am going to put your girlfriend in the same context as mine here for a moment. If she were to ask me to buy a system for her today, here's what I would buy for her:
PSB Alpha B Speaker System -- $250.00
NAD C-730 Stereo Receiver -- $450.00
NAD C-521 Compact Disc Player -- $300.00
That would come out to exactly $1,000.00 if everything is bought at retail (which by the way, the name of the game is to buy the rig BELOW retail). So, what you do then is if it is at all possible, try to buy the rig at one store if that is at all possible. That way, if you buy the all of the components at the same store as a system, then more than likely, the store is going to give you a discount on the whole package, and thus, you can get a $1,000.00 system for around........ say....... $800.00 to $850.00 or so. And with that money left over, then you can tie this system together with a pair of Interconnects and a pair of Speaker Cables from your neighborhood Radio Shack. A pair of their TOL Interconnects should run you about $10.00 ($20.00... tops), and a pair of their matching Speaker Cables shouldn't run no more than about $30.00 or so.
And this system should keep her happy for a while. At least until the next time, she wants you to put together a home theater system for her to use with her 27" to 32" Television.
Good luck with putting together your girlfriend's audio system. Whatever combination you come up with, I'm sure she'll be happy just the same.
Good Luck........
--Charles--
