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Just getting into mid-fi need advice

After looking up all the messages out there, I am a little scared to ask this question with the title "hi-fi" as I am afraid my budget might not buy me entry into one so have titled it as "mid-fi"
I have come to the following conclusions,
I need a setup for a sterio system only (no 5.1/7.1 stuff).
I need advice for speakers I was thinking of the paradigm reference studio 100 V3 speakers.
I listen to classical, rock (not heavy), indian music, acoustic guitar etc.
I am willing to spend another 1000 on the components and was thinking of buying them second hand here at the gon.

Please help with recommendations.
Also I am a little confused about the buzz on tubes, actually I was quite surprised to see so much enthusiasm about them. I am a electronics engineer and work in semiconductor devices, its been ages since I read about tubes however I was impressed about all the class a amplifiers out there using tubes and the talk on solids clipping harshly. Do you folks think that using a solid state amp in the linar regime will still not produce the sonic quality of a tube?

Please advice, if you think my rather no-knowledge questions sound stupid please accept my apologies.
naren1
auaarons
94 posts
 
Integrated amp - used Naim Nait 5i at about $950. Speakers - Triangle Celius 202 at about $1000 or Celius ES at about $1500.
s7horton
1,065 posts
 
For someone getting started, the studio 100 v3 is an excellent choice. There are better out there, but they are more picky about placement, and electronics, and won't offer the overall value that Paradigm will. Magnepans are too big for your room in my opinion. I have about the same size room and am using a stand mount speaker. Musical Fidelity is a great place to start with electronics. Especially with Paradigm. If you are really itching to try tubes, look into Anthem. They are a sister company of Paradigm and like Paradigm offer very good value.
samac's avatar
samac
419 posts
 
The Paradigm Ref 100s are a nice speaker and as stated a good value. You might want to find a nice pre owned set of 100 v2 and save aome cash.

The NAD C372 integrated would be a good choice. NAD packs a lot of performance and value in their components. If you could stretch your budget you could look into seperates by Parasound (Halo), the A23 amp and P3 pre might work well for you. Or seperates by Rotel, the RC1070 pre and RB1080 amp would also be nice for the Paradigms.

Have fun with the journey and checking out all the options available to you. Happy listening.

Cheers
mt10425
1,138 posts
 
Buying speakers used is more risky but not necessarily because of the sellers. Most of the shipping outfits (fedex, ups) seem to have some difficulty getting them from point A to point B without damage, especially if they are not being shipped in original boxes. However, there are many small audio dealers with trade-ins or demos who have the boxes and expertise to ship safely. Jeff's Sound Values shipped my Tannoys across the country without incident. Be cautious but not scared. Good luck and enjoy.
naren1 OP
2 posts
 
Folks, many thanks for your help and suggesstions. I think I will experiment with tubes. I will probably go the hybrid route as suggested by some of you.

As far as the speakers go, I was looking at B&W 802 which I found used around 3.3k here at the gon. I have not decided yet however that is one of the options. From reading reviews on this, it seems that this speaker is very sensitive to placement and requires a large area,
I am also looking up more suggestions that you are making, one thing that does beat me is that in Dallas there are quite a few audio shops however it seems a bit unjust to go there to listen to setup and then buy second hand this has been my quandy however I guess once I decide on a speaker I will have to go for this route and buy something like cables from these folks.
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