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System for a dorm - how is this?

Well I am back in school, Law School now, and I am looking to get a system set up for my dorm room. The room is about 12ft x 17 ft rectangle. I listen to almost everything from jazz to metal, but usually it is more along the lines of Dylan, Cash, Wilco, Death Cab, Thursday, indie type stuff I guess.
I am looking to spend in the $1200-$1500 range unless the extra $500 would really upgrade the system.
One problem though is that I would like CD and a turntable, so it may hurt with the budget, but lets see what we can do.
Right now these are the things I have been looking into.

-Cambridge Audio Azure 540 or 640 Integrated Amp
-CD - A NAD (which one?) or Rotel 1072 or Cambridge Audio Azure
-Turntable - Simiko Pro-Ject 1.2 or the one below
-Speakers - EPOS - ELS3
AND as a possible alternative or addition: a headphone and and the Grado 80 (something like that)

So what do you think? What would be good speaker cable and interconnect cable to start looking into? Will these pieces gel together well? Thanks for the help for a newbie.
jmurray16
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sfar
1,352 posts
 
One of the best bets for inexpensive speaker cable is Canare StarQuad 4s11 or 4s8, available from markertek.com, especially if you want to bi-wire a speaker like the Soliloquy's.
Click here and then click the links on the left

Markertek's pro audio cables with RCA ends make very good inexpensive interconnects at $26 a pair. Click here Order two, one red and one black.

At the next level up you could also consider DH-Labs least expensive speaker cable, the T-14, and their BL-1 interconnects.

Yes, the Soliloquys were a nice speaker at $1,100, at the closeout price of $495 they're an outrageous bargain. They'd be the basis for a system that might last you awhile.
themadmilkman
182 posts
 
$1500 is a good budget given that you're in law school... hopefully you'll actually have some time to listen to it!

Anyway, here's my suggestions--

Get an NAD C320BEE integrated amplifier. Virtually impossible to beat for the price. Yeah, you'll need to add a phono preamp, but the unit is rock solid. I would also suggest a C521i or C521BEE CD player (I own the former). The two together can be found online at good discounted prices from authorized dealers (dmc-electronics.com, yawaonline.com)

While the Sumiko Pro-Ject is an excellent turntable (I own one) for the price, try and find a deal on a (used) Rega P2. The RB-250 tonearm is simply excellent. That alone makes it worth your time to hunt down a deal.

EPOS speakers are an excellent choice. I heard them at CES and loved them.

For interconnects, go cheap. Really cheap. I would say Bluejeanscable for your interconnects, and signalcable for your speaker cables. Excellent products for the price.
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philjolet
2,262 posts
 
Why not the NAD amp that includes the CD player? Then get the JM Reynaud Twin speakers. You could save money on ICs and put it into the speaker wire.

I think it is a waste at this price range to buy seperate components and then have to buy ICs which would be inferior to having the CD player hard wired to the amp like the NAD.

BTW the Reynauds are terrific speakers but seem to be unknown on Agon

all the best

Phil
jmurray16 OP
9 posts
 
Guys...thank you so much. I am going to look into all the suggestions thus far and then check back. Any other things to look into?
themadmilkman
182 posts
 
Why not the NAD combo? Because everything I've read seems to point to the unit being trash. Not nearly as good as the separate units.

There's a lot more to building a unit than simply cutting down on the number of interconnects. Generally I love NAD's gear. I own it and use it. But that's one unit that I'd simply pass up on.
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