How do you determine how much to spend on speakers

S2k- didn't you just say in another thread that you regret selling your meridian 508.24? Whyever for if you can't tell the difference?

About the Sony ES cd players, I couldn't disagree more. Go buy the Cambridge, a NAD, a Phillips, Rotel, Denon, just about anything else. The Xa7ES was fine and used is a good buy, and I even have a very old 508ES that was pretty smooth, but at $500 you're talking XA20ES. I had one for a short while. Maybe it was defective, but it sounded off-pitch, like a 33 1/3 rpm lp spinning at 34 rpm. Very lively and exciting - but not accurate. I don't know how you get a cd player to do that - those guys at Sony are wizards.

Paul

paul: i said "comparable CDPs", meaning within a certain price range. as i also said, i believe that the differences among CDPs under 2k are very difficult to detect unless you have very high resultion stuff. this thread concerns a system with a total value of $5k. while not impossible, it is unlikely that a $5k system will have the resolution for the CDP to matter very much.

S2K: I know of a couple of hardcore objectivist types who claim to have heard differences among CD players in blind tests. However, they would say that the differences are subtle indeed, when they are there at all. There certainly isn't the variation in digital that there was on the analog side (leaving aside companies that intentionally voice their products, for whatever reason).

"unlikely that a $5k system will have the resolution for the cdp to matter very much" - wow, are you ever a high end marketer's dream.

I think you would get lots of disagreement over that statement. Put Harbeth speakers in the mix along with a good integrated amplifier or used pre and basic, and you could tell the difference between, e.g., a $1,000 retail Denon and a Sony (which are really very close).

With a $550 real world price NAD integrated and $2200 Harbeth Compact 7 speakers, I would pair a $2000 used meridian 508.24, and believe me, you could tell the difference, even with Radio Shack interconnects and zip cord.

In fact, Kraz, if you're still around, that's the system I'd recommend. (Actually if you email me, I'll tell you where to get better interconnects in L.A., for cheap - I wouldnt use the Radio Shack)

paul: not to belabor this point but you are not still not getting it: the benefits of spending $2k versus $500 on a cdp are INSIGNIFICANT, especially when paired with a $550 integrated amp. you'd get MUCH better bang-for-the-buck by spending that extra $1500 on better speakers or better amplification. it is ridiculously easy to tell one speaker pair from another or one amp from another. in comparison, the differences among CDPs are laughable. we should just agree to disagree because you won't convice me.

regards,

s2k