newbie 1st post 2 channel reccomendations.


hey guys:
putting together a 2 channel system for the bedroom, wife and kids took over MY downstairs theater and banished me to the bedroom. at first distraught, i was relegated to ht forum surfing and arrived here. since i had been mainly using the theater for listening to music anyway, i eagerly surfed the auidiogon waves all hours of the evening. a few days ago,the warden (my wife) gave me permission ( am i p-whipped or what) to put together a stereo system in the bedroom. i have home theater experience but have never put together 2 channel system and know nothing about tubes but will soon be enlightened
a little info:
room size: 18'x14'3" with 8' ceiling (flat)would prefer speakers on long side of room cannot be more than 2.5' from front wall lot's of room from side walls, bed in middle of room but can be rearranged.
musical preferences: classical all types, jazz, pink floyd, eagles, elton john
budget: 4k not including accessories
system: intergrated amp or seperates, cd or sacd or universal player, monitor speakers with possible later addition of sub.
mostly moderate occasionally loud listening levels

i have access to almost anything since i live relatively close to la and san diego but everything is also 1-2 hours away. therefore, all help in narrowing down options is appreciated. i have set up an audition of proac studio 100 with jolida jd502b integrated amp and jd 100 cd player next week. will possibly audition thiels on monday. also looking at taylo ref monitors and classe', plinius and possibly bryston. may later use this in new theater so may chuck budget and purchase good multi channel amp eg. BAT vk6200 or bryston or something similiar.
all input will be greatly appreciated including equipment and room setup/speaker placement suggestions. basically, tell me anything you want because the kids just got a bunch of dvd's and i'll be here all night.
i know this encompasses alot so just do your best.

aloha keith
atagi
Hi Atagi,

There's very little reason for you to listen to me, as I am a newbie too, and have next to no experience compared with these $$$ loaded hobby-meisters who hang around on the 'gon. But for what it's worth, I think a Naim Nait is just great -- PRAT and intonation are where the music is -- and you can pick a 3 up probly around 600 or so, or a 5 for 1k. I also think that you should pour as much $ as possible into the front end. That's where the music comes from, and no speakers, howver good, will make up for a signal that is missing info, or has distorted info. I have Proac Sig tablette monitors, and they are terific, but they are simply to fast and revealing for my front end (rega planet and rega 2 w/dynavector 10x50), and that's not because these aren't good products for the money. I often wish I had spent less on speakers, to get something a bit more forgiving, and spent more on a CDP -- a Naim CD3.5, or something) and T-table (a Nottingham or well-tempered).

Oh, room dynamics are utterly important and miserable to deal with. You have to be infinitely patient and lucky, or just lucky, to get a good match between your rig and your digs.

For what it's worth, as I said.

RNM
RNM, has giving you the best advice there is.

Front end front end.

Its all about source.

Do yout 2 Channel without thinking of using pieces in HT.

Take a Close look at a Naim Set up.

Had the pleasure of listing to 3 Naim Players Last Sunday.

on Rega 850.00 Speakers

Wow 3 distinct sounds and the better the source the better those speakers sounded.

Then we put a 3k speaker in and the same thing happened, better source better sound.

best CDP with 850.00 sounded better than 3K speaker with cheapest source.

combined cost was same.
Keith:

Natnic and RNM have given you good advice.

They just happen to be dead wrong.

Find speakers that you love. Your auditions of the ProAc and the Thiel speakers should be helpful as well as instructive. ProAc and Thiel both make well regarded speakers. Quandary: they sound different. That means that one of them is "wrong" or both of them are "wrong."

I repeat: find speakers that you love. Keep listening. It would be nice if the speaker you like is high efficiency. No big bucks to shell out for big amps.

This may be a heresy around here.....but: most audiophiles could not pick out a $500 front end from a $5,000 front end in a properly set up double blind situation. (We are talking digital front ends here......analogue involves another transducer!) Almost all humans, audiophiles or not, can hear differences between most speakers.....from the next room, blind, double blind or blind drunk.

Above all----have fun in the quest.