My first real hi-end audio system Please advise


Hi, this is my first post and I've just started to really get into the wonderful world of Hi-Fi audio. I'm a student at U of IL and live in a small apartment.

My father is upgrading his system and to my pleasant surprise decided to give me ALL of his audio equipments!!! I'm ridiculously excited since his equipments, although mostly 10 years old, are awesome. They include McIntosh (MC7300, C40, MCD7008, and MR7083) and a pair of 2 year old Revel M20 speakers.

The question I had was, would these gorgeous speakers sound as good in my apartment room? (about 10ft x 14ft)

I'm also thinking about selling all of the system but the speakers, and buying a Sunfire Ultimate Receiver, 3 more speakers and a subwoofer for a 5.1 system. Now, I don't have much $$$ as I'm a student, and I can't quite ask my parents for more audio equipments... I was wondering if 3 Aperion (aperionaudio.com) bookshelf speakers and a Sunfire True superjunior subwoofer would complement the Revel M20s well.

I know the sunfire receiver and the subwoofer aren't cheap for my standards, but I've done some research, and I think they'll last me a long long time and be a great entry system to the real hi-end audio world for me. As for the Aperion speakers, which I intend on using for center and surround speakers, they are only $180 each and have been receiving awesome reviews.

Has anyone tried these Aperion bookshelf speakers, sunfire ultimate receiver and the little subwoofer? Would you recommend any other system combinations for this price range? Oh, I almost forgot, can anyone also recommend a good DVD player for around $1000 or should I just connect my Apple G5 computer to the receiver? Would the computer's audio quality be a lot worse than a $1000 DVD/CD player?

Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm just excited and giddy that I'll be able to treat my ears to some really good sound while I'm at school!

Thank you in advance
seongoh9f94
Your dad is doing a good deed. Do you think he gave the stuff to you so you could just resell it? I think if he would have known, he would have traded it in for his upgrade. Why don't you ask your dad what he thinks of your plans?

Listen to almost everyone who chimed in. Keep the equipment, and maybe add a subwoofer.
I agree with Audiofankj. Get a used NAD receiver and a Pioneer Elite DV-09 or maybe even an NAD L-70 combo, 5 small Paradigm or NHT speakers and a small sub for movies, if you must.
Small speakers are ideal for a small room. Speaker size should be a relative match to room size although there is no formula or anything like that.

I would not give you yesterdays newspaper for anything Sunfire has ever made, but I would give you all the newspapers from this whole month for the MacIntosh stuff. It is worth keeping!

You have a good foundation to build on now. Don't go backwards, since if you can hear at all, you will be disappointed soon enough.
Seriously, listen to these guys. DO NOT SELL THAST GEAR TO ANYONE EXCEPT ME FOR 20 BUCKS!

Really though, you got some real good stuff there, no sunfire reciever will match it.

Another reccommendation, is MAJOR IN SOMETHING USEFUL!
Better yet, get a PHD and a fat high-paying job and make some serious bank so you can keep up in this hobby.

I am doing pretty good myself, but im seriously behind everyone else in quality of gear.

Then again, now the woman is gone i get to spend more on it.

Keep the equipment, Keep it real, get a great job, and enjoy this hobby, and BE GRATEFUL you got some nice gear given to you, this hobby gets REAL expencive.

Happy listening buddy! nice to see another younger (under 60) person enjoying this hobby. >:)

Just kiddin everyone, i know that some of you are 50 years young. Not all of you are tacking the nails in the coffin lids.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Im gonna get smacked. hahaha

-Sllllaaappy
your kidding me, right? the gear you listed as what you are thinking about getting dont even scratch the ass of the mcintosh rig your father has gave you.

dont be fooled into believing that new is better beacuse in this case it isnt,if this is your first step into hi end then you should really be thinking about this deal .

your mcintosh gear is worth right around 4500.00$ on the used market & you will get that price fairly easy,do some more research on sunfire & see what all the sunfire gear you listed will be worth this time next year & how long it sits before it sells.

what your talking about doing here is trading in a 10 yr old corvette for a new fiat.

mike.