I'm considering changing some equipment and would like some food for thought.

[wkohler]

I will be graduating college the first week of May and will be heading home to Phoenix, pretty much for good. I am looking into making some changes in my system. I have been supporting two systems for the last 4 years, with more emphasis on my school system since I spend more time there. Here is the most recent iteration:

NAD 1600 Preamp
NAD 2400 Amp
NAD 5300 CD player
Bang and Olufsen TX with MMC2 cartridge
Nakamichi RX-202
ReVox PR99 MkIII
Yamaha DVD-S2500 Universal Player
KEF 104/2 speakers

I just sold the NAD 1600, 2400 and the KEFs tonight, but I get to use them until I leave. :righton:

At home, I have this:

NAD 3020 Integrated
NAD 4020a Tuner
NAD 5255 CD player
Nakamichi BX-125
Bang and Olufsen TX2 with MMC2 cartridge
KEF 104/2 speakers

I plan on selling the TX2 without the cartridge once I get home, since I'll have the like new TX at home, but I've been doing a lot of thinking and I've found everytime I start thinking, I start second guessing, so I figure now is as good a time as any to start looking into some options.

For the time being, I'll be living in my parents house, but I plan on working at being a homeowner in the near future (that means buying my own house). I have considered going the tube route - as I understand there are some that can be had in the $1000 range. I like the KEF speakers, but I was really taken in by a nice pair of Regas - I believe they were the R3 ($849 retail, I think). Instead of bombarding you with all sorts of well, I dunno statements, this is what I would like to find out:

Which products should I look into if I was looking for a nice turntable, [tube] amp/preamp, or CD player? I'm talking reasonably priced pieces. I don't need the system all at once, but I would like to make something that sounds nice over a period of time. I listen to a lot of vinyl, so that is very important to me. Much of my collection are MOFI, DCC, Mastersound, and other Japanese pressings.

Whatever help you can provide is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[dogpile]

Firstly, I would like to congratulate you on your graduation :righton:

Since you are thinking tube and you enjoy spinning vinyl, I would highly recommend a vintage Conrad Johnson PV5 tube pre amp. It has a truly awesome mm phono section and betters almost any separate phono pre in the under $1000 price range. You could probably pick one up for around $400-$500 in good used condition.

Tube amps are plentiful. I would start with the usual suspects, Conrad Johnson, Audio Research, VTL, and so on....used of course!

A used Michell Gyro SE turntable would be my choice (around $1200 w/arm). It is really musical and beat out my previous Rega P25/RB 600 arm combo hands down.

No comment on cdp since I don't have one.

Happy hunting :wave:

[sgb]

I graduated from college in 1972, whooshwagon, and I wish I had had somthing like the Internet to help guide me through my buying process. As college students go, I had a much better than average system for the time, but I had heard that McIntosh was the way to go, so, shortly after I graduated, I had purchased a complete Mc sytem -- a C28 preamp, a 2105 amp and even the "furniture the whole family can be proud of" speakers (although I have forgotten their designation). Shortly after that, I met an audiophile who remains a close friend to this day who introduced me to the underground magazines of the day (Stereophile & the then new Absolute Sound), and I began to see that there was a whole world of things to discover. Over the years I would estimate that I have spent several hundreds of thousands of dollars on audio equipment, but I still believe that every penny spent was worthwhile in the learning process.

You have the advantage of knowing already something that I had to learn: tube audio sounds more natural than SS. Even after 40-something years since the industry began manufacturing transistorized audio equipment, there is a large number of people who recognize this to be true, and the legions are growing.

Your own venture into this fascinating hobby shouldn't be mired by the opinions of others, so I would refrain from recommending some of my own favorite brands, but I will say that the Rega brand name has a very positive reputation. I might also add that there are scores of tube audio components out there that are more natural sounding than conrad-johnson and Audio Research. I think I would be starting my search elsewhere.

[Gary]

I believe KEFs need a fair amount of power in order to sound their best. A lot of tube amps tend to be on the lower side of the power spectrum.

I'd check that out if I were you....

[TONEPUB]

Might want to even consider using your 3020 as a preamp for now and finding a good tube amp that you like...

There are a lot of great CD players out there tube and SS, what's your budget?

The sky is the limit and the gap between tube and SS has narrowed considerably. There are some very warm sounding SS pieces and some very analytical tube components on either side of the equation.

The only thing I would ponder about going the tube route, is to consider how much time you will spend listening and how much time you want to spend chasing good tubes. Again, there are good options on both sides of the fence.

good luck on the new career path and hope you get to phx before it gets
too hot! Lived there for 20 years myself.

(another reason to consider the tube thing, a/c bills in summer!!)

[cowboy]

To me, "done" is a very good place to be. If you don't get what you want, what you have will never be good enough. You'll always have that yearning for greener pastures. I know that unless I hit the lottery, I will never be able to afford to spend 10 or 15 grand on an amp, or 30,000 for a turntable. So, within the constraints of my long term financial budget, I decided what I would be happy with. Not just for now, but forever. Because of my musical tastes and the fact that I'm kinda of a traditionalist, vintage tube stuff and vinyl is for me. My first pre-amp/amp back in 1976 was McIntosh and I owned them until they burned up in a fire a year and a half ago or I'd still have them. A few months before the fire I decided I wanted to get into tubes so instead of settling for something less, I figured out what it was I really wanted (within my long term budget). That was, thanks to what I'd learned on this forum, a pair of McIntosh MC 30's. Not cheap, but for me, affordable. That was what I wanted and anything else would still leave me wishing. I had to wait to find the right pair and save up a little, but the wait, to me, was worth it. And I'm not going to be forever on that upgrade path. For some, I guess constantly trading components is part of the fun, and that's fine, but not for me. So, like you asked, just food for thought, but for me it's figure out what I want, wait for it, and be done. Tom

[TONEPUB]

Can't go wrong with a pair of MC30's if you have the right speakers!

They are great!

[wkohler]

Wow. Thank you for the replies. I figure based on the replies, I'll clarify a bit. The KEFs I'm using do require a lot of power, but the 3020 does a more than adequate job of driving them cleanly.

I plan to do a lot of reasearch and auditioning before making a purchase. I've made impulse buys in the past (surround sound), and prefer not to do that again. I do have some very nice equipment and have had it for a while. I only sold what I sold last night because I don't have the ability to take it home with me.

I figure by the time I was ready to put something together, I could spend about $2000 - $2500 on something without thinking I'd gone insane. I'm sure I'd probably spend a bit more, but I am very content with very nice used items, which makes it easier to stay in my price range.