I have stumbled into a starter 2 channel audio system, trying to figure out suggestions for interconnects, speaker cables, a tuner, and potentially a record player. I cannot pretend to have done a great job matching things as I don't know much. However, I loved the Arcam CD player -- it truly opened my eyes to what good gear can do. I loved the tone of the Classe and had heard great things about the phono stage. Of the spakers I auditioned, it came down to the Joseph's vs. Dynaudio 1.8's (I also listened to B&W's, Sonus Faber, Thiel's, KEF's, and Audio Physics -- the Audio Physics were great, but I got scared by speaker placement issues). I just really found the Joseph's to be very quick, very neutral, and the fact that the salesman and I spent two hours going through my cd collection, just enjoying the listening told me what I needed to know (when we put on Voodoo Child, the entire store came into the listening room). In addition to feedback on the system (be kind please!), I would love ideas for these items in roughly the following price ranges (used: interconnet: $150 - 250 speaker cables: $250 -350 Tuner: $150 - 250 Record player: $300 - 600 Thank you for your ideas.
If you want cheap interconnects try Homegrown Audio Super Silver 2 you can get a 1 meter kit for 60.00. I have compared it to Audioquest Lapis which retailed for 500.00 a meter and I like it better.
Buy good quality, well made interconnects and cable but don't waste your money on the very expensive. It just makes you poorer and someone else richer. There's alot of hype on the quality of sound of cables, which is pretty close to nil. Even if there is a difference between 1000 dollar cables and 20 dollar ones, which is better can easily be subjective, also it will be subtle at best. Please read: http://sound.westhost.com/cables.htm before you waste money uselessly. Been in this hobby since the early 70's and have had the opportunity to try lots of high end cable and interconnects, differences are diddly. Spend your money on better speakers and you can hear a difference. Try different cables yourself if you can borrow them and use some el cheapo ones to compare to. Be Honest with yourself when you audition one then the other. Do not expect to hear any differences. Also you can have friend put them in for you and you can guess which ones they are, keep doing this back and forth and you will see what I mean. Good Luck and welcome to this insane hobby.
Check out MIT... I have found upgrading from Straightwire interconnects to MIT mi 330 Plus II that the soundstage opened up and the vocals came alive. Much more musical sound and an overall superior build quality. I bought mine used.. but audioadvisor.com is selling the newer models MI 330 series II interconnects for 149.90 for 1 m pair and 169.00 for 2 m pair. These take a little time to break in but well worth the money and at half price. Check them out...
Thanks for the tip -- I will definitely check them out. Other suggestions I have gotten include Harmonic Technology's (Pro-Silway interconnect and Pro-11 speaker cables) and the Cardas Neutral Reference. Any thoughts on these?
A great choice for the starting system. The best cabling advice you will get once you will call to VanDenHul US distriutor. Believe it or not, I had tried interconnect and speaker cables of a different brands, made ones by myself but what I've come up with gave me unbelievable results. First of all, VanDenHul cables have one of the best designed conductors that are company-inspected for a least number of impurities. Once you will start comparing them to Analysis, Transperent or even AudioQuest cables you will realize that they worth every penny that you pay or even more. Secondly, VanDenHul sales department have a very knowledgeble rep that will match pricewise and performance-wise for your rig since they have a huge veriety of cable products to offer.
