If you haven't heard the story of "One Red Paperclip," please look it up. It explains my journey perfectly.
I started with some Polk Monitor 7's that I bought at goodwill for $5. I sold those for $100, and put $30 of it toward some bose cubes that I found on Craigslist (sonic downgrade, financial upgrade.) I sold those for $100, which I put toward some used NHT 2.5's that I picked up used for $170. As of July 2007 I have traded the NHT's for the Thiel CS 2 2's. Which brings me to my first taste of high-end audio.
Right now I'm getting a really musical, visceral, powerful sound. I listen to a wide range of music, so it's important to have a system with versatility with an emphasis on accurate vocals.
I've lucked into some great pieces but I know I have a lot to improve on, so help me out!
These are by far the best speakers I have ever owned, and they are very nearly the best speakers I have ever heard. They throw images like nobody's business, and are extremely well crafted. They are engineered to be listened to with the grills on.
McIntosh MC-2100
I lucked into this one on Craigslist. I'm still new to high-quality audio components, and to be honest I didn't believe that amps made that large of a difference until I hooked this into my system.
Technics SL-1200 mkII
before this I had a Linn Basik. The pacing is just so much more accurate on a good direct drive, and the Technics SL-1200 mkII is a very good direct drive.
Dynavector DV-10X5
This is an amazing cartridge for the money. It has this impeccable ability to throw any surface noise to the background and bring it's musical presentation to the front.
Arcam DV88 Plus
This is the first DVD player I've owned that I can use a stand-alone CD player as well as a DVD player. It gives the music weight without adding that hard digital edge.
Onkyo DTR 6.4
Home theater receiver when watching DVDs and playing video games, preamp when listening to 2-channel sources (CD, Vinyl, Digital.)
Microsoft Xbox
I modified an original Xbox to act as a streaming media server.
Velodyne CT-120
It does a good job of laying the foundation for my music. Deep and rich.
TruthCable Premium
These are absolutely the best cables you can get for less than $1,000. True and open sound, amazing build quality.
N H T VT-1C
I'm still using this as the center channel even though I've traded the NHT fronts for the Thiels. It does the job for now, but I'm taking recommendations for a better match.
Trichord Dino
I needed a little more flexibility in gain as I was considering a low-output MC cartridge. I ended up with a high-output MC cartridge, and this phono stage can handle it beautifully.
Room Setup
This is how the room looks right now. It definitely needs some treatments, but there are enough soft things (upholstered couch and chairs, bookshelves, etc) to keep the sound tame.
Valab NOS DAC
This DAC is non-oversampling. I'm not a techie, so I'm not really firm on what that means, but I know this component upgraded my home theater PC into an audiophile grade device.
Haha, i hear you on the rich sound. I actually EQ more into them!! Linearity is often overrated, and generally doesn't sound right to an individual's unique ears.
I'm a big iPod fan as well. I keep a CD player around though for critical listening because i have a mini so i have to comrpess the files. Even then the only knoticeable difference is a slight loss in Immaging and i think dynamics suffer ever so slightly, but even that can be minimized as long as you rip and compress the song from a CD and not the 'net. For casual background listening, i aggree that the difference is unknoticeable. I think that many audiophiles have never heard an iPod on a respectible system and then they probably have a lot of songs that have been compressed and extracted so many times the music is allmost unrecogniseable. Either that or they heard it 10 years ago when ALL formats were complete crap (my dad was that way until i forced him to listen to my iPod with a respectable set of headphones... he now has a nano he uses on every business trip, and i've even caught him listening to music on his computer at home). Oh, and as a sidenote im also a BIG NHT fan, truely great stuff for not alot of money, even if you buy new.
