I submit this as the best system for the money, ever.
I think it serves as an indictment of the "high end" audio industry in general, which is now ruled by hucksters, charlatans and snake oil salesmen. I think true value is very hard to find anymore. It seems to be an industry ruled by pretty face plates, euphonic distortion rather than fidelity, cable charlatans, tube voodoo, snake oil salesmen and stratospheric prices.
After years of owning high end equipment including Dunlavy, Vandersteen, Meadowlark Audio, NAD, Rega, McIntosh, VTL, Creek, etc., etc. I decided to downscale. Given today's poor economic climate, I can't afford to have a $10,000+ stereo system.
So I sold everything to pay bills and purchased this system over the last few months.
And guess what? It gives me 90-95% of the sound of super high end systems (including my prior systems) for less than $300. I have it all hooked up with simple $6 per pair Philips RCA's because the older components wouldn't take my $100-$300 per pair interconnects.
The monitors sit on Auralex monitor pads that pro studios use for sound isolation.
It all sounds great, and beats the hell out of most systems I have heard.
DVD, CD and digital audio are outputted from my MacBook Pro or my iPhone.
But I am buying a Rega Planet for $100 for CD's.
In any case, I will have far less than $500 into the whole system, and I bet mine sounds better than yours, any day.
And I can use the money I save for my expenses, friends, family and beautiful girlfriend, which are far more important to me than the component of the month.
Goodbye, high end audio. You have lied to and cheated me long enough. I am leaving you for good so I can enjoy life, love and music, not components.
Picked this up from a Goodwill store after the Rowenta Professional iron I bought there for $8.75 did not work. They gave me a store credit for $8.75 towards the $10.00 price of the tuner. But then the saleslady reminded me it was 30% off day, so I paid $7.00, no tax, and got a store credit of $1.75. An excellent tuner, even has memories for FM & AM. Better than a McIntosh tuner I had. A lot cheaper, too.
Advent 201
I bought this off of eBay for $24.95, which was the minimum bid. No one else was smart enough to bid on it. The seller did the best job of packing a piece of equipment I have ever seen. Double boxed, bubble wrapped and packed in foam. The unit looked like it had never been played before and looked brand new, including the dust cover. I use it to play cassettes and books on tape I pick up from garage sales and the local library book store that cost 10 cents to one dollar a piece. An excellent and durable Wollensak transport and a sound better than any cassette deck I have ever heard, save a Nakamichi 1000.
Advent Model 300 Receiver
I also bought this off of eBay. I ended up paying a staggering $95 for it. It is in excellent condition, and the FM and pre-amp section sound wonderful. I am using it as a pre-amp and for FM when I am not using the Sansui TU-S7. It's in great shape, but if It ever breaks down, I may have it rebuilt/upgraded by one of the firms that do such work. But for now, it's perfect.
KRK Rockit 5
I had originally intended to buy a/d/s L200 or L300 speakers to be powered by the Advent, but I couldn't find a nice pair at a reasonable price. These originally retailed for $300 each. However, they were discontinued by KRK and I found a demo pair at Guitar Center for $61.99 each. They are self-powered, bi-amplified, and will play to amazing levels with amazing clarity. They will do 90-95% of what my Meadowlark Audio Kestrel Hot Rods would do, and probably play even louder than the Hot Rods. I figure if they are good enough for a significant number of recording engineers, they are good enough for me. These speakers serve as an indictment of the high end audio industry in general. Why can't other speaker manufacturers provide this much good sound for the cost? Even at their retail price, they blow away high end speakers that cost thousands of dollars more. I fell cheated by the high end speakers I bought before I bought these little gems. A great pair of monitors.
"I would rather have a radio and someone who cares about me."
Amen to that.
I have a mid-fi system with some high-end flourishes....but never in my dreams will I be able to....or would I....spend some of the money I've seen on this site. Guess it's great, if 'ya got it. At the end of the day, though, it's about the music, and whom you share it with.
Your system blows me away! I do think you paid too much for your sansui though? Have you thought of taking your system to an audiofest, i bet it would spank alot of pricier systems no problem.
I appreciate your response. Citation made excellent equipment, I lusted after it for a long time.
The first piece of equipment I ever bought for myself was my Harman/Kardon (Citation's parent company) model 430 "Twin Toroidal Power" receiver at 14 years old. It cost me every bit of money I had saved at the time. It listed for more than $300, but I negotiated the salespeople down to $174, including tax. My mother was amazed at my negotiating ability. But I told them that was all the money I had, take it or leave it.
Years later, the same salesman I bought it from offered me $175 for it, which I didn't take.
I had the receiver for 13 years until it was stolen from my home, along with my Luxman PD-264 turntable, another piece of equipment that cost me every dollar I had when I bought it at 16. That receiver was great sounding and built like a tank.
But I lusted after that Citation equipment! (And McIntosh, too!)
Your friend's system is excellent as well, especially the Dual and Epi.
The older equipment was built very well, sounded great and pleased us all for the longest time. I was happier with "less" then and life was simpler. I don't know how I got on the audio merry-go-round, but I am so glad to be off of it.
And, as you also have discovered, I get more satisfaction listening with someone I care about than I ever did listening to the "Component of the Month" at all those audio club meetings I attended.
As a vintage hi-fi user, who was also on the merry-go-round, (no not to the point of most here) I agree with you.. completely. I have a buddy who thinks I am nuts with my Citation system. He uses (and has since 1976) a Sony 6800 receiver, Dual 1219 turntable, EPI 350 speakers and the same Advent cassette deck that you have.. the 201. (I use a 201A). His system sounde very good, phono section always surprises me with how quite it is, and the EPI's are awesome. I think all of us need a reality check.. And yes, I would rather listem with my wife than any audio buddy. Norman
Yes, that's my girlfriend, the only thing smokin' around my place. Smokin' hot, that is. Far better than any audio system, no matter what the price.
I'll take women over Wadia, any day.
Which is something most of the guys in audio miss. What the hell good is a $100,000 system with no one to share it with except other audiofools? I would rather have a radio and someone who cares about me. The audio merry-go-round causes us to lose focus on the important things in life. It becomes an obsession and an end onto itself, not a means to an end.
Like I said, I'm done with it, and happier for it.
