Suggest a New 2.1 System for $500?

[Wubslin]

Hello everyone,

My current setup is falling apart and I'm looking to buy a new stereo for music only in a ~250 sqft space. My old rig is a Kenwood KR-V7030 powering 2 Advent Baby Grand bookshelf speakers with turntable and streaming sources. For about $500, could anyone suggest a receiver + 2 passive bookshelves + sub that would be a suitable replacement for my current setup? Advice much appreciated!

-Wubslin

 

[queequeg99]

A bit of a tight budget. Here are some considerations.

Pioneer Andrew Jones bookshelf speakers for $130 a pair.

Bic America F12 sub, which is pretty highly regarded as a budget sub ($200)

That leaves just $170 for receiver, which can be tough, especially if a phono input is needed (you can buy a separate preamp, but that adds to the overall budget). I just googled “budget receiver with phono input” and found the Onkyo TX-8020 ($150 at Amazon). Super bares bones and only 2 channels. But if you’re listening to music only, that might work. And it has a phono input. Since you're using an ancient receiver now, I assume you have separate streaming devices now (e.g. Chromecast Audio or some other device) and that you don't need streaming capabilities built in to the receiver.

You could free up some money for the receiver if you skipped the sub and went with Pioneer Andrew Jones tower speakers ($260 for a pair). But if you specified a bookshelf/sub configuration for interior design purposes, towers might be a problem.

You could also increase your receiver budget if you went with something like the Dayton Sub-1200 ($145) instead of the Bic.

 

[queequeg99]

Another thing to consider is whether you really need to replace everything with a complete 2.1 system right now. You don't say what is going wrong with your system now. It is still working and you just want something that's newer and potentially better sounding, or is something broken (and if the latter, what)? For example, if the receiver is still functional, you might want to consider just getting two nicer bookshelf speakers. If that size of speaker works for you now (it is a smaller space after all) you might start down this path and get a sub down the road if you find the bass lacking and a receiver later. The Pioneer Andrew Jones bookshelfs are pretty nice, especially for the money. But if you upped the budget for the bookshelf to the $300 range, you can get something that sounds very nice and features larger woofers than the Pioneers, which may make the need for a subwoofer go away. Something like the Elac B6s and the Wharfedale 220s (but there is a lot in this price range). The point is that unless you really want to replace everything all at once, you might be better off doing it in a couple of steps if that enables you to increase your total budget.