What's a good stereo system?

[TheNemesis]

I've finally decided on what I want for chirstmas, but I don't know which one. Does anyone have a suggestion on a good stereosystem? It will be for my room. Not sure if this is in the right topic, sorry if it's not.

 

[Imported]

How much are you willing to spend?

 

[TheNemesis]

Hrmm, Can a good one be had for 200-

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

<< It will be for my room. >>


Do you mean the stereo will be for a computer in your room, or will it be just a home stereo.

Oh and as IllKid asked: How much scratch can you spend?

Edit: For your computer, 200 should be enough to get something decent. For your room, I suggest you saving some more money...

 

[TheNemesis]

Home stereo, and can one be had for 200 or less?

 

[TheNemesis]

How much until I could get a good one?

 

[Cpntrips]

You are gonna need more cash than that to build a home theater setup, you can start by getting a decent receiver ( ~$500.00) and two main speakers. The speakers is where costs really vary. With your budget you can a find a pretty nice pair for about $200.00-$300.00. You can then get the rest of the speakers later as you get more money, thats what most of my friends have done who were in the same boat as you.

The 500.00 for the receiver is assuming you want all the bells and whistles (DTS, Dolby Digital) and a good brand (Yamaha, Denon) at a cheap price. Its been a few months since I really checked prices so they could be even lower now.

 

[TheNemesis]

Lol, This is for my bedroom, I'm not talking completely kick ass. I just want something w/ a few speakers and a reciever all in one package. Like sony has them and stuff, just wondering what a good one was.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Well for that much money, your better off going to Best Buy or CompUSA and checking out their bookshelf stereos.

Aiwa makes some decent little stereos. <--- That would be my recommendation.

I'm with Cpntrips on this one though. Even for your room, you'll be amazed how nice a pair of high quality speakers can sound.

 

[Argo]

You can have decent stereo for around $200-250. Just stay away from Panasonic models, I had really bad luck with those. Aiwa makes some decents ones.

 

[flood]

&quot;a few speakers and a reciever all in one package&quot;
looks like you want a home theater rather than a stereo.
If you want something that sounds good:

Cambridge Audio D500 $300
NAD C340 $350
Paradigm Monitor 3 $350

or...

Yamaha CDp $120
AMC integrated amp $150
Paradigm Atom $180

 

[TheNemesis]

thats what i meant, bookshelf models :b but do they have them w/ more than 2 speakers, and whats a specefic model for 200-250?

 

[Maverick]

Get yourself a mini shelf system that has rear and center speakers included. I recommend avoiding Aiwa though...the CD player mechanism that they use doesn't last too long. I know too many people who have an Aiwa system with a non functional CD player. My recommendation would be a Sony or if you're willing to splurge, a Yamaha. Panasonic makes some decent ones too.

 

[Imported]

I myself am saving up for a separate component system. I already have a decent CD player, a Sony single disc player, might get my family's current reciever, a Nakamichi Reciever 2, when we upgrade to a home theater setup. As for bookshelf speakers, I've been looking at the AR15s which can be had for a bit over $200.

 

[jamarno]

Avoid Sony, a brand who's reputation was made 30 years ago and was mostly destroyed in the last 10. It's not that reliable.

Aiwa and Technics are reliable and perform well, and Aiwa tends to have better than average FM tuners in their receivers. A decent receiver without Pro Logic sound costs less than $150, and the the quality of the CD player is irrelevant because quality equipment never has a built-in CD player or tape deck anyway. Matsushita (Technics, Panasonic) CD players seem to be the most reliable (and for portables, the longest play time per set of batteries).

There's not really a lot of difference in quality except in speakers, and don't be fooled by in-store performance because results are affected by volume (louder speakers are wrongly perceived to be better), floor position (corner floor gives most base, middle of wall away from corners the least), and bad bass (worse bass is perceived as better). Consumer Reports has good speaker evaluations, contrary to what some people think.

Some amplifiers aren't rated to drive 4-ohm speakers even though such speakers are actually fairly common, so you may want to check the specifications. Amplifiers are supposed to be designed to shut down when overloaded, but many aren't and are expensive to fix because the whole amp section may be contained in just two large chips.

 

[Eli]

I need one too.

I currently have a Sansui CDD-5900. I've had it for about 5 years. Both the station and CD-info LCD backlights have burned out, and just recently, the cd player broke. It won't spin CDs anymore, heh. I've just been using my computer for music..

Anyway, I want something with a multi-disc CD changer, digital tuning, with a good FM Reciever.., dual decent quality tapedeck, and some decent speakers.. with outputs for some form of surround sound..

I'm willing to spend 4-500$. I don't know much about stereo equipment, heh.

Tell me what I should look into


What are some good speakers? I listen to metal(metallica, iced earth), if that means anything when buying speakers

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

<< I'm willing to spend 4-500$ >>


Hehe, I remember when I said the same thing when I started stereo shopping. I ended up spending over $700.

Yamaha would be my recommendation for receiver brand. If you do decide to buy Yamaha, go to an authorized dealer, because they have a cheap line of receivers and a quality line. Best Buy (and the like) sells the cheap stuff.

Paradigm is my recommendation for speakers. Their Monitor series is astounding. Some of the models (even the lower end ones) can get kinda pricey, so consider yourself warned.

 

[flood]

Paradigm is dope!

Cant beat the NAD/Paradigm combo on a budget.

 

[Impact55]

I have a Sony, and the laser disc technology on them suck,it broke about a year ago after a year of use.... it doesn't read CD's anymore. This is why most people avoid them with car audio.. they suck.

 

[glen]

A buddy of mine writes for all the big stereo magazines. According to him, &quot;...many, many brands are OEM manufactured by Pioneer.&quot;

 

[Comp10]

I would have to agree with the others who have suggested just buying a few peieces of the system now, then continue to complete the system as your budget allows. The first thing you should probably get is a nice reciever, however, make sure the reciever you get has analog 5.1 inputs (this allows you to connect your computer's soundcard's front/rear speaker outputs into the reciever, allowing 4 speaker support with home theatre speakers ). You can probably find a decent Dobly Digital/DTS surround reciever for around $200, so that might be a good start. As for speakers, I would suggest Optimus Pro LX5II bookshelf speakers (can get them from radio shack, think they are RCA brand now though, but still should be the same speaker). These go on sale at Radio Shack quite often, allowing you to buy them at $75 each ($150 normaly). Then just add the rest of the speakers when you budget allows. This is the approach I have used and now have a very nice sound system for both computer games and DVDs.

 

[Eli]

Damn. I'm going to have to start researching this stuff beore I buy

 

[Argo]

This is weird, cd changer on mine panasonic broke up pretty fast. A few others in this thread state that their sony's and aiwa's had similar problem. Does this mean that all cd changers are crap, or am I missing something?

 

[Shockwave]

You want a good stereo system eh? Well, this is nearly as good as it gets, except for maybe nakamichi....but anyways! Check out Bang &amp; Olufsen's (B&amp;O). It doesnt get any better.....They are super duper way ass cool...Way better then those &quot;for the yuppie who doesnt know sound&quot; Bose...
http://www.bang-olufsen.com

 

[flood]

B&amp;O looks cool
but sounds like crap