Max Holubitxky wrote:


A good vintage tube receiver/integrate with a cheap cd player and cheap,
efficient speakers will readily outperform any solid state system within
your budget!

A good tube amplifier can sound excellent, but I couldn't disagree more
about the cheap speakers part. Not to mention that a vintage receiver is
unlikely to be working 100% properly, and the original poster is trying to
replace worn out equipment - why replace worn out equipment with more worn
out equipment? Good speakers are the key to good sound! Personally I think
that the amp should be bought to suit the speakers, and not the other way
around.










No question about it. After making a decision re. speakers, then, and only
then, should new decisions about receivers, amplifiers, etc. be made. Given
the wide variance in sensitivities, resistance, and for those who believe in
individual preference, tonal characteristics of various speakers, it would be
somewhat foolhardy to reverse this order of selection.

Also given a fixed budget, I would suggest that the majority, %age-wise, be
spent on speakers, not on electronics. Speaker quality will have a lot more to
do with the ultimate sound of your system than the "bells and whistles" or
power rating of your amplifier, for example, in most cases.

As for the used equipment issue, while I agree that there are risks involved in
terms of durability, a lot of people (myself included) have been able to get
more quality for a given amount of dollars by purchasing used equipment. As
always, caveat emptor, but the risks can be mnimized by, for example, buying
from a reputable dealer who may have trade-ins, demos, etc. that he is willing
to guarantee. Also venues such as eBay and/or Audiogon, to name a few, can
often be sources for some very good deals, provided the prospective purchaser
does a prudent investigation of what he(she) is buying.



Bruce J. Richman