Need help building a new system.

Hello all! I have lurked here for a very long time and finally joined the fray! Actually this is one of the only forums where i see people can disagree without ending up in a keyboard brawl!!!

Anyway, have not had a real home system in years for various reasons and i sold all of my gear completely so im starting from total scratch. I want to play my vinyl and maybe cd's or usb stuff that i use in my cars and trucks.

Im not apposed to nice vintage gear at all but need help as im completely lost when it comes to even beginning to know where to start! ??? Amp and receiver? Do i still want 3 way speakers as a bunch of the stuff i see seems to be a bunch of 2 way speaks??? Turntables??? Help me please!

Money wise im not sure what i want to spend but i know i dont like to settle and i dont like to spend good money after bad. I genterally go for the best or darn close to it depending on smart costs, meaning i wouldnt go spend additional thousands to get a tenth of a point to claim i have the best. I just want smooth, clear and crisp music at medium to high volumes. Hope that makes sense and im sure it doesnt cuz i am lost. I guess to be clear i dont want to spend THOUSANDS of dollars do a few options would be good and it there is something that kicks butt but is not big money id be fine with that! Im not concerned with showing off or bragging about what i have, i want to enjoy clean clear loud rock n roll!

I have an acquaintance thats family business is The Music Shoppe and they mostly do car audio but have done lots and lots of home stuff over the years as well. He has a shop at home full of vintage stuff but i want opinions on what i should be looking for so i dont have to completely rely on him to guide me as he can be a bit...well just a bit lets say! lol!

Space wise on speakers.....smaller the better i guess as i dont have a ton of room but ill make room if i have to to get quality sound. I keep hearing about New Cerwin vega XLS 12 or 15's or double 8"- 3 way speakers. ??? Go old or go new? Tis the question on all this stuff for me. Im sure you can read that im telling the truth when i say im lost lost lost. I read reviews on line but they are tied into selling certain brands so they just dont seem trusworthy so i decided to ask you all!

Thanks for any help in advance!

 

Welcome to the SHF.

I think you should set a max budget of what you're willing to spend, it would really help people get dialed in to suggesting stuff for you to demo.

What setup did you have prior? Are you looking for tubes or solid state amplification?

Do you want a digital (DAC and/or CD player) setup or an analog (turntable) setup or both sources?

 

You need a budget. Then decide on your source(s) for music and go from there. It doesn't take much to $$ or pieces of physical gear to create a decent system, but without setting constraints for yourself, you'll remain lost.

 

I had a Pioneer tube amp and receiver in my early 20s with a decent turn table and i nice set of Altec Lansing speakers that absolutely rocked! Then as i had more money i upgraded to a full rack system that had amp, receiver, dual cassette, turn table, cd player and 3 way large cabinet speakers with 12" bass etc. I sold that to a buddy about 20 yrs ago after having it for about 8 yrs or so. Think it was Technics system ???

Anyway, thats why im a bit lost as far as budget goes, but id like to have a nice tube amp, receiver, turn table, speakers and possibly a single or multi disc player. I have a friend that has a 4 car size shop at his house FULL of older gear and he has a pair of Altec speakeres in walnut cabs that supposedly rock and he is going to look thru all his gear to see what we can put together. He owns a shop that mainly does car audio and they used to do quite a bit of home stuff that has slowed down over the last decade vs the car audio. I spoke with him today and he is going to let me bring a few different turn table, speakers and other components home to demo a few different set ups. Wasnt sure where he was at with selling some of that older gear but he is more then willing to help me out.

I think for the older components meaning the amp, receiver, turn table and speakers i budget of $1500-$2000 would work, unless i found some insane deal and had to step up a bit to get it.

I know its a broad statement when i say need help with a new system, but i think a big question i have is should i go new or vintage?

 

For your budget, vintage. I’d go with whatever your buddy has. You can probably spend a lot less than your budget. Go listen and buy it if you like it.