Music only system for <$1200? (1 Viewer)

[StevenK]

Well, some friends of mine would like suggestions on a system for music and pretty much music only. The one little kink is their living room is an "L" shape and they would like to get a total of 4 speakers...one for each end of the "L". They are not audiophiles by any means, but they do want something that sounds AND looks nice...meaning perhaps a glossy piano black or maple finish. No plain black veneer.

Would you guys help me build a "stereo-only" system that can support 4 speakers some of the time (when they have parties). And they would not like the extra set-up of seperates, and I definitely don't want them bugging me too much about it.

So far, I've been thinking about suggesting norh's, low end B&W, or previous generation NHTs. Receiver-wise, I was going to steer them towards a Marantz or H/K. I haven't decided which "cheap" transport would be good for them, though I'm leaning towards a Marantz or Denon. The trick though is getting 4 quality speakers, plus a decent receiver, plus a DVD player(no DVD-audio needed...they might watch 1 movie a month...and they mostly watch classics) for UNDER $1200.

P.S. They are looking for bookshelfs...cause that's where the speakers are gonna go.

P.P.S. They listen to lots of Dean Martin and Sinatra....

 

[Khoa Tran]

I think seperates will amplify and give the music a much better sound...just my opinion it's just so much better ya know...depending on the type of sound you like....can't really say anything from this point but going with a receiver, i'd probably get a h/k due to it's musical performances...

 

[StevenK]

Yeah...I have seperates too...but they were over at my house and didn't like the look of it at all. Heck, they even wanted to go with the Onkyo that had the DVD built into the receiver. More components & more cabling = bad according to them.

 

[craig_d_can]

Another brand to look at would be Cambridge Audio. Depending on budget, they have 2 models of integrated amps, as well as a couple of power amps. They are very reasonably priced, and are quite impressive. For speakers, I would be looking at B&W, PSB, Paradigm, Athena, Axiom, and a few others that I'm sure have slipped my mind.

 

[John Garcia]

If the speakers are going on shelves, then you may be best off with the NHTs (current generation are better), since they are do not have issue with port placement.

Sub or no sub? If no sub, then the speakers will want a bit of bass response.

H/K 320 or Marantz 5300 should do the trick for power, and leave room in the budget for 4 good speakers and a transport.

 

[Khoa Tran]

psb images? 2b? front ported...

 

[Modena]

Older Carver tube amp. No digital. No special bullshit features. Just pure, an-adulteraded warmful stereo bliss.

 

[Modena]

And I can't spell either.

 

[Khoa Tran]

I dont know about carver, i've heard their old amps and i just don't like the sound it's just not as clean as i would like it to be.