Good call, that looks like a really well featured system- especially at that price!

 

For something like this you gotta figure out: 1. How much you want to spend, 2. What you are looking for and 3. How much you want to mess with it. Sounds like you already know how much you want to spend.

For me, if I had $1500 to spend and I wanted to set up a fairly good home audio system, I would get used stuff. For that money - I personally would have a very hard time living with anything you could purchase new.

I would look toward Carver for a good amp, find any fairly good receiver with the base capabilities mentioned above and then look for speakers. If you could get a good enough receiver cheap enough (Integra, Denon, Harman Kardon, etc) you would not need the amp and could spend that money on speakers. For speakers I would scour Craigslist for a good matched set of Polk, Klipsch, Paradigm, JBL, Infinity, NHT, and many other brands. Older speakers - if cared for - can be just fine and give you worlds more bang for your buck than lots of new stuff. This will also fill most of the holes (you still need a sub) and allow you to upgrade components as you can afford.

If this sounds like way too much effort or you just don't like older stuff and are not too concerned with sound quality, just go to Best Buy and grab a brand-name matched system. It will be OK, and probably very easy to set up.

 

I use B&W 601s with a LCR60 Center Channel and a Velodyne 8" Subwoofer. All powered by a 5x110 Marantz Receiver.

http://www.bwspeakers.com/

 

Carver has been out of business for quite a while, I'd suggest going with a company that is still in business, not that that's any assurance of better service these days, just that Carver wasn't all that reliable in their day, and having to rely on 3rd party support and dwindling parts supplies probably isn't a real good long term investment.


http://www.carveraudio.com/phpBB2/vi...fb8c8118e77da7


If you're going vintage- why not step up to MacIntosh? great gear, rugged and fantastic sounding, and built to run forever.

 

B&W is great stuff...

 

B&W is the top of the british sound system. my aunt has them, the sounds feels so real.
you wont regret to get that =]

 

In my post, I stated that for $1500 for the total system, I personally would have a hard time finding anything new that I would be happy with. For example, for me personally, I would not want that Sony system @ BB posted above for really any price - even though it's probably adequate and most assuredly a steal for what it offers.

Then, I think I suggested looking for some used stuff. For a good solid power amp for cheap, it's hard to beat a Carver TFM-35 for around $200. If you know any electronics repair person who is halfway competent, this can be kept running for years for way under just about anything I can think of that will produce comparable sound. I could be way off, but this is my opinion and is also based on my limited experience.

Why not McIntosh? Because I know nothing about them and I like to not make a habit of talking about stuff I know nothing about. I would be very interested in checking out some McIntosh gear, and I do think they look pretty cool, and have heard good things about the gear.

If he hadn't suggested a budget, I would have prolly suggested B&K or Sunfire which as you know is designed by Mr. Carver... A great way to step up to balanced inputs.

If I get some time with some McIntosh gear, I will be able to make comments on it. What other choices are out there for those of us that can't swallow the tab for some Crown or Chord gear? Simple pre-amp/sound processor, and power amps. Seemed like going "fairly" vintage with older, trusted gear was the best route towards inexpensive yet high quality sound.

 

Here's another vote for Bowers and Wilkins, a.k.a. B&W.
Any of their speaker models with kevlar cones sound great.

If you like rich sound, avoid Yamaha and Sony amps: they're very "bright" sounding and not full-sounding enough, but some people like that. Go for a Denon, Onkyo, or Marantz: they're pretty full sounding and come at a reasonable price.

For subwoofers, get one that's more tight-sounding rather than going for straight power. You'll appreciate it when listening to music.

My 2 cents.