What's Best Value Forum - Christmas Thread

[IanG-UK]

As it is the season of goodwill, if one could spend not £50,000 or £100,000 but just £5,000 or $7,000 on a complete system, what would it be?

Rules:
1. single source only;
2. no more than five boxes eg two speakers, one amplifier, a dac and transport or a laptop and digital box; (turntable, arm and cartridge count as one item)
3. cable and stands can be added but within the overall budget;
4. no special offers, no second hand, no DIY;
5. conventional router can be included for free.

I’ll start by nominating:

Devialet Classic Phantom (pair) £3,580
Devialet Dialog £299
Devialet White Tree stands (pair) £698
Apple iPad 10.2” 128GB (as source and controller) £409

Total £4,986

 

[Bodhi]

I've been impressed with the Audia Flight FLS-3 integrated & FL CD-3 cdp from my brief auditions which offer great bang for the buck. For a good value pair of speakers, I would look to Audio Solutions Figaro B stand mounts + some good value stands such as Taoc, or any number of others. That should come in not far over your budget.

 

[Folsom]

Funny you bring this up, as I posted this in another thread and I think still stands, but I modified it for this thread. It's not the only stereo I could think of, but given all the restrictions this is a pretty good landing.

Pi Audio 6 Pi Speakers: ($3500~ shipped I think)
These will have thrilling dynamics and good non-horn sounding vocals. They'll be alive, and squash little speakers. The only condition is they must be corners. But that's the good news, floor standing AND out of the way. They easily reach into the 30hz.
I would do this config:
Wood: Their choice
Finish: Their choice
Compression driver: B&C DE250
Woofer: B&C 12PLB100 (unless the Pi guy says it lowers efficiency, I would keep it 100db+)
Inductors: 15 gauge
Capacitors: Standard
Resistors: Mills
(A review from someone who made their own at the bottom of the post)

Speaker wire Belden 9497: ($100? Maybe way less) There's no reason to terminate this wire, it's simple, easy, and they can order extra to trim to fit. It's out of the way. It sounds great, too.

Interconnects Belden 8402: ($60)Sound great, very inexpensive.

Decware Zen Triode (integrated: $1645) configured with stepped attenuator.


Digital:

Soekris DAC1321: serious performance for only $470, a true R2R DAC.

Teddy 5/3A: power supply for Soekris. Very low noise. $370

Whatever $100-300~ disc player is available or use Intel Nuc or Rasberry Pi

Total is under $7k, hundreds left over for whatever, maybe a rack.

Analog:

This is tough, budget is TIGHT without being able to get a quality used turntable... massive mistake IMO. $1099

Pro-ject Classic Turntable: $1099, AC driven from regeneration, very nice actually to find in cheap turntable.

Moon 110LP: Probably the first thing to upgrade in the future besides adding a power conditioner, and swapping to another cart.

Maybe an extra RCA cable pair if needed ($60)

Total: Pretty well right at $7k, not over