[jshnks]

   So i have a room downstairs that is just being used for a storage/guest bedroom,
and i would like to turn that into an office/study.  Right now i dont have a huge budget
but i would love to get some 'bang for your buck' equipment and speakers, and maybe
build upon that later.
 
  Unfortunately all of my collection is CD, no vinyl.. As growing up in the 90's i started
collecting CD's and it just stuck.  I listen to a good bit of female jazz vocal's, jazz,
blues, classical, metal and punkrock(mostly 80's UK oi) i was wondering if you all might
be able to help me pick out some gear that sounds best with those genre's
 
  The room itself is only 14' x 14' so it isint huge so maybe bookshelf speakers would
be the way to go, but i do also like bass, not over bearing bass, but clean bass.
 
Anyway, thanks in advance for the help!
 
Joshua

 

[goodolcheez]

14'x14' by no means is a small room.  What is your budget?

 

[jshnks]

Well, the budget is around 600-800 atm however i can add more later

 

[mark2410]

6 to 8 hundred chickens?

 

[jshnks]

Yes, Chickens, and by chickens.. i do mean USD

 

[KT66]

I'd get a used Linn Classik, and some Epos or B&W standmounters.

 

[mark2410]

Quote:

Yes, Chickens, and by chickens.. i do mean USD

ahh good, shall assume that means your in the US too.  speaker markets vairy a great deal depending on what country your in.  for vocals and stuff id have said B&W, they do nice mids and are available everywhere, Dali also do just lovely mids but no idea what the avilability is like there.

 

[mark2410]

oh and tannoy too

 

[mtkversion]

When you say you want equipment and speakers, I'm assuming you need a cd player, amp and speakers.
 
Seeing as you want bang for the buck, do a google search for ' playstation 1 + audiophile ' .. quite a few people who think the original PS is a pretty high quality cd transport.  I went to a thrift store about 3 months ago and saw two of them in the racks and they had a $5 price tag on them.  Doesn't get much cheaper. You could find one easily on eBay for ~$20 currently.  I'd go snoop out your local thrift stores and you'll probably fine one laying around if you're lucky.  
 
That leaves you $780 to spend on a speaker/amp combo ... could probably even add in a DAC if you go the PS1 as a transport route.
 
There's hundreds, if not thousands, of speakers you could go with but I'd recommend some good floor-standers.  14'x14' is a good sized room and floor-standers will fill it and provide enough bass to where you might not even want a separate subwoofer. You could find used stuff on Craigslist but if you want new, have a look at the Emotiva XRT-5.2 X-Ref Towers. Stereophile does a review here. Another option at around the same price (sub $600) are the Aperion Audio Intimus 4T Towers. Again the ' bang for the buck ' is in used offerings but these are reasonable prices for new products and they fit into your budget.  Both companies offer free shipping and 30 day auditions and Aperion even offers free return shipping.  Don't like them .. send them back!
 
As for the amp, take a look at the link in my sig and then have a look at the Behringer A500 amp. 300 claimed watts @ 4ohm would pair well with the Emotivas with plenty of headroom.  There are some quality issues that some users have noted with the amp, but there are also a lot of satisfied users so this might be a dice roll but it's still a BFTB option.
 
$20 PS1 cd transport
$580 speakers
$200 amp
 
Fits right into the top end of your budget and should offer plenty of loud clean sound for your room.
 
Good luck in your search though ... let us know how things go.

 

[jshnks]

Hrm, well i already have a PS1 so yay! I remember reading about the PS1 as a
transport, forgot completly about it. Have been cruising craigslist for some speakers
but our lil area doesnt have all too much in the way of speakers / amps.  I will be
looking into the Emotivas, however i might go a little over my budget and get the
UPA-200
USP-1
 
and maybe upgrade to the XPA-1 in the long run,
 
Needless to say.. Good bye wallet.
 
Thanks again!
Joshua

 

[mtkversion]

Quote:

Hrm, well i already have a PS1 so yay! I remember reading about the PS1 as a
transport, forgot completly about it. Have been cruising craigslist for some speakers
but our lil area doesnt have all too much in the way of speakers / amps.  I will be
looking into the Emotivas, however i might go a little over my budget and get the
UPA-200
USP-1
 
and maybe upgrade to the XPA-1 in the long run,
 
Needless to say.. Good bye wallet.
 
Thanks again!
Joshua

 
If you find you don't need floor-standers and want some bookshelf type speakers also look into the Ascend Acoustics CBM-170SE speakers.  I finally got the chance to listen to a pair about 3 weeks ago after reading/hearing about them for the past few years.  Very good sounding speakers and they play LOUD if you need them to. That's one thing I was really impressed about them ... their smaller size but ability to play loud without distortion.
 
Most impressive bookshelf sized speakers I've heard by far (at least in the sub $500 price range).