[Scornfulheal]

Hello all,
 
I received an old NAD 2200 power amplifier and an old NAD 1155 preamplifier from my father. I believe they were purchased in the 80s. He also had custom loudspeakers made at the same time that I received as well. However, after storage the drivers were shot, and the tweeters had been previously blown. I took the loudspeakers into a local shop in Austin, TX to be repaired. The guy talked me into an upgrade, but I cannot recall the drivers and tweeters he put in. I will hopefully be able to find this out soon when I get in touch with him. I was only charged around $100-200 for the work, so probably nothing too crazy. But that doesnt account for the value of the housings.
 
I love music immensely, and want a high quality system. However, I am a college student and on a budget. It's not realistic for me to buy a reference system, since I literally cannot afford it. However, I would like to get to a comfortable balance of performance for value at the close to reference level.
 
I am looking for a way, or ways, to add to or complete my system and experience.
 
My main setup is usually Galaxy Note 2 > 3.5mm to RCA cable > NAD 1155 > Monster (brand) cable > NAD 2200 > custom cables > Loudspeakers.
 
The 3.5mm to RCA is some shoddy cable that could most likely need replacing. The custom cables are some cables my Dad just bought me for Christmas. They run 10ft each, and I believe they are copper.
 
I love the idea of grabbing a turntable, especially since the NAD 1155 has a phono stage (although I'm not sure of it's quality/sound). However, I have no vinyl collection yet. This makes me look towards DACs. However, my main source is my Note 2, which apparently has a decent DAC in it and may not be worth $100-300 for a standalone unit.
 
Another thing to note though, is that I have a pair of Yamaha EPH-100s. I'm not sure if they enjoy amplification or not coming from a Note 2, but that could make a quality DAC/amp worthwhile. Adding to that, I have a laptop that would benefit greatly from the DAC/amp whenever I were to use it for traveling or at work.
 
Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly received!
 
Sincerely,
Scornfulheal

 

[Jasper9395]

What is your budget? Do you have any specs for the speakers? I would seriously consider getting rid of the NAD pre/power amps I had a 2400 power amp and a 2100 pre once, they were really quite bad. They had loads of power but thats about all they had going for them.

 

[Scornfulheal]

I would be looking at about $1000-1500 total for everything that I would put into this round. That's out of pocket, so not including money if I were to say sell any current equipment.
 
How hard would it be to get rid of the NAD 2200 and 1155? I would definitely be okay with purchasing some newer gear - there seems to be so many engineers out there providing great quality products at reasonable prices.
 
I really do not have any specs on the speakers currently. I am at work, so I cant even give measurements or anything.