I've been thinking about shedding some gear, to free up some funds for new things in my main rig at home. In particular, I keep thinking about reworking my office system. In my mind, I put together a pretty decent and flexible little system:
Audiosector USB DAC
Trends pre-/headphone amp
Audioengine A2 powered speakers
AKG K501 headphones
I already own the DAC and the headphones, and the other two items would cost only around $450.
But then I rejected the whole idea, because I realized that my current system is almost certainly better, and costs even less. How does it manage all of this? I use what must be the ideal "cheap and cheerful" product in my office system. The Peachtree Decco.
I get a decent DAC with USB and spdif inputs, a tubed pre-amp, a 50w/channel stereo amp, a decent headphone amp along with pre-amp-outs for a subwoofer (if I wanted one). And all of this is available used for around $500. How can you do better that that? You can stay under the $1000 mark with any number of decent monitors in the $300 range, and still have money left over for a decent powered subwoofer to give you pretty full-range sound (or, as I have chosen in my office system, a pair of decent headphones).
I keep considering selling my decco to try to find a cheaper path to similar flexibility. But I just can't think of anything that works as well.
I use my decco with an old pair of KEF Q15 monitors that I had lying around the place. I need no interconnects (other than a USB cable), and I whipped up a DIY pair of "White Lightning Moonshine" speaker cables.
Chad
