[FredT300B]

I set out to assemble the least expensive system that an experienced audiophile's trained ears wouldn't find objectionable. This system might not make Stereophile's Class A list, but it sounds good. In fact, it sounds much better than the equipment most of the people I know are now listening to (audiophiles excluded). Here it is:

Pioneer SPBS22 Speakers - $77/pair from Fry's
Lepai LP-2020 Tripath Amplifier - $24.99 from Amazon
Pyle PIDOCK1 iPod Dock - $19.79 from Amazon
50 ft 18 ga speaker cable - $10 from anywhere

Total price: $132 

OK, so I cheated on the source by getting an iPod dock instead of a player that spins 4" silver polycarbonate disks, but almost nobody I know under 30 is still spinning them. If you must have one, I recommend replacing the iPod dock with any brand name mass market DVD player, which will cost you about $40, raising the total system price to just over $150.

[Wayner]

Hard to argue with the speaker choice.

Wayner

[FredT300B]

[FredT300B]

Hard to argue with the speaker choice.

Wayner

It's the Pioneer speakers that make this system possible. Every under-$100 speaker pair I've heard has sounded objectionably bad. I attribute the success of these speakers to the designer's use of a sophisticated six element crossover instead of the usual full range woofer plus a cap in the tweeter signal path. But you would be surprised by the sound quality of the Lepai amp and Pyle iPod dock combination too.

[Travis]

Needs vinyl.  It's what the under 30 crowd is spinning.

[jimdgoulding]

Hey, Travis.  Travis is my home boy, tho he may not have wanted you to know that, and he is a singer.  You can trust his experience and ears.  Plus, the boy has good taste in music.  Soes FredT300B, btw, and is one of the founders of our local audio society. 

[FredT300B]

Needs vinyl.  It's what the under 30 crowd is spinning.


2012 statistics:
4.6 million albums were sold in vinyl format
118 million albums were sold as digital downloads
1.34 billion tracks were sold as digital downloads

Source: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130104005149/en/Nielsen-Company-Billboard%E2%80%99s-2012-Music-Industry-Report

[srb]

2012 statistics:
4.6 million albums were sold in vinyl format

My guess would be that less than 10% of those were purchased by people under 30.

Steve

[drtool]

My guess would be that less than 10% of those were purchased by people under 30.

Steve

I don't think so. Every time I am in a record store, the under 30 makes up about 80- 90% of who I see buying records. I go to Heights Vinyl,Cactus, and the vinyl shops at Trader Village, Sound Exchange.

[jimdgoulding]

That's probably about right.  Somebody has to lose.  Instead of sarcasm, let me just say that in my experience, analog delivers more of a vivid texture, 3D imaging and wholeness, and palpable dimensionality.  In a word, things are just more convincingly real and alive to me than what I hear via digital.  I suppose I might not feel this as strongly if I had more recent digital playback, but my go to phono cartridge is 25 years old.

[FredT300B]

That's probably about right.  Somebody has to lose.  Instead of sarcasm, let me just say that in my experience, analog delivers more of a vivid texture, 3D imaging and wholeness, and palpable dimensionality.  In a word, things are just more convincingly real and alive to me than what I hear via digital.  I suppose I might not feel this as strongly if I had more recent digital playback, but my go to phono cartridge is 25 years old.

Jim, my VPI Classic does everything you mentioned above, but my question to you is this: If you had only $132 to spend on a system, and your expectations had not been influenced by the really excellent equipment you now own, would you buy the $132 system or continue to listen on the ear buds that came with your iPod or the cheap plastic speakers that came with your computer? Don't answer now! Come to the September Houston Audio Society meeting at my house, audition the $132 system, and report your conclusion in this thread after the meeting. This invitation is extended to anybody else who's able to attend the meeting. 

[jimdgoulding]

Jim, my VPI Classic does everything you mentioned above, but my question to you is this: If you had only $132 to spend on a system, and your expectations had not been influenced by the really excellent equipment you now own, would you buy the $132 system or continue to listen on the ear buds that came with your iPod or the cheap plastic speakers that came with your computer? Don't answer now! Come to the September Houston Audio Society meeting at my house, audition the $132 system, and report your conclusion in this thread after the meeting. This invitation is extended to anybody else who's able to attend the meeting. 

Hi, Fred.  I feel I can already answer that but I won't.  I'll do as you say.

[Andre2]

I will try my best to attend this upcoming meeting.

[Elizabeth]

My friends setup:
Marantz 2070 receiver $30 used at a local second hand store
Some good big old JB Lansing speakers $40 the pair. we used duct tape to repair the surrounds. Works great
NAD CD player $8
Dual TT she had bought second hand years before. A used Ortofon Om30 cart $70(from me)

[MLS]

My budget is a bit spendier.  But it as follows:

I have my $77 Pioneers SP-BS22-LR's sitting on some stands I picked up for $25. I am using 1980's something Nikko integrated amp that I picked up for $20.  Also a Toshiba DVD player as a source that I got for about 15 minutes of caulking.  Cables are Kimber 4TC speaker cables I picked up for $30 and Monoprice interconnect cable that was probably @ $3.

So for just shy of $160 I have a very cheap and cheerful system that sounds very nice.  The SP-BS22-LR's image very well, throw a nice soundstage and are very well balanced only missing the lower octave that you would not expect a 4" diver to touch.  As I said earlier I am really enjoying them and I am very pleased with my purchase.

MLS

[genjamon]

My lounge/tv room uses these speakers, an old TRawson gainclone that is probably only worth $30-50, and an old Acurus preamp.  Random spare cheap cabling I have in a big box.  Sounds great to me!  The best part is I sit so close to the rear wall that I get plenty of deeper bass reinforcement.  Anymore bass production than this would overload my small room given my seating position!

[Letitroll98]

We have a thread with this general topic, Under $1k systems, http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=111225.0 which includes at least one contender for this thread.  But this is such a below that level in price thread that I think it deserves it's own niche and I won't be combining the two.  Great job FredT, excellent work putting together a pretty darn good system for the price.  In addition to the comment about the Pioneer speakers making it palatable, I would add the chip amp's contribution as well.  Cables?   

[FredT300B]

  Cables?

The iPod dock includes a 1/8" stereo to LR RCA.  For speaker cables I used some WalMart 18 ga cable I already had on hand.

[Folsom]

Does the amp have enough power? Those are not very sensitive speakers.

[FredT300B]

Does the amp have enough power? Those are not very sensitive speakers.

It depends on the definition of "enough". 

I believe I read the amp will output about six to eight clear watts into an eight ohm load, which is enough to drive the speakers to a room filling level in a small room, but not loud enough to satisfy a discerning listener. The target demographic for this system is anybody who now listens to their favorite music through the cheap plastic speakers that came with their computer. This includes almost everybody I know who isn't an audiophile. It will play louder, deeper and clearer than their present equipment.