[Whitestix]

Gents,
My friend asked me to put together an audio system for her to replace her very old system.    She wants an integrated amp that will take an input from her TT.  God knows the condition of her cartridge and stylus!  There are boatloads of integrated amps with BT-streaming capabilities, which, when she comes to her senses, with get a Spotify/Tidal subscription and forget about her 40-year old collection of ragged vinyl.  Maybe not.  The amp needs to be BT-compatible... no extra components. 

Hopefully, the system will be simple:  an integrated amp and a pair of passive speakers.  The budget is about $1K but I could twist her arm a bit to get to $1.5K.  Recommendations for either the integrated amp and speakers would be very much appreciated, relying on the wealth of knowledge that you fellas have.  I will say that she has a pretty large LV room, sort of an "open room" arrangement, and will need speakers to sufficiently pressurize her large room.

Thanks for any and all input.     

[WGH]

Has your friend listened to your system and likes it loud enough to pressurize your room? My female friends never tell me to turn it up.

[Tyson]

https://www.psaudio.com/products/sprout100-integrated-amplifier/

and

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649716591-elac-uni-fi-uf5/

[sunnydaze]

All the desired amp features and big speakers for a large room and good sound -- all for $1500 -- is very hard to achieve.  Here's one possible combo to get her started:

NAD D 3020 V2:  this integrated may be a bit warmer and fuller than the Sprout, but probably not as nimble and detailed.

https://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=NAD3020V2

https://www.whathifi.com/us/nad/d-3020-v2/review

For speakers, a pair of Zu Dirty Weekends at $1000 is a super safe bet in terms of excellent sound and value.  They far outclass any $500 integrated loaded with BT and phono, so they can be the foundation to upgrade around in the future.  The DW will only improve as better is put in front of them.

https://www.zuaudio.com/loudspeakers/omen-dirty-weekend-ii

Whether the Zu can pressurize her large room to her satisfaction.........   
Hard to say without knowing the room and her tastes.

[Letitroll98]

Umm, there are a few recommendations in the "Sub $1,000 recommended systems" thread, just sayin.
https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=111225.0

[charmerci]

All the desired amp features and big speakers for a large room and good sound -- all for $1500 -- is very hard to achieve.  Here's one possible combo to get her started:

NAD D 3020 V2:  this integrated may be a bit warmer and fuller than the Sprout, but probably not as nimble and detailed.

https://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=NAD3020V2

https://www.whathifi.com/us/nad/d-3020-v2/review

Oh my. I had the first version. I tried to power some small inefficient speakers with this and it's definitely underpowered and won't handle anything under an easy 8 ohm load at volume for a while without shutting down. It's only 30 watts a channel.

[sunnydaze]

Oh my. I had the first version. I tried to power some small inefficient speakers with this and it's definitely underpowered and won't handle anything under an easy 8 ohm load at volume for a while without shutting down. It's only 30 watts a channel.

That's why you pair it with the easy to drive Zu Dirty Weekend.   

Here's a guy who teams the DW with an entry level NAD of similar power and it seems to work pretty well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPTHI2TR8yI

I would have suggested that amp as a possibility, but the OP needs bluetooth and streaming.

Like I said....with such tight budget restrictions, once you add in a decent pair of large-ish floorstanders, there are very few integrated options out there that give the OP all the features he wants.  And what is available is gonna be low entry level.  If there are good options, I'm not aware of them.

There's gonna be a compromise somewhere.   Do you compromise both pieces, or the amp, or the speakers?  I would get better speakers upfront, and upgrade amp / source down the road.  It's the easier approach and the Dirty Weekends will hang with significant upgrades in upstream gear.

[I.Greyhound Fan]

PS Audio Sprout 100 robust power supply doubling power at 4 ohms.

Yamaha AS-701  Highpower 100wpc at 8 ohms, good dynamic headroom, defeatable tone controls

Whoops, forgot that the amp needs to be BT compatible, scratch the Yammy.  Consider the Yammy 2ch receiver R-N803


NAD gear as mentioned by others

Speakers-

 Elac Debut 6.2 or the Reference 6.2's,  Unifi- The Elac's benefit from higher power amps

Wharfedale Evo 4.2's  My son owns the 4.4's and they sound fabulous.  It is a larger bookshelf.  The Evo's have great bass, smooth treble and will fill a medium to large room.  Reviews are very good.

B&W 607's, 606's

KEF Q350

[pinkfloyd4ever]

My votes are:

speakers: Tekton Lore Reference (Or any of the Lore series really, depending on which way she leans on budget) or
Zu Omen DW ($1k, so only an opinion if you can get her to do $1500 total including the amp)

Amps: Denon PMA-600ne
Iota VX SA3, or
Emotiva TA-100, though looks to be out of stock right now (requires a $50 add on module for Bluetooth compatibility)

[Letitroll98]

My female friends never tell me to turn it up.

This got me thinking back and all the wild girlfriends I had always wanted the music turned up, and all the girls you'd "take home to meet mother" wanted the music turned down.

Now I don't want to quash the thread because it's a recommendation question for a civilian and it's interesting as hell, just please be mindful that $1,000 speakers, for example, probably don't fit the op's budget or our guidelines.  Great recommendations so far, I've been googling most of them and it's amazing what's available nowadays, I thought I was up on new developments but you guys have thrown some interesting new stuff out there.

[Doublej]

I would lose the Bluetooth and go for a streaming Yamaha two channel receiver or your favorite networked AVR (both will have Bluetooth anyway). This should allow you to stream directly from the receiver. From ~$300.

Mated with a set of entry level floor standing speakers from Emotiva, Elac, Polk, JBL, KEF, Tekton, Q Acoustics, Paradigm, PSB Audio or possibly Sony and she should be rocking for under $1K.

If you have patience and are willing to buy used you can find some great deals on used floor standing speakers.