[RawB8figure]

Wel I have decided on a 2 channel system.

Speakers
RAW acoustics HT3
http://www.rawacoustics.com/item__HT3_Speaker_kit,769.html

Integrated Amp.
Little Dot T150
http://www.musical.ca/catalog/item/4377302/4639260.htm

And Squeeze box 3

I had a couple of questions about the equipment.

The little Dot T150, would it be considered high current, is high current always necessary?

With the squeeze box 3, what upgrades should I get. Doesn't the SB3 have burr brown DAC built in?

As for cable what is recommended, I want some decent quality but have to be affordable

Thanks,

[Bob Reynolds]

The speakers you have picked are nominal 8 ohms, so supposedly a "high current" amp would not be necessary. The T150 can produce a clean 60W into 8 ohms, so depending on your room size and listening levels it may be enough.

Regarding cables, I've been very happy with Blue Jeans Cable http://www.bluejeanscable.com/index.htm?source=overture

[mca]

As the SB3 has it's own digital volume control, you could also look for a straight power amp, that would give you some more options in the $500 range.

Blue Jeans cable are a great buy for the money. Another great buy are the Art audio cables.

The stock SB3 sounds OK on it's own, certainly good enough to start with. Down the line you could always add an Elpac power supply and even have it modded by Bolder Cables. You could also do the Bolder analog mod or get a nice little DAC to use with it. A tubed Scott Nixon or Paradisea would give you a little tube flavor for not much cash. 

[RawB8figure]

Bob Reynolds- The T100 is 60x2 and I think the T150 is 100x2 @ 8ohms, where did you get the 60x2? Maybe I mis read it?

mca- Thats a good idea with the power amp, but I will be hooking up the tv and dvd player too.

I noticed when I went from a regular kenwood HT reciever to a denon high current reciever, the sound was way better from the high current.

[JLM]

The term "high current" implies large power supply to provide additional reservior when needed for peaks (especially bass peaks).  For advertising purposes amps are specified based on driving a 1,000 Hz sine wave, not dynamic signals (like music) to reactive loads (like speakers).  To my eye, this design doesn't look particularly "high current" to me, but the amount of power is surely adequate in all but the largest rooms or to ruin your hearing. 

Keep in mind that we listen to dB's (with 1 dB being very small and average listening levels for most audiophiles I know of being about 75 dB) and it takes 10 times the wattage to add 10 dB of gain.  So the difference between 60 wpc and 100 wpc or even 150 wpc is only about 3 dB.  Speaker efficiency can make more difference than amp sizes.

The speakers use well respected drivers, but I'm not a fan of mixing different order crossovers or of 3rd order crossovers in general.  And the stated efficiency is rather low, making their ability to portray lifelike dynamics suspect.  (There's no such thing as the perfect speaker.)

The digital volume control on the SB works very well, but of course it won't control any other source component.  I had a SB but had to give it up after too many technical difficulties and me being a computer dunce.  Modding the SB and adding power supplies should take you as far down the rabbit hole of audio that you'll care to go for a good long time.

Element Cable is another good/inexpensive/no nonsense cable vendor.  The king of quality for the buck for power cords though goes to Volex.

If you need a rack, here's a nice little solution for $30 plus shipping goggle "Ikea Corras".

[richidoo]

A very good speaker cable is Anti-cable. $10/foot/pr, terminated with spades. Ditto for Blue Jean's, especially ICs and antenna cables, IME. Both companies have superior customer service, can't go wrong. Sounds like a nice little system. Contact 'shep' about little dot. He is having some customized, knows them pretty well.

Rich

[Bob Reynolds]

Bob Reynolds- The T100 is 60x2 and I think the T150 is 100x2 @ 8ohms, where did you get the 60x2? Maybe I mis read it?

I quoted the power rating at 0.01 THD + N; that's why I said "clean" 60W. The distortion figures go through the roof when the amp is pushed.

Output Power (continuous output)
THD+N = 0.1%, RL = 4&Omega 145W
THD+N = 1%, RL = 4&Omega 160W
THD+N = 10%, RL = 4&Omega 200W
THD+N = 0.1%, RL = 6&Omega 105W
THD+N = 1%, RL = 6&Omega 115W
THD+N = 10%, RL = 6&Omega 150W
THD+N = 0.1%, RL = 8&Omega 80W
THD+N = 1%, RL = 8&Omega 90W
THD+N = 10%, RL = 8&Omega 115W

THD + N Total Harmonic Distortion Plus Noise Output Power = 60W, RL = 8&Omega 0.01 %
IHF-IM IHF Intermodulation Distortion 19kHz, 20kHz, 1:1 (IHF), RL = 8&Omega Output Power = 25W/Channel 0.03 %
SNR Signal-to-Noise Ratio A Weighted, RL = 4&Omega, Output Power = 200W/Channel 104.4 dB
Power Efficiency POUT = 115W/Channel, RL = 8&Omega 92 %
eNOUT Output Noise Voltage A-Weighted, input shorted
RFBC = 10k&Omega, RFBB = 1.1k&Omega, and RFBA= 1.0k&Omega
170 &muV
Dimensions?390L*320W*86H
Weight?11 Kg