Nothing to do with Klipsch

[cwcole]

These are 22 year old speakers, that were pretty much my reference for buying new speakers. They belong to my mother. I have repaired the high-mid speaker, so they are in mint condition now. For a birthday gift for her, I want to give her a nice stereo setup. I want to keep it under $5,000. I need an amp, pre-amp, cd player and LP. Any suggestions? The speakers have a very soft yet full sound. Frankly I have not found a pair that come close to their life-like sound.

Oh, does anyone knows what happened to Omega? The speakers are Omega Centurion Model VI.

[Klewless]

Consider the NAD L40?

This receiver has a built-in CD (don't remember if it supports phono), sounds quite nice, and retails for around $700 (I think). NAD has a decent reputation and FWIW Stereophile liked it.

Good luck on your search.

------------------

John P

St Paul, MN

[JohnA]

How about RB-5s or RF-3s for speakers, about $800 a pair.

I really like the looks and specs of the NAD L40. No place to hear one around here.

If that's not to your liking, look at Parasound and Acurus for moderately priced seperates. Jolida makes some neat tube integrated amps for not too much. The sky's the limit for tube $$$.

John

[cwcole]

I have a pair of the RF-3s. This is for my mother. Thanks, I will look into Parasound and NAD.

[Colin]

Moderately priced systems

What you purchase for a stereo music system depends entirely on what on you have for equipment now, if any, and what problem, if any; you are trying to solve.

Having said that, you can get wonderfully sounding speakers at the $500 price point, for speakers in that competitive price range really are the biggest bang you can get for your audio dollar. You can also get thoroughly mediocre front-end equipment for $500, for chintzy, feature laden receivers are the biggest black hole in the audio world.

Klipsch has top of the line reference speakers for $800 list price per pair. They are a practical size, very sharp looking in cherry, super efficient at 96dB @ 1 watt/1 meter, wide frequency range at 48Hz-20kHz and accurate within the audible range (±3dB). Be sure to mount speakers this size at the same level as the listening ear, preferably on very solid but separate speaker stands. Place them 1 to 4 feet away from the side and front walls, if you can.

Such super efficient horn speakers would be best mated with tube amps, like the Jolida integrated or the Antique Sound Lab integrated amps, especially if you are putting together a system for a little miss sensitive ears woman. Check out the recent review of the Antique Sound Lab MG-SI15DT Single Ended Integrated Tube Amplifier for that wonderful combination of tubes and horns. Go to:

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_8_1/antique-sound-lab-15dt-tube-amp-1-2001.html

If not the sensitive tubes and horns combination, if I were starting out again, I would seriously look at the cheap imports from Canada, like PSB and Mission speakers, who have some very good recommendations from some well thought of people in the listen and write world. PSB seems to have the warm mid-range that people value so highly. Their small speakers have a rated high efficiency of 92 dB/w/m, which should make them easier to drive for moderately priced amplifiers. Go to

http://www.psbspeakers.com/s/Index.html

Mission speakers have good reviews for the moderate end. Look for them at:

http://www.mission.co.uk/

Of course, B&W are good sounding and quite sharp looking with tweeter bullets and colored speaker cones. Check them out at:

http://www2.bwspeakers.com/

For the front end of a music only system, I would consider integrated amps. Ones without any frills, that have enjoyed good solid reviews for a long time. Names like NAD and Rotel.

NAD is known for their no frills approach, like the plain black boxes of Klipsch, so they give a lot of quality sound for the money.

http://nadelectronics.com/open.html

Rotel is a British outfit. The British are known for their polite and delicate sound, in their receivers, amps and CD players.

http://www.rotel.com/index.html

I have used them both and can recommend them as good solid values for the money. These brands are little thinner in the flanks perhaps than fat ole' American models; a little more scratch for less features perhaps, more like Hondas and Nissans than Chevies and Buicks. Reliable services with out a lot of unnecessary bells and whistles.

For an exotic type of sound, with elegantly slim looks, try the $500 Magnepan flat panel speakers that Stereophile recommends. These are $500 list and are sold mail order by the company in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. These I would match with receivers that push a huge amount of wattage, Denon perhaps from the retail stores, or Outlaw audio, from their Internet site.

[Audio Flynn]

Please consider putting 15 % of your budget in connections. It is alot of bang for the buck.

Audioquest is a safe bet. $150 for speaker cables and no less than $ 50.00 per interconnect is something to consider.

If Mom is into vinyl rather than CD consider the Music Hall MM5( I think) and a good record cleaner. You can get the 2 items for about $800 from audioadvisor.com with a 30 day return policy. Audio Advisor has a great reputation and service.

Hard to buy speakers over the net though.

Ladies usually do not like huge black speakers. I recommend the RB5s. Add a small sub just to round out the bass extension below 50 hz.

Is the system to do stereo only or Home theater?

That will have a bearing on other recommendations.