* Macbook Pro

* Sony WH-1000XM3 Headphones

* Dual Phono CS410 turntable

Somewhat minimalistic. I want to keep it that way, but I need to add an amp and speakers for a small room. 

What do you use, what do you recommend? 

Not sure if they still make these or if you can find a used pair, but they have a really nice sound for a bookshelf speaker. You will need a sub of some sort.

https://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/107era/index.html" rel="nofollow - https://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/107era/index.html

I still have my stereo set, with the ESS Heil AMT1 speakers which I got in 1975 and have had re-coned twice already ... and had a wiring problem in one of the speakers fixed in LA. 

All in all, the "big" sound is definitely a desire, and the better the speakers and system, the better the acoustics in the room show the music, and while I won't dump on headsets, in the end, the feeling of it "hitting your body" inside the room, is more effective than the headset FOR ME.

I had to upgrade the receiver, to ensure I had a connection that could go to the computer and such, and now I can blow out all the MP3's on it on the speakers as well ... and that makes music a lot more intense and special to my ears.

Reminds me of how I chose the speakers, and I went into the store at that time with "Phaedra" and put on "Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares" and had it blown out in various speakers, and the JBL's, Pioneer's and Kenwood's did not even come close ... the quality of the liveliness that the ESS gave us was more impressive ... and it came home! 

I have NEVER regretted that purchase and both speakers cost $750, and this was 1975!!!!

I like to say, STILL, you get what you pay for, and invest into it. 

I am sure there are tons of choices in Sweden and around to get some good gear. I would look at gently used gear to help keep the cost down and you can get something better as well. 

By amp, I assume you need an integrated amp that may have a built in phono stage to handle your turntable. So brands like Rega, Project, Denon, NAD should fit the bill nicely. As far as speakers again, you should be able to find some gently used shelf speakers and get some stands for them, spend the most you can on speakers!!!

Check on eBay and sites like that as well online audio sites that cater to your region...

It all depends on the available budget, but if you want high quality it might be worthwhile to explore Magnat hybrid amps (tube pre-stage, transistor end-stage), or if you want it more versatile their music centers. Solid build, and generally an excellent price/quality ratio if we may believe the serious hifi magazines and their reviews. I have one of their older hybrid amps and I'm extremely happy with it (despite the fact that it has no digital inputs or DAC).

The brand is maybe more known for their speakers. A few years ago there were unanimously rave reviews about their Quantum Edelstein bookshelf speakers; you might find these now for a decent price. But here too, the price quality ratio seams to be generally excellent but I don't have any experience with these (I only have a modest Magnat subwoofer, next to my DIY 3-way speakers - an excellent match).

Hi,

From my experience, it has to be "relative" in terms of your expenditures. Great speakers with a poor turntable, and cheap cartridge, will not sound good at all ... in fact, it would like sound very bad, since the speakers will pick up the bad stuff more and more.

I recommend making sure that the turntable and speakers are on par. On my system, I had a Pioneer 120 turntable for 30 years (replaced belts twice!), and it had one of the very first Stanton EEE cartridges that in 1976 were very expansive, but the difference in the sound was ... impossible to chart. Likewise an expansive turntable and cheap speakers will not come off well.

But if you are going all digital, I would not have a good recommendation, although my ESS  speakers handle the MP3's really well going through the mixer, amplifier (over 500 watts worth), which helps illustrate the music quite well.

It is my "general" thought that the biggest loss in the music today is that folks do not have a reasonable end set for their music, and while the headphones might help (had a Sony for 25 years ... top of the line in 1980 I think it was!), in the end, it is the "source" that matters when it comes to the real appreciation of the listening experience. 

No MP3 that I have ever heard or even recorded myself, has sounded as good on my stereo as the CD or LP ... even though my doing Space Pirate Radio shows on high MP3, makes them quite enjoyable, even on shows going back to 1974, but then, the FM station Guy was on had an excellent signal that was not exactly using toothpicks and rubber bands for towers. From a Santa Barbara perspective, in that time, you had to have a good/great signal, or you would get blown out by KMET and KLOS in Los Angeles.

This experience, is missing to a lot of folks that got into the music in the last 20 to 30 years ... the fidelity is not as clean or as good to my ears, although some bands try hard to make sure their recordings are very clean and such!

One more note ... for the turntable ... make sure you have a good quality cartridge, as it makes a huge difference on a LP ... and it reminds me of the very early days of the German Hi Fi thing, when they had their quadraphonic albums, which my Stanton Cartridge could pick up but my roommate that had a much lesser system at the time, could not hear as much as I did, although he made up for it at the radio station with massive professional setup and then some, complete with a studio with which a lot of commercials were done and developed. Those TD and KS albums and a few others of classical music, were ... really far out ... and the music exploded in your ear in a manner that not even a movie can give you, even if it is Kubrick! And I saw it at the old Cinerama Dome, with extra large screen and sound everywhere including under your chair!

If you can make your listening experience half that quality ... you got something worth while and then some! Later, seeing Star Wars with sound under your chairs in a regular theater, just was not that good, since PF had already done the music moving from left to right. right to left, all over the center and everywhere, and in the theater (for SW) it was used for a couple of the space units running by ... towards the last portion of the film ... it wasn't even exciting. It was rather cheesy I would think!

But again, remember, that the "quality" needs to be distributed so one item does not hurt the other ... so to speak.

Just make sure and do your homework on what you are interested in. If you watch any YT videos on suggestions for "what to buy and how much to spend..." Most will suggest to point the most of your budget towards speakers. Speakers will make or break your end result and better speakers will usually make lesser gear sound better.

Today's amplification is light years better than anything from the past 30+ years, the noise levels are well below how it might affect your sound, so don't get sucked into some receiver or amp from the 70's.

I am an audiophile in the true sense of the word, meaning that I accept the scientific fact that modern digital technology is much more accurate than analog technology. Having said that, the same science also shows that analog technology doesn't necessarily sound worse just because it is technically inferior. Often it sounds better because the way it distorts the signal (harmonically, as in tube amplifiers) actually sounds good to most people.

I agree that the speakers are probably most important. Currently I'm leaning towards a very minimal amp, something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/S-M-S-L-SA300-HiFi-f%C3%B6rst%C3%A4rkare-effektf%C3%B6rst%C3%A4rkare-fj%C3%A4rrkontroll/dp/B081DJHSG4" rel="nofollow - https://www.amazon.com/S-M-S-L-SA300-HiFi-f%C3%B6rst%C3%A4rkare-effektf%C3%B6rst%C3%A4rkare-fj%C3%A4rrkontroll/dp/B081DJHSG4

Now, this is of course a dirt cheap amp. But as many have said, modern chip-based amps have become insanely good compared to 30 years ago. So my strategy could be to get such an amp - maybe not exactly this one, but something slightly better - and to put the rest of the budget (I want to spend about $1000 max) on speakers.

What say you? 

I too am an audiophile, but in the sense that I want to experience my music in the best possible way from an engagement perspective, especially with progressive music that really needs to be listened to and not just heard....I can hear prog on a AM radio.

I have a lot of digital downloads and CDs, but I have built my system around analog because that is how we hear. 

My analog end destroys my digital end easily, but by choice as I have no plans to replicate all my LP collection into CDs or hi-rez files. All of this is a choice, regardless in how we want to experience our music.

You are correct to allocate as much as you can to your speakers, with $1K you have a lot of options. I would also suggest looking on Audiogon.com 

Look for something like the Dynaudio Emit M20 box speakers reviewed here (https://www.whathifi.com/dynaudio/emit-m20/review), you will need a sub at some point, pretty much with any box speaker as the low end freq is probably 40-50Hz at best. 

Don't know what that amp outputs in power but you'll need around 50 watts to make those speakers sing...

Have fun!

Oh, yes, I guess my Magnat hybrid amp or music center recommendations were/are thus out of scope. I'm not at all familiar with chip based amps (never really explored the technology, nor listened to some of those chip based amps) so it would be dishonest of me to give some kind of opinion about those. If possible, get some test listening sessions, preferably with the speaker set of your choice, but I'm not sure if that is possible in that price range...

Remains my recommendation regarding Magnat speakers; I guess they're well available in Sweden, probably also on the second hand market. The (UK version of) whathifi.com site José referred to is a trustworthy review site that can give you some good ideas of quality of brands and sound, but in the end your own ears and brains are the best judge!

I've heard several Class D amps, albeit at a much higher price point and build quality. I've found most of them to have a clinical sound, which can mate well for a digital setup. The main positive for class D amps is they run very cool since you don't have a large power transformer, compared to the transformer in my power amp which is 1.3kVA size....it's a big phuquer 

And as always use your ears (and wallet) to get what you like.... 

Hi, 

Hmmmm ... maybe I was hoping for something more impressive and specially designed for a living room ... 

The nice thing about my system, is that I can blow out the neighbors ... reminds me of my old roommate that also had a fairly good size collection, although he was into the early metal stuff (not the later in the past 10 years) ... and one day, when I brought my speaker home from being RE-CONED, the first thing I played was the opening of PT's Deadwing album, full blast ... it took him 25 seconds and he came down and what is that? ... and he liked it ... a few years later I took him to see KC with the 3 drummers in Seattle ... coming home he goes ... "that gives a new meaning to music!"

The "great" system has its advantages, and if I was a millionaire I would buy you a system, just so you could have the EXPERIENCE. There is nothing like it ... just like these days, no one will ever experience a "Cinerama Dome" (look it up) and have an incredible idea, why things like "progressive" ended up being so special. Not the only one, of course, but a good example.

PS: Side note. Across the street from the Cinerama Dome was the famous AQUARIUS THEATER that opened with HAIR in the early days ... it has since moved to a new location. I saw both 2001, and Hair on the same night, but I admit, that after the Dome experience, HAIR was not that great, but still fun!

The EXPERIENCE is where the listening needs to be ... and it ain't loudness like so many cheap bands!

progbethyname wrote: Anybody enjoying a good quality tube amp? God I’m obsessed with buying tubes these days. Love the variety in tone and sonic presentation they have. Certainly better than any EQ imaginable. Just my opinion of course.

There are so many out there nowadays, especially since the relatively cheap Chinese products have flooded our markets... And there are so few I have listened to, so it's difficult to give an opinion on amps I don't know. Personally, I wanted an integrated amp, not even necessarily a tube amp, but those surfaced after a couple of listening sessions. These led me to focus on hybrid amps: tube pre-amp with transistor end-stage. In the end it was between an Audio Analogue one or Magnat, and I ended up with a Magnat MA-1000, relatively "neutral" and thus versatile compared to some other tube amps, but also because of an offer defying all competition.

There is a lot of documentation, hifi magazines and review sites around that could orient you somehow regarding tube amps, but - again - in the end it's your own ears that are the best judge.

Totally tubular dude!! 

I totally agree the best spent money has to be on the speakers BUT

You definitely have to listen in the room where you will be playing them, that makes a lot  different experience from the shop/showroom - the speakers sound depend immensely of the space they're in.

Ask the seller to bring them for a test, from my experience it's seldom refused (conditions may vary, of course, it's totally worth trying)

(I tried and bought used pair of Sonus Faber floorstanding  Grand Piano this way - but still miss the old bookshelf Concerto my in-law then  bought back from me, not sure if SF still makes them)

Hi,

And I did this when selecting the ESS HEIL AMT1 speakers in 1976. The other speakers in the room had no "depth" in them to compare. They all sounded great on most rock music, but when it came to classical, or (in this case TD), they lost a lot of the "touch" and "taste" of the music.

NOTE: VERY IMPORTANT IN YOUR CHOICE. You must check out different things in the speakers, since some are more attuned to rock music, than they are other stuff, and vice versa. The most versatile of the speakers will do both beautifully! You must REMEMBER that ... in my case, Tangerine Dream, pretty much "destroyed" big name speakers that were over rated crap!

I think the room specs you suggest helps, although I might think/ask if that would depend on the quality of the speakers ... like you spent 5K on them, and yeah ... I imagine that you will need the room to maximize the benefits ... but in my case, in this apartment, and in a house basement, my speakers have sounded really good and clean, specially after I had them re-coned (2nd time - there is a speaker guy in Portland that does it for many bands) ... and he even suggested to never let go of these speakers because they were excellent all around.

To my ear, the good/great speaker will always sound really fine on most rooms ... it's as if they have the ability to adjust to the room's qualities, and this is something that I have not EVER seen on smaller systems, as the one that Mike is suggesting to spend money on ... I know I went over my head when I bought those speakers (within a year had to get turntable, cartridge and receiver!!!) ... but I have never once felt disappointed with the quality on the system. Even the high level mp3's sound excellent through them, and way better than they do on my headset ... which is a cheapie, btw ... and I hope to remedy that!

Hi,

I think that is true, however, this would disprove the theory as to why everyone wants to go to concerts. 

In my experience, and the "big" sound was a factor, just like the explosion of images in the late 60's in movies and music that helped bring about "progressive music" ... and the way that the "big sound" came alive was if it was "heard" by your whole body ... not just your ears. And I wonder how much modern listeners are not "getting" when they don't have this or have experienced it. you didn't go to see The Grateful Dead to just "hear" with your ears ... you went to let yourself, and body trip along and enjoy the feeling of it all ... and I wonder how much of that we have lost ... I don't think that "digital" can replace that feeling at all. Not to mention that The Grateful Dead had the greatest and best audio setup of any band EVER. Too many go for the loudness with it, and forget the rest. The GD had both, and could make your skin squeal several times in one night!

It's just a thought ... and in my experience it feels like the "music" only connects with ears, and not anything about the rest of the person ... we used to go to see Nektar, Hawkwind, Neil Young, Steely Dan, Jackson Browne, Tangerine Dream, Man ... just so we could experience the whole body thing ... the music mattered and you flowed with it and danced with it ... and it wasn't just a ear thing at all ... sorry to sound somewhat "old-fashioned" but this is something about the appreciation for music as something much higher and better than just a song for one's ears ... OKOKOK ... let me take my pill again ... but you know what? It feels like the first time you got stoned, or had a psychedelic ... you got to FEEL IT ... not just listen to it. And in the last 35 years I have not needed any of those substances whatsoever.