Okay so I have a set of Logitech Z-5500 5.1 speakers and I am not happy with the sound of my music from these. Even with a nice sound card my music sounds muddy and uncontrolled.

What I want is the absolute BEST sounding setup for under $500, from any combination of Speakers, Amplifiers, Receivers, CD Players, Subwoofers, even Headphones. I want to use this purely for music and nothing else.

This is all your opinion so list the BEST combination you can think of for under $500, and if you don't think there is a big enough difference between a $500 and a $300 setup, I wouldn't mind saving some extra cash

http://whathifi.com/Review/Tannoy-Mercury-F1-Custom/

Excellent.Just heard the other day. Add a subwoofer when you have some more cash.

Looks pretty good, what would you recommend to power them?

Any other suggestions?

If you only have $500 to spend buying anything but a thrift-store Pioneer amp / receiver for $10 is a waste of money IMHO.
You need to spend as much of that where it counts, speakers, as possible.

Assuming properly functioning equipment - you won't hear the difference between that $10 amp and a $490 amp. You will hear nearly every dollar you spend (wisely) on speakers, though.

So what your saying is buy two $250 speakers and the cheapest receiver I can find? or that I just shouldn't buy anything at all unless I have $1000 to spend?

Within reason, yes.

I suppose someone should point out that at US $500 you're in the good-value-for-money neighbourhood for speakers, but you could be pretty close to the top end of headphones. Between US $100 and $200 there are lots of choices that make people happy, but then you would have to compromise on speakers. It really depends on how you like to listen.

I overall prefer speakers, at least during the day when I can turn them up. I already have a pair of Audio-Technica AD700, and some Sennheiser HD565s are on the way.

I prefer speakers because of their bass. So what speakers can you guys recommend for under $250 each?

It should be noted that unless Logitech did something stupid, your subwoofer should be reusable (although you obviously won't be using it as your amp anymore).

This is actually almost exactly what I was looking at around Christmas time, except I bought a 7.1 A/V receiver that I can incorporate into a home theater at some point.

I bought Behringer 2030P studio monitors from here based on the recommendations of a guy in this thread, although I still haven't decided if I want to tackle his moding recommendations, not being able to hear them before I start and all.
I also reused a sub from my old, crappy 5.1 PC speaker setup. It will be the first thing I replace, but it's better than nothing.

I spent about $350 total.

How do those monitors sound for you?

Also, would it be so bad to use the logitech subwoofer as the amp? I'm sure its a little better than the vintage pioneer 12W rms receiver I have is

At a $500 USD price point, I'd look for used equipment in good condition. Search craigslist.org in your area for a pair of Paradigm Mini Monitors or Atom bookshelf speakers. Power them with any 75 - 100w per channel stereo receiver that's in reasonable condition. I agree with the above comments that you should spend your money on speakers. A rummage sale receiver and decent speakers will give you the best sound for the budget. Whatever you buy, make sure you can listen to it first, with source material representative of normal use. Further, be aware that it's going to sound different when you get it home.

Look on Ebay or somewhere like Audio Asylum for something like a 1970's Marantz, Sansui, or Kenwood integrated amp. Maybe a 1060. Then get the Hawthorne Audio Silver Iris 15" coax speakers for about $300 per pair. Includes assembled crossover. Brand new with warranty. You just put them on an open baffle (OB). This would be seriously good sound for that money. You would be surprised how good. IMHO.

http://hawthorneaudio.com/drivers.htm#SI

They sound great to me. I know from the Frequency response graph they apparently roll off a bit in the very highs, but I don't think it's anything in my hearing range. Maybe my cat is annoyed.

That said, I'm sure you can get better speakers in your price range.




I would think you could find a more powerful amp than that with little problem. A little thriftiness can go a long way.

I think Z-2300 is better for music =P

The issue is that an amplifier can provide essentially transparent performance (within it's ability to drive a specific load and power limitations) while a speaker is the massive point of signal distortion. You can find a 20 year old good quality receiver sometimes for $10-$20 in local thrift and/or pawn shops.

Some speakers need amplifiers with substantial abilities but this is not a very common problem in the specific range of 2 way bookshelf products being discussed in this thread.

-Chris

Sorry to hijack this thread but am I right that this applies to multichannels amps too? For example if you compare say a modern $300 receiver and a $1000 receiver at resonable output levels (suitable for a medium sized living room) would you usually notice the difference? I'm just wondering because I keep reading a lot of people saying the MSI Live DIVA mobo (which has a built in amp) is like their $1000 receiver. My feeling is this is either because they're deluding themselves (I haven't seen any double blind tests) or because they should never have spent so much money on a receiver. I mentioned this in another thread but never got any replies http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=69923

It is likely that a $1000 receiver will have a higher maximum power output than a $300 receiver, but I seriously doubt there is any audible difference when neither has been driven to clipping. Remember, ABX tests usually demonstrate all decently engineered amps sound the same. There's nothing magical about the amp sections in multichannel receivers that would go against these results. I've been told by a person who makes hi-fi equipment they just take an existing stereo amp and add more channels using a clone of the stereo circuit.

As for the MSI motherboard, the audio chipset is the ALC888, which seems to do well on an RMAA test according to bit-tech.net. There is sometimes the issue of hum/noise from the other stuff in the PC case, but in my experience this is inaudible when music/sound is playing.

I can only assume the "digital" amp (I assume they mean Class D from the 97% efficiency rating) they use is engineered well. You'd have to confirm using measurements. It probably sounds just as good as a $300 amp, $1000 amp, or even a $10000 amp.