After about 18 years our Harmon Kardon receiver and CD player are both going belly up. The CD player has been lsing it for years but we didn't care all that much cuz we were using our digital units most of the time. Now the receiver is on its last legs as well.
So I wanted to ask for advice from the DA crowd. I figure at least a few of you are audiophiles as well as furniture-hounds!
Here's what we want...
Not interested in the TV surround sound set ups. Just want a stereo receiver.
Are thinking we want a built in amp as we still have vinyl to convert to digital.
Will likely get a simple single CD player, as we'll use digital, mostly. Hubby has a Creative 'Zen' player, I have a iPod Nano and we also have a computer-based back up drive of most of our media.
Our current room for music is 1269 sq ft with 16ft ceilings and a lot of glass. Our home in NM when we move in a couple of years will be smaller, but will still be very open with high ceilings as much glass.
Sound quality at low volumes is important to us.
Any thoughts? Right now we are most enamored with this one from Marantz. It's gotten some great online reviews.
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-6nKaC4lAFZh/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?I=642PM7001
You could do better.
For about the same money or less as the Marantz, I would get this guy:
The Musical Fidelity A1 (aka British Fidelity). It's a design from the late 80's, so you would look for it on the used market, (such as ebay or Audiogon), but its worth the effort and every penny, if sound quality is of any consequence. It makes music, and most mid-fi stuff, and Marantz is fine for mid-fi, just reproduce sounds that are supposed to resemble music. But the brain knows the difference, and it communicates directly with the soul. Besides outperforming many amps two and three times its cost, the A1 also has an exemplary phono preamp for LP replay, that allows you to easily switch between MM and MC cartridges at the touch of a button. Being an integrated, and a minimalist one at that, it has no tuner, but you can add a seperate if you listen to the radio. Another advantage to the MF amp is that you can use the top to toast your bread in the morning.
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