Okay, don’t laugh…but right now my “home audio system” consists of a portable CD/MP3 player attached to speakers and a subwoofer/amp salvaged from an only computer system. It works okay; the sound isn’t great but it’s cheap. But it’s time to move on, or up, or forward, or whatever preposition is appropriate to advancing to the next stage of musical reproduction equipment.
So I’m considering putting together a real (sort of) audio system. I don’t need cassette or vinyl capability, and frankly, it seems kind of silly to go out and buy a CD player with all the hardware I’ve lying about now. So, I’m thinking about taking either the G4 or the FreeBSD box (both salvaged from work at pennies on the dollar) and using it as a data server and player, then connecting to an amp and then to speakers. The advantage, beyond using existing hardware, is being able to remotely connect and run/change the program from laptop, et cetera. Since nearly all of my audio library is already in Ogg.FLAC format and I’ve plenty of drive space, this part wouldn’t seem to be an issue.
So, two questions:
What reciever/amplifier and speakers would you recommend? I’m looking at middle-off-the-road stuff here; not high end audiophile (obviously) but at a better level than integrated shelf unit. Let’s keep it under, say, $1500 for receiver and speakers, if possible.
Any suggestions/observations/complications about this scheme?
Stranger