Budget system around the Venere

[antipop]

I gave my brother the disease for a nice sound system. He doesn't have a big budget (I've spent more in cables than for his total system) but it should give him enough room to get something nice.

I was quick to recommend him the Venere 2.0 as they would represent half of the budget. The dealer at the 2.5 and 3.0 in demo.

We listened to the 2.5 with the Primaluna Prologue and then the Gato Audio DIA 250. I was quite impressed by the sound those speakers were able to make. At that price point, they offer a very clear and detailed sound. My brother was immediately under the charm of the speakers and his mind was made.

I found the Primaluna to be quite musical with a good reproduction of the sound. However my brother found it lacking a bit of power on some fast paced songs like EST. That was not a problem for the Gato and its 250W. This was a great all-in-one amp which my brother favoured but I found lacking the musicality and emotions of the Primaluna. Had it been me I would have picked the Primaluna and put some KT88.

While we were discussing numbers with the dealer, he mentioned that he had a used MC252 on sale. It has been there for only a day and we could get it if we acted fast. It was already too late to listened to it but it made us think.

In the end, he bought the Venere 2.5 and he's thinking of splurging on the MC252 if he can found a Preamp/DAC at a reasonable price since he's already over budget. I'm going to recommend him the Schiit Mjolnir (using the preamp out) and Gungnir as a nice starting base.

For cables, he will use my old DIY speaker cables which are quite good and the rest will be Wireworld (don't know which range yet).

What do you think of this starter systems and what would you change ?

[Masterlu]

IMHO, Bryston Mini T's easily outperform Venere; just sayin.

[antipop]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

IMHO, Bryston Mini T's easily outperform Venere; just sayin.

Bryston are not that easy to find here, almost impossible and they would have very little resale value. He wanted to audition speakers to find the sound he liked.

I remember listening to Rich's model T and I was quite impress by the speakers.

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by antipop

Bryston are not that easy to find here, almost impossible and they would have very little resale value. He wanted to audition speakers to find the sound he liked.

I remember listening to Rich's model T and I was quite impress by the speakers.

Easy bring him to my place!

[bart]

Georges, PM sent.

[Venere]

I have Venere 3.0 with Hegel H80 integrated which has built in DAC. For the money its a pretty wonderful system and if you don't have analog source you can run CDs and Blu ray via coax into the Hegel so saves money ( and increases transparency) by eliminating interconnects completely. Plenty of Hegel dealers that would probably ship you one with a 10 to 30 day return policy. Might be worth an audition. I think they are a great fit. Fast and detailed and close to neutral but still very musical.

[antipop]

Interesting recommendation.

I just talked to him and he's lost in the choice of amplifier and system.

[Venere]

Poor guy. Welcome to our world. Too many choices and too many opinions. Its fun but it can also be stressful. Hopefully i am done with equipment for a while and can rediscover my music collection. I just discovered Diana Krall (I know, quite late to the party....) and am binge buying and listening to all her interesting CDs. My God, the talent in that family !!

[Bavarian05]

Originally Posted by Venere

Poor guy. Welcome to our world. Too many choices and too many opinions. Its fun but it can also be stressful. Hopefully i am done with equipment for a while and can rediscover my music collection. I just discovered Diana Krall (I know, quite late to the party....) and am binge buying and listening to all her interesting CDs. My God, the talent in that family !!

+1

I am a big Diana Krall fan and have seen her three times. She's headed here in Minneapolis at the Orpheum in July I think to promote her new "Wallflower" album.
Both her and Patricia Barber are very talented ladies. If you have not already, grab a CD or even better the 45 RPM vinyl version of "Live in Paris". Wonderful material and a very cool version of Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You".

[antipop]

Originally Posted by Venere

Poor guy. Welcome to our world. Too many choices and too many opinions. Its fun but it can also be stressful. Hopefully i am done with equipment for a while and can rediscover my music collection. I just discovered Diana Krall (I know, quite late to the party....) and am binge buying and listening to all her interesting CDs. My God, the talent in that family !!

Since he's in the discovery phase and it's his first "investment", I'm trying to tell him that he just can't listen to every amp ever created in perfect conditions for comparison.

He's having fun nonetheless.