My killer new stereo for under $3500

[Ajani]

Hello everyone,
Over the last 2 years I've completely updated my 20 year old 2 channel stereo. I put $3500 as the price, because that's retail, but I paid less. My new system:
NAD C355bee Int. Amp (80w/channel)
NAD C545bee CD player
B&W CM7 speakers
Audioquest cables

This 2 channel music system is amazing. I actually get chills during certain recordings. I listen to a wide range of music. For example, recent purchases of Adele, Zac Brown, Los Lonely Boys, Josh Rouse, Little Jackie, just to name a few.

I find it totally depressing that a whole generation is missing out on good audio equipment and well recorded music. Mass market stereos are so far from my system it's embarrassing and add to that MP3 quality music and it's garbage and most people have no clue. You cannot get chills from listening to a best buy system with an MP3 source.

But back to my new system. It's sublime. I cannot believe the quality I'm getting from this neat little package. I truly find it hard to believe that I will ever want to improve it further. I realize I can spend 10 times on a system, but this system delivers so much for what I would call a budget hi-end system that I'm truly satisfied.

I will say that I tried all these components separately and while they were still impressive, they are a magnitude better in combination with each other.

Congratulations....

Based on my experiences with NAD (I owned the immediate predecessors to the models you have), Audioquest (I've stuck to their cables for quite some time) and the B&W CM series (I helped my friend audition and buy a CM1), I expect your setup to sound amazing... Before Monitor Audio, B&W was my favorite brand...

I really hope to get to audition the CM7 one day (I auditioned the CM1 many times, but that was before the CM7 was released)...

[jaxwired]

Congratulations....

Based on my experiences with NAD (I owned the immediate predecessors to the models you have), Audioquest (I've stuck to their cables for quite some time) and the B&W CM series (I helped my friend audition and buy a CM1), I expect your setup to sound amazing... Before Monitor Audio, B&W was my favorite brand...

I really hope to get to audition the CM7 one day (I auditioned the CM1 many times, but that was before the CM7 was released)...

I share your enthusiasm for Monitor Audio. In fact, I almost purchased the RS6 instead of the CM7. Half the price too. The RS6 is really great and similar to the CM series, but ultimately the mids on the CM7 were the smallest bit more true to life to my ears.