Recommend to me a good, small stereo.

Cambridge Soundworks does a passable approximation of the Wave radio, and if you're stuck on that idea, but how sold are you on the idea of a bookshelf system?

Pretty sold, I guess. Easier to move around (been moving a lot, lately), generally cheaper. I don't fancy disk changers or anything.

I am, however, completely open to all recommendations, bookshelf or not. Quality is important, but so is price.

I've done some installs of mid-range JBL equipment and they usually sound great for the (relatively little) money. They're not sexy, and they don't have the official audiogeek endorsement, but they're usually great workhorse equipment.

If you decide to look at minisystems, the best advice I can give is to go into tweeter or best buy or one of those places and screw around with the various floor models to find out what features are beneficial to you. Under $200ish you're going to find a fairly similar sound quality (albeit w. different quirks) from unit to unit, I think.

I think jed's got the right idea abt. an integrated system. And I suggest looking at slightly used amps: there are often excellent resale rates on 'like-new' condition equip.

Denon DM31

Despite what you think or have heard about the Wave radio, i have an original for the bedroom that still looks, works and sounds fantastic. Key is, it doesn't have the cd player built into it. The cd player knocks out a lot of the inner speaker space from the radio, so the sound loses its punch.

I would suggest looking around online to find one of these older Wave models without the cd player in it -- maybe even one that's still in the box, or even near-new. You can plug an ipod or any other source right in the back, and trust me, it approximates clear highs and lows to an astonishing degree.

If you can find one for less than $200 (and maybe even with a 30 day guarantee so you can try it) I would bet you'd be spending your money way more wisely than on some kind of Sony or other portable unit.

Anyone heard of this?

Act now and I'll sell you a free information kit on how to start your own business selling speakers out of a white van. In other words that sounds like a scam.

xp

Yes it does! It's a classic scam. You're supposed to think you're getting a great deal buying stolen speakers that are worth $800 but you actually just bought a $100 pair of speakers for double the cost. I guess it appeals to a basic part of human nature much like the scam where someone buys a stolen laptop on the street only to find that they bought a box with a brick in it.

I need (or, rather, want):

BASIC home theater abilities (I don't actually use them, but might some day)
Optical input for dvd/CD (this seems to be hard to find all of a sudden? what the fuck is HDMI?)
built-in phono preamp (I don't need this, you can get one for $40, but it would be nice. Also seems to be hard to find)

actually I'm not terribly sure i need a home theater calibre reciever since I only use two of my speakers and the subwoofer if required. I have a center speaker for some reason hooking it up to the amplifier I have never worked...maybe it wanted another pair of side speakers? don't know. I do know that it's fucking hard to hear any dialogue in dvds half the time because either my player or the dvds themselves don't mix down to stereo very well.

I don't want to spend more than $350. I need a recommendation NOW.

http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/3629

because it was the best thing I could afford. no phono input though, so I'll have to spring for a preamp, fuck it