Looking for suggestions for a budget setup under 300$ to play CDs in my dorm

[Godataloss]

So, let me get this straight: broke-ass college students think playing CDs in a dorm room is where it is at, in2021? Awesome!

That's how it was for me in 1986! I used a Sony D-50 portable CD into my TEAC BX-550 amplifer and two pairs of bookshelf speakers to rock my dorm room! Played it so hard and loud, they cut my power off (a few times), but I dropped an extension cord down to the room below (nice girl) and kept the music going.

I had 4 12 inch subwoofers with a couch mounted on them in my dorm room. We would give rides!

 

[coonmanx]

Back when I was in college we had turntables and tape decks in the dorm room. I was very late in hopping on the CD bandwagon. But then at some point I had enough of cleaning records. My first "CD player" was actually the unit in the computer, which I tapped from the headphone jack and ran into the stereo.

After we moved out of the dorm room we had 7 guys in a house across the street. Keg parties were plentiful and one of the roommates got a Carver Cube hooked up to some EPI A240's. That system could really rock and sounded damn good to boot.

 

[Doodski]

a Carver Cube hooked up to some EPI A240's. That system could really rock and sounded damn good to boot.

I bet it was loud... Those 2-10" woofers run full range.

 

[coonmanx]

I bet it was loud... Those 2-10" woofers run full range.

We used to live in a big party house on the corner when I was in college, around 1983 or so. One night we had the system cranked up and this guy wandered over from the dorms that were across the street and politely asked if we could turn it down because he was trying to study. LOL. We turned it down and had a good laugh...

 

[Doodski]

We used to live in a big party house on the corner when I was in college, around 1983 or so. One night we had the system cranked up and this guy wandered over from the dorms that were across the street and politely asked if we could turn it down because he was trying to study. LOL. We turned it down and had a good laugh...

Yes, we had stuFF like that too. We where having a summer pool party with the car speaker cabinets removed from the back seat and the neighbor had a hissy fit and pulled out his house stereo speakers and aimed them at us and cranked them up. He killed his stereo. It fizzled out and then nothing. We just cranked up the car stereo again and carried on like nothing happened.

 

[coonmanx]

Yes, we had stuFF like that too. We where having a summer pool party with the car speaker cabinets removed from the back seat and the neighbor had a hissy fit and pulled out his house stereo speakers and aimed them at us and cranked them up. He killed his stereo. It fizzled out and then nothing. We just cranked up the car stereo again and carried on like nothing happened.

Now that is funny.

 

[Walter]

Good sounding budget systems are totally doable if you take the time to do the research and maybe get a little lucky finding the right stuff. Good sounding speakers are always the most important thing and then I would say a good amplifier capable of getting you the volume level that you desire. Then after that you can worry about the rest of it. CD players can be had for dirt cheap these days and many still work great and sound great. But there are a ton of choices out there and really no right answers as long as you stick to quality made components and not junk.

I agree completely as long as "quality" is defined as not only meaning reliable and well built, but measuring well--or at the very least, coming from a manufacturer who has shown to provide honest specifications based on independent tests. The difficulty for the OP with such general advice is that he does not know which products are quality and which ones are not, which is why he is posting here.

 

[Walter]

Yes, we had stuFF like that too. We where having a summer pool party with the car speaker cabinets removed from the back seat and the neighbor had a hissy fit and pulled out his house stereo speakers and aimed them at us and cranked them up. He killed his stereo. It fizzled out and then nothing. We just cranked up the car stereo again and carried on like nothing happened.

Even further off topic, but wasn't it Hunter S. Thompson who was famous for doing the same as you neighbor, except in his case he went out and bought (or maybe already had) a multi-kilowatt sound system? And because he had already had so many much more serious run-ins with the Nevada cops (drugs, weapons, explosives, etc.), all of which eventually ended in his favor because he knew how to work the system, they just told the neighbors they were SOL.

 

[Doodski]

Even further off topic, but wasn't it Hunter S. Thompson who was famous for doing the same as you neighbor, except in his case he went out and bought (or maybe already had) a multi-kilowatt sound system? And because he had already had so many much more serious run-ins with the Nevada cops (drugs, weapons, explosives, etc.), all of which eventually ended in his favor because he knew how to work the system, they just told the neighbors they were SOL.

No idea but it sounds like a heck of a ride for HST. Did he really live that stuFF. I read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas but never knew that stuff.

 

[Walter]

No idea butt it sounds like a heck of a ride for HST. Did he really live that stuFF. I read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas but never knew that stuff.

By all reports, he did, and actually left out the parts that could result in his own felony charges--although the drugs probably altered his perceptions considerably. OK. Back on topic. @kvluo, have you bought anything yet?

 

[DanielT]

Kvlou, how's it going with the Hifi? I'm also curious.

Tips. They good affordable used Hifi stuff go fast as hell.Check often, strike quickly, finger on the trigger, fastest revolver in the west, do not hesitate.

He he these student times. This is what it should look like (not my old room). Hmm wondering what year that photo was taken?

 

[AnalogSteph]

He he these student times. This is what it should look like (not my old room). Hmm wondering what year that photo was taken?

The computer looks like 2000-2001ish with little in terms of yellowing, so early-mid 2000s would be my guess.

The satellite to the right of the monitor belongs to a Cambridge Soundworks system that was made in 2.1 and 4.1 varieties and was quite popular in 1999-2000, had one at the computer myself (if the fuzzy grey matter storage does not deceive me, original price for the 2.1 149 DM and later reduced to 99 DM around here, which I though was a great deal back then). 2.5" satellites, 5" 'sub', all plastic but actually quite robust. I later figured out that placing the 'sublet' next to the satellites instead of under the desk and stuffing the port with an old sock actually gave pretty good sound. Was my bedside setup for years. (My parents got a slightly later version with larger satellites, never liked that one very much.) A while back I actually picked up a used set in good condition on eBay for a musically inclined (and rather severely autistic) colleague who wanted decent sound at his office PC for not a lot of money, and he was over the moon with the sound quality.

While the OP seems to have left for now, another possible solution I can think of would involve an older (let's say 10-year-old) business laptop with a decent built-in optical drive and acceptable noise levels that could be used for ripping, building a digital collection and being the centerpiece of a playback setup. (Dell E6x20/30 series, Thinkpad Tx20/30, something like that. I also like the T510 but those seem to be plagued with bad sound chips. Their screens generally kind of suck, but in a music player who really cares. I may be able to help out with a matching ICC profile, not sure whether there is any quicker method for determining the panel type than installing DisplayCAL though.) In the 'States, picking up a decent machine for less than 100 bucks should be quite feasible. I would throw out the old harddrive for a decent 2.5" SSD though, WD Blue / Sandisk Ultra 3D or Crucial MX500 is what I typically go with these days (splurge on 500 gigs if money allows; the WD / Sandisk are faster in small sizes but may be prone to reliability issues in the larger ones, so for 250s I generally buy WD / Sandisk, 500s could be either, and MX500 for 1 TB).

I actually set up some Edifier 1280Ts recently. Bass / treble ca. -2 for both. Not the cleanest highs I've heard (and the vertical is expectedly uneven, even after a bit of raise from the desk with small boxes for makeshift stands) but overall pretty good, they really go quite loud too. For multimedia speakers, they're fine. When you've got serious hi-fi ambitions, I'd rather be looking at accommodating some JBL 305s, Adam T5Vs, Kali LP6s or the like.

 

[Doodski]

Kvlou, how's it going with the Hifi? I'm also curious.

Tips. They good affordable used Hifi stuff go fast as hell.Check often, strike quickly, finger on the trigger, fastest revolver in the west, do not hesitate.

He he these student times. This is what it should look like (not my old room). Hmm wondering what year that photo was taken?
View attachment 166668

Hehe... at The Dukes of Hazard and the strobe light.

 

[Chrispy]

Hi, complete newbie here who also happens to be a broke college student. I was looking for a space-friendly budget setup for playing CDs as the title has stated, and so far I'm planning to purchase a DVD player hooked up with a Schiit stack (Modi 3+ with Magni 3+), connected to a pair of Edifier r1280t or Neumi BS5P. I'm wondering if Magni 3+ will be enough to power these speakers and whether there is a better setup for this price range?

Late jump in (in between tldr so....). Can't imagine why you want to play cds particularly. If your computer already has an optical drive just rip'em and play the files....so much easier and more flexible with more gear.

 

[GDK]

Hehe... at The Dukes of Hazard and the strobe light.

Those are directly countered by the map of Britannia from Ultima IV being proudly displayed on the wall.

 

[DanielT]

The computer looks like 2000-2001ish with little in terms of yellowing, so early-mid 2000s would be my guess.

The satellite to the right of the monitor belongs to a Cambridge Soundworks system that was made in 2.1 and 4.1 varieties and was quite popular in 1999-2000, had one at the computer myself (if the fuzzy grey matter storage does not deceive me, original price for the 2.1 149 DM and later reduced to 99 DM around here, which I though was a great deal back then). 2.5" satellites, 5" 'sub', all plastic but actually quite robust. I later figured out that placing the 'sublet' next to the satellites instead of under the desk and stuffing the port with an old sock actually gave pretty good sound. Was my bedside setup for years. (My parents got a slightly later version with larger satellites, never liked that one very much.) A while back I actually picked up a used set in good condition on eBay for a musically inclined (and rather severely autistic) colleague who wanted decent sound at his office PC for not a lot of money, and he was over the moon with the sound quality.

While the OP seems to have left for now, another possible solution I can think of would involve an older (let's say 10-year-old) business laptop with a decent built-in optical drive and acceptable noise levels that could be used for ripping, building a digital collection and being the centerpiece of a playback setup. (Dell E6x20/30 series, Thinkpad Tx20/30, something like that. I also like the T510 but those seem to be plagued with bad sound chips. Their screens generally kind of suck, but in a music player who really cares. I may be able to help out with a matching ICC profile, not sure whether there is any quicker method for determining the panel type than installing DisplayCAL though.) In the 'States, picking up a decent machine for less than 100 bucks should be quite feasible. I would throw out the old harddrive for a decent 2.5" SSD though, WD Blue / Sandisk Ultra 3D or Crucial MX500 is what I typically go with these days (splurge on 500 gigs if money allows; the WD / Sandisk are faster in small sizes but may be prone to reliability issues in the larger ones, so for 250s I generally buy WD / Sandisk, 500s could be either, and MX500 for 1 TB).

I actually set up some Edifier 1280Ts recently. Bass / treble ca. -2 for both. Not the cleanest highs I've heard (and the vertical is expectedly uneven, even after a bit of raise from the desk with small boxes for makeshift stands) but overall pretty good, they really go quite loud too. For multimedia speakers, they're fine. When you've got serious hi-fi ambitions, I'd rather be looking at accommodating some JBL 305s, Adam T5Vs, Kali LP6s or the like.

Seems smart. Hm, if OP is knowledgeable in IT, then maybe it would be easy for him to perform Hifi related in the digital world? Thinking mostly about EQ now. Maybe a measuring microphone. However, physical CDs, hm well, but riped so.. Of course his budget, but you can always make suggestions. In the end, it is still about the best Hifi within that particular budget framework.

I'm throwing in another suggestion. AV receiver with measuring microphone?You can get them cheaply used. IF it would make sense to have? I basically know nothing about AV receivers.

 

[DanielT]

Hehe... at The Dukes of Hazard and the strobe light.

Ho ho. Yes exactly that we do not know much about what kind of music and person OT like/is?. Play with the idea that OT would be a Dukes of Hazard guy.Then he had just laughed his ass off at the suggestions in this thread (also mine) and fixed a couple of really fat PA speakers plus ditto PA amplifiers.

Although OP /kvlou has not said much about it, or taste in music, so we can perhaps assume that a lot of the suggestions in this thread are up his alley.

 

[DanielT]

This would probably have worked well, even for you kvlou.

Wharfedale Diamond 220 speakers

Receiver: Pioneer SX-777 or Denon DRA-735R

Speakers for talk radio?

Have you ever heard a Control 1? They sound very high pitched. They are tough as nails though. I was never able to fry one and I tried. :facepalm: Thanks for the tip Doodski! Then they go directly to the dustbin. There may be a reason why no one placed a bid on them, despite a low opening bid...

audiosciencereview.com

 

[kvluo]

How big is your room where you should have the stereo? How far, approximately, will it be between the speakers and the place where you will be listening?What kind of music do you listen to?

Sorry for the extremely late reply. The desk in my dorm room is pretty small, and I might have to lean them against the wall (as my desk is right against the wall) with a meter apart. If that's the case, will headphones be a better option? And if I eventually decide to go with headphones, must I buy an amp to make my headphones function?

 

[kvluo]

By all reports, he did, and actually left out the parts that could result in his own felony charges--although the drugs probably altered his perceptions considerably. OK. Back on topic. @kvluo, have you bought anything yet?

Not yet, was actually waiting for Black Friday sale, but now I'm hesitant again about whether I should go for a speaker setup or a headphone setup. Do you have any advice for a headphone setup with around the same budget? And a stupid question, is amp a must for headphones to function?