I've owned the Outlaw rr2160 since Feb, driving Monitor Audio Silver 300's.. I can confirm everything Steve has said about it.. It is a beast.. you can feel the build quality, i often tell people its a "throw back" to a time when equipment was just built to last when asked to describe it

I use to work for Klipsch, was fortunate to know Paul Klipsch personally. When I worked there I thought they were outstanding. I’m proud to say my name is on the back of thousands of them, as I was a speaker tester. It’s good to see them on this list.

This is the installment that I have been waiting for! I love these, they are so useful!

Steve! I've posted this to my FB page. Recently, you helped me pull the trigger on the KEF R3 after what seemed like a year of research. This is a great teaching. And I'd wager the audience for this is huge. Nice!

I miss your CNET reviews, Steve. But this video is brilliant work. Perhaps the best rundown of inexpensive audio in existence. Good luck in this new venture and thank you for your many excellent contributions to home audio over the years.

I'm a first-time visitor, and I immediately subscribed! Thank you for all the info. For what it's worth, I'm still in love with my Definitive Technology BP6 's. I've had them 20 + years.

I love your recommendations! I've been NAD/ Klipsch fan for years!

Steve, this is one of your best videos. You have covered a ton of stuff and have given the viewer plenty of options. For anyone with this kind of budget this is the video that I recommend they watch. Nicely done!

What a fantastic rundown. I'd love to see this sort of list become an annual thing here. It's so helpful. Seriously, awesome stuff. I look forward to the day I start to rebuild my system from scratch. Mine is currently based on a Raspberry Pi running a Boss ALLO DAC into an old pair of Genelec 1029a studio monitors - they're small but mighty.

Great show and choices, Steve. Keep this 'systems series' coming! Now, may I add a suggestion for one? 'The best headphone systems' for...$500? $300? $600? This would be : 1. amp (include jds atom, liquid spark, something portable? ) 2. Wired headphones (open back, closed back - $100, $200, $300..), planar (H400i), and vc based (be sure to include shp9500 besides the Grados) 3. separate DAC, perhaps with bt 5.0, aptx, aptx HD (or stand-alone bt..) 4. Phono preamp.. This type of system show would really be appreciated by many of us stuck in apartments or with family/wife who give us nothing but grief when we listen to speaker-based systems. Thanks! Chris

Love this the 2nd time, Steve! ❤️. What about a 2nd video with a $4,000 limit? Then we can get into some high end integrated amps, and some even better speakers!

I have watched many of your videos, liked a lot, never followed you, but this one ended with great reasons to follow you. Playlists for speakers, and other items, interviews it all sounds good. You got me!

You're a man after my own heart Steve! Thanks for the heads up on the pre-amp. Just bought 2 Schiit from Amazon. Will compare to Dyna PAS, 1970s Nakamichi, McIntosh C26, Carver, and so on. Hard to know. I go for beauty, a beautiful experience. Like you. That's why you had me with this video at "magic". Magic is what I want from my machines! And I GET it. Just setup a 5.1 all 1960s surround system with Sansui SP-3500 front, 2500 center, 1500 rear and dual subwoofers front corners. First time I ever even liked Sansui loudspeakers. But I just had this feeling it would work magic-wise. Listened to Allman's Eat A Peach, Woodstock, Solti Tannhauser, Alien Resurrection, Gabor Szabo Mizrab, Peter Ivers Knight of the Blue Communion . . . Wow! SO that's what these speakers are good for. Also, in last week rebuilt Criterion 2005 (ear blasters, but great brass), Infinity Qa (polite, too polite, no authority), Dynaco A25s (smooth boom), Mirage SM-3s (Wow!), Design Acoustics D-12s (damn fine staging, actually uncanny, actually I got up to answer the door with Ry Cooder's Bop Till You Drop and Everest 35mm Flamenco, fooled me completely twice), Polk Studio 7s (bachelor pad magic snap, mid-nirvana, weird lovely bass), big Sony APMs (eek! So controlled . . . ), Jensen 25s with Technical Pro Z-15s (BIG BIG BIG), and too many other old retired amps, turntables (Technics 1200MK2, JC Penny special (fantastic table!!!), Denon L72 and, well, almost the entire history of hifi has passed through my hands and ears since this damn pandemic began, even an old acoustic Victrola (the big one, first folded horn!) which actually sounds quite good with a cactus needle (no kidding) and the doors ajar just right . . . Anyway, thanks a million for the heads up on Schiit Audio. They look like the Dyna of 2021 minus owning your own soldering iron. Live long and prosper.

Steve, how much can you squeeze in one video. Amazing! You have covered in one video what a magazine tries to cover in one issue! Brilliantly informative and useful.

Your shirt is perfect for a bank robbery... Its un-describable

Your comments about the Magnepans are so relatable. My favourite speaker of all time, and still the ones in my main system are the old babies, the MG1C. Have had several large Magneplanars driven by serious amplifiers but the little ones are just sooooo sweet. Have a spare set that I think I paid $300 for, 10 years ago. Such delight.

Thank you for your videos. Having an audiophile setup is a dream of mine and all the info you provide is just great for newbs like me. Someday I will use the info in this video and get there!

great, highly specific and informative list!

Now, that’s what I call a great informative video. Thank you 👍

That was a great list you put together. I’ve got a few friends looking to get into HiFi after hearing my system, which is really quite flattering, and you covered all the bases. The Fluance is the perfect solution for a turntable. Mani’s all around, too! I actually started using a Schiit Mani myself, for the exact reasons you just mentioned. It really is quite the phono pre and far outperforms it’s price point by a long shot. Thank you very much for another great vid, Steve! 🎶🔊🙂

Enjoying your enthusiasm and sincere reviews Steve. On your recommendation and after extensive reading I have made a UK deal on the purchase of a pair of Magnepan LRS speakers. I have the wonderful IMO Yammy 803D as source and driver and vintage Rotel 965BX CD player plus Yammy CT 1010 tuner alongside so expecting great things.My Clearaudio Emotion with Goldring 1042 MM completes the burgeoning picture.Excited.Can’t wait!. Hoping the report back a magical experience.

Sounds like an honest review to me. I haven’t bought audio gear in years because I built a system that I’m quite happy with after years of suffering from constant upgraditis. This video should help those getting into the hobby at a nice price point.

Steve it would be extremely helpful to know the types of music you enjoy and which components and combinations thereof work best with which type of music. I’m sure your subscribers have wide ranging tastes, so this would cap your recommendations off nicely!

Good stuff! Most of my gear I bought used, but I am using the Schiit Mani phono stage connected to a Technics SL 1100a w/Nagaoka MP 150 cart. Sounds superb. Thanks for all your info with these videos.

I could watch this over and over, and probably will, thanks for the audio advice.

Well done Steve. This kind of info is priceless. Keep these types of vlogs coming. What would $2k, 3k, even 5k get you?

Great well needed video fills a void in audiophile world where some audiophile snobs think high price defines audiophile, thank you. I trust your real world reviews.

I don't know who you are and I've never seen one of your videos before but I really enjoyed it. I was stuck by your authenticity and passion for the hobby. Keep up the good work although I doubt anything could stop you anyway.

This was a great video & I'd love to see the Steve do this at several other price points - say, $2500 and $5000. A multi-channel post like this would be great too!

Nice list Steve. With some of those speakers you could be in the next level Cambridge amps. You left off the Yamaha 801 from the beginning.

Wow, you bring me back to when I was 15, and salivating over a Fischer/Scott/Pioneer/Sansui amplifier, Garrard turn table, JBL speakers, 15" subwoofer, ... those were the days !

Nice wrap up of options, thanks for the video. I was listening in on my Magni/Modi 2 combo and Sennheiser 650s. With young twins sleeping, I can't drive any big speakers these days :)

Love all your interesting recommendations! I actually didn't realize how great a $1200 system could be until I recently got my current hifi setup together. Fosi ZA3 amp, Kef q150 and SVS Micro 3000 sub. Phenomenal sound that'll knocked my socks off and never ceases to put a goofy smile on my face.

Steve! This is my new favorite. Great video! Folks you can’t go wrong with anything on this list, but listen to every word. When he says the ELAC UB5s need power, he is not kidding and the Maggie’s need to be way out in the room to do what they do.

Good review as always on those speakers. I still love my Elac debut 6.2 that I bought at limit time 1/2 off their regular price. They are still at $299.00 pair at Best Buy at the moment. They just are so nice sounding and easy on the ear for hours of listening. They perform well with any genre of music I listen to. A hand clap to Andrew Jones for his amazing work.

The is for the great info Steve! This helps the budget minded listeners who still want quality . Thank you!

I'm so glad you guys are doing this a lot of us never stopped looking for " the best"

You really out did yourself with this video. It was great, thank you.

Great recommendations Thanks. I know it's been said before, but the law of diminishing returns really applies to audio equipment.

Love this video and very glad to hear outlaw has such a good response!

Steve, great review! I’m in the market now for replacement gear. I’m sold on RR2160 but you have given me additional ideas to think about. Thank You!

Steve you didn’t give a budget price CD player Recommendation , Another great video thanks Steve

I have a Denon PMA 2000 and now I added the Schiit Mani, it transferred my system to another level, this little cheap beast is the best piece ever, for the price it is a steal.

Yes Paul thanks for reaching out and the info 👍

First of all, I would like to say how much I enjoy your videos. I am 65, so you and I go back to the glory days of Hi-F. I have a set of Klipsch RP-600M bookshelf speakers, a Klipsch SPL-100 Sub and a Onkyo TX-8140 stereo receiver that has 80watts/channel. It sounds great with music and movies. Retail was around 1500.00, but I was able to buy the whole system for 900.00. I wonder if you would answer a question for me? I talked to Onkyo about maybe adding another set of bookshelf speakers to the B inputs and then running on A+B to get a little more sound. Onkyo told me that their TX-8140 receiver with 80watts/channel was already under powered for the RP-600M's and that I would eventually burn their amplifier out and damage the speakers because of clipping. I must admit, that seems very strange to me. I can only turn the volume up about half way at the loudest I can stand as it is. Is 80watts/channel really under powered for these speakers? Thanks

you should keep a small pic of the speakers up on the screen as you are talking about them...

I haven’t tested myself the rest of the recommended gear, however I do have the Shiit mani phono preamp and it is absolutely amazing for the price. Very highly recommended

Great review with just right level of info on why each one is good and price point. no blah blah. Subscribed. Thank you.

Steve, I am still out there pulling vintage speakers from yard sales and craigslist. One of my favorites is a pair of Electro-Voice full-range 12 speakers. No tweeters or midrange and the sound is beautiful. My most unique speaker is a pair of flyable church speakers made by OAB audio. The horns are incredible and the 15" coaxial speaker delivers a crisp mid base. They do however lack a deep base.

I once went to an audiophiles house. He had an empty room with an armchair at one end and his system at the other, he put a record on and it sounded like the artist was in the room with us. Amazing.

Hi Steve, really enjoy your videos! In your list of speakers you didn’t mention Ohm. They have one called the Micro Walsh for $700.00. Does it belong in that list? Tx

Great video! I always feel better informed watching your videos! Thanks please keep up the good work!

This is the best free sermon on value for money quality audio. Thank you 🙏

I bought the Cambridge AXA35 and a pair of Dali Oberon 5 (€800 a pair). Later a little DacMagic 100 joined in the party to play FLAC from the PC and CD from the BluRay player. I couldn't be happier for the money spent. I'm also still using a sweet old Denon DCD-685 CD player and a ProJect Debut with Sumiko Pearl cartridge. This AXA35 + Oberon 5 combination really gets the soul of the music out of the recordings with plenty of detail, punch and very satisfying bass.

Great job, Steve. Thanks for all you do.

thank you for your recommendation. the price range is really really awesome. It really goes out to most people. Thank you Steve! This episode got me!

What would you recommend for an amp in the $300-$400 range? I currently have a Fluance RT83 and KEF Q150 speakers. I'm open to any type of system

If you're good at vintage shopping on Ebay, try this setup: * KEF C30 bookshelf speakers with a JBL or Canton 12" passive subwoofer * 30W per channel or higher Technics "New Class A" or JVC "Super A" integrated amp or receiver * Technics linear tracking turntable with a good Audio Technica cartridge I was putting these systems together for around $500 complete a few years ago.

You’re The Greatest, Steve! I just enjoy watching fully functioning systems go about their chores, delivering fantastic transparent, and illuminating insights of some of the world’s greatest performances. Thank you 🙏 Steve.

Thank you so much for this video. Im new to all the audio stuff and this was really helpful. Now i can look for my first 'real' audio set in 41 years haha. Greetz from the Netherlands!

I feel like you have a heart. A love for music. Cool video dude!

Thannks for great vid. Can we expect 2k or 2,5k range too?

Very nice. I recently picked up the Dennon dp 300f fully automatic turntable and upgraded the cartridge and really like it.

Great video Steve , you know your audiophile gear . I too have great love for the world of stereo. ❤

Thanks for recommending amps that pair well with speakers. Invaluable info for guys like me who are ordering blind off the internet. A sincere thanks for giving me the details I want to know.

Great video Steve.... I have a very big vintage setup... but going back to my very plane but lovely sounding Quad ll amps, they run with the Quad 22 preamp and that has it's own line up of tone controls... this makes for beauty to the ears... on the other hand I have a Krell KRC-2 preamp running a pair of ecs-ea1 mono blocks... pandas lovely as these sound through my speakers which are Polk audio SRA-2 these are very bright and not too bassey speakers so when I want to tone things up or down this is where my eq comes in, this is a harman/kardon EQ 8 and no matter what anyone says... this makes all the difference to my listening pleasure.. in short whether I'm listening to classical rock or reagae, tone control is a must.

Awesome video! He is so good at this: piecing together great affordable systems.

Lepai 2020a , pioneer andrew jones, polk or similar small sub, use your phone or pc as the source. Excellent if not exceptional sound , around 225 dollars new.

the outlaw and lrs imo are the most exciting on the list.

Excellent content, I didn't know these things before this video. Thank you.

Thanks for this. I've put off getting a system for years but I'm thinking it's now time.

Living in Australia, it absolutely kills me to think of how far your dollar goes towards hifi audio compared with ours. That said, I enjoyed this video very much.

As always excellent talking points succinctly presented with options, suggestions, and enough details to lead a viewer towards to more detailed research if you are getting the itch for a modest upgrade or just getting started without mortgaging the farm. Thanks Steve, always entertaining and stylish in the cool shirts presented. 😉😂

Thanks Steve, I got the Mytek Liberty DAC today after your video on it. I will try it out tomorrow when I find the 1/4" adapter. Oh I ordered it one week ago and it arrived 7 days later from the U.S.A. It arrived as fast or faster that local deliveries in Thailand!

Not going to give up my Rotel RA-931 Mk ll, no matter what. Maybe I’ll upgrade my speakers. Very instructive video, thanks!

Came here for the shirt. Love it!

11:45 - That Vista Audio looks like a hobby project from the 50's :)

Thank You for Your Help an Time . Love Your shirt it go's good with your painting . Straight Ahead .

Steve thanks for your motivating videos for hifi newbies - i built a good system following your advice and am happy and so pleased to be back in vinyl: fluance rt81, gold note ps-5 phono amp, emotiva ta2 int amp, onkyo ta-rw490 deck, onkyo c-7030 cd, klipsch sub r10sw and rp600 speakers...as you said, emotiva amp sounds great with these speakers...cheers!

Loud shirt, but does not require a lot of power.

U can tell based on he's sence of fashion that were dealing here with an 100 precent expert geek audiophile

It's about 6 months later, and you still have people being impacted by your presentation- Me! I may get that turntable you mentioned :)

As the proud new owner of a pair of LRS’s just picked up after a nearly four month wait I can verify the wait was well worth it! I can also verify that these speakers need and deserve all the clean power you can provide. Most stereo receivers just do not have the grunt to bring these to their potential. I would recommend an amp that can output 200 watts or better into four ohms. I’ve only had them for two days so still experimenting but as Steve mentioned they need to be away from the back walls 3-4 ft minimum. As always, the sweet spot yields the best soundstage and so far, for me, performance drops noticeably to either side and not the ear opening experience that the sweet spot is. If you have only heard dipoles in a showroom you haven’t heard them at their best and that is in your own home!

Glad to see you mention the mini lore with its 8 inch woofer. That and the iota amp should be sweet.

Never see him and Bill Nye in same room at same time.

Great to see someone with an office just as tidy as mine ;) Useful content for those on a realistic budget :)

Pretty much nailed my exact set up minus my source which puts me around the 1800 price point. Currently running the Yamaha S701 with the Klipsch RP600M sourced from the Bluesound Node 2i from Tidal MQA. Immensely impressed with their fidelity and power handling. Steve nailed the review of these speakers- Pink Floyd never ever sounded so good.

I’m still rockin the Fisher 400 with Dynaco A25s and a Dual1229 turntable

I would definetively recommend Heco speakers, they're just amazing for their price. For instance, you can try Heco Victa Prime 702. They sound so musical and produce absolutely no fatique, over hours of listening. Also have a very good sensitivity and don't need a very strong amp to make them "sing". Of course, a potent amplifier is always desirable in order to get the most out of any speakers. I currently run the Heco Celan Gt 902 and Wow. For 1000 euros a pair (with a substantial discount, new price 3600 euros) is really a bargain. Of course, a minimum of 2x200w is necessary to have a good sound, these speakers are quite big. ✌️

These are great. Helpful hints. Food for thought

It's been quite a while since I shopped for great audio equipment. The two most amazing speakers I have heard were the Ohm F Walsh driver speakers, and the Polk Audio SDA systems. The SDA 1A are in my living room and still sound amazing. Hard to drive, since you need a high current capable amp that can handle a cross-connection between channels. My HK receiver still does a capable job. I'm happy with this system.

Damn, I just sold my old audio system for $500 and when I bought it in the 90's it cost me over $5000. Things sure have improved price wise.

I'd love to see this kind of video on desktop audio for use with a PC.

great great video Steve!!! Useful even to people interested in higher price stuff like me.

Wonderful video, Steve - thanks so much.

Hey Steve, What subwoofer would you put with those Magenepans?

Maybe I missed it. Did you talk later about the Yamaha 801? Also, what was the component that could be used instead of a subwoofer to augment bass?

Love watching your videos and learning so much from them. Bought my first nice system in the 70’s that consisted of a Sansui receiver, Pioneer turntable and Norman Lab floor standing speakers. No amps. I’ve noticed on most of the videos that amps are quite often included in a system. Do you need an amp if you have a receiver with phono in and your turntable doesn’t have a built in amp. I currently don’t have a system but would love to create a new one.

First I love these Schiit Mani preamps, but they have what seems to be a common issue that is very easy to fix. I bought 6 of these a while back after trying one on Steve's advice. My helpful hint: 3 of the 6 sounded terrible when I unboxed them. One even had a dead channel with lots of crackling. All this was fixed by moving the switches on the bottom back and forth a few times. The problem was that the switches were not thrown all the way; they were in the middle in a dead or distortion area. And the contact was bad. But once I clicked them back and forth a few times and made sure they were fully clicked into position all 6 sounded fantastic! Hey, this is a $130 dollar phono preamp. And I am used to clean Dyna tube preamps and lots of others that are generally around $500 to $1500. But at $130 this Schiit is simply unbeatable. Used with Shure V15 III/V15II Improved/V15V with a Shibata. AT-2214 with hyper elliptical. Grados, Empires, Denon 103 moving coil, AT95 with Shibata, and lots of others including Natural Linear Contact styli on AT 1200 Mk2, Denon L72, Philips 777, Lenco L75, and a dozen others. Love analogue. It's like fine wine and no headaches the next morning! Rock, jazz, classical, lots of direct-to-disc-- OK. This preamp compares well to Macs and Nakamichi preamps that sell for $1000+. And, frankly, I heard things in the Jam on the Allman Bros Eat a Peach that I just did not think were there to be heard. I was wrong. Best damn budget preamp I ever enjoyed. If you are like me and need lots of preamps for a whole room full of turntables, this will fill the room at less than the cost of one regular audiophile phono preamp. It is not consistently magical, but it has moments! And for $130, wow!

Absolutely one of the most useful videos in the entire library of the audiophiliac! Now, I am powering Emotiva T1s with a parasound new classic And a Modi 3 linking to Tidal. Here’s the rub. Too much speaker for the room I think. Not as clean and crisp at civilized volume, but cranked to 90%? Awesome! Also, and oddly, when used as two channels for movies? Quite nice!