Choosing the right components for a hi-fi system is hard. It's more important to get ones that match than to just choose a couple highly rated products and throw them together. We take the guess work out of it by assembling the products we know sound best together. All-in-one The Teac CR-H238i is an amazing little mini system. Tiny size but tons of features, great build quality and amazing sound. CD, AM/FM, SD card input and USB. The optional iPod dock lets you control your iPod with the Teac remote. Matched with the Castle Knight 1, this system is unbeatable at the price. Teac CR-H238i CD player/Receiver/iPod dock Castle Knight 1 Speakers Price: $699.99$759.00 with iPod dock Level 1 Marantz has always been the premium entry level brand and we're proud to offer it as the basis of our Level 1 system. The sound is big and powerful and the receiver offers all the functionality you'll need. Marantz SR4023 Receiver Marantz CD5003 CD Player Castle Knight 1 Speakers Price: $1100.00 Level 2 For those getting back into vinyl, this is the place to start. The Pro-Ject is the best value turntable ever made and has won countless awards. The Marantz PM8003 is full featured with a phono input, A/B speaker switching and remote control and sounds big, warm and clear. The Castle Knight 1 speakers are extremely well balanced and provide all the detail of the source and amp. Marantz PM8003 Amplifier Pro-Ject Debut III Turntable with Ortofon OM5E cartridge Castle Knight 1 Speakers Price: $1599.00 Level 3 This system features the same Marantz amplifier as level 2 while the Pro-Ject Xpression III provides a big jump up from the Debut III and sounds twice as good. Same goes for the Quad speakers compared to the Mordaunt Short. This is a real sweet spot for most people. It's affordable and so well balanced that many will be happy to never go further. Substitute the Creek Evolution 2 CD player for the Xpression III for only $550 more. Marantz PM8003 Amplifier Pro-Ject Xpression III Turntable with Ortofon 2M Red Cartridge Quad 11L2 Speakers Price: $2499.99 Level 4 Now we're getting into some truly phenomenal sound. The Creek amplifier is a modern classic with a highly detailed and punchy sound and all the emotion you could ask for. The Pro-Ject turntable is state of the art - acrylic plinth, vinyl platter and carbon fibre tonearm. AT the price there are no rivals. The little Graham Slee phono pre-amp is a staggeringly good product and will embarrass many preamps costing over twice as much. Finally, the Knight 5 is the best budget floorstander we have ever heard and will embarrass most rivals up to $2500. Substitute a Creek Evolution 2 CD player for the Pro-Ject Xperience for $775 less. Creek Evolution 2 Amplifier Pro-Ject Xperience turntable with Dynavector 10x5 cartridge Graham Slee Gram Amp 2SE phono pre-amplifier Castle Knight 5 Speakers Price: $4499.99 Level 5 Improvement over Level 4 comes from the fabulous Pro-Ject RPM 9.1 Turntable. This thing is so good it's scary. The improvement in detail retrieval warrants a better phono stage as well - the Graham Slee Era Gold V, one of the best solid state phono preamps that money can buy. Creek Evolution 2 Amplifier Pro-Ject RPM 9.1 Turntable with Ortofon 2m Black cartridge Graham Slee Era Gold V phono pre-amplifier Quad 22L2 Speakers Price: $6499.99 Level 6 Level 6 is a jump forward in scale, soundstage, dynamics and micro-detail thanks to the Creek Destiny. The Destiny offers a clean 100 w/ch which brings the little Harbeths to life. You won't believe the kind of scale these tiny speakers can bring in this system. Finally we start to see the kind of detail and resolution the turntable and cartridge are capable of as well. Substitute a Creek Destiny CD player in place of the RPM 9.1, Era Gold and 2m Black for $200 more. Creek Destiny Amplifier Pro-Ject RPM 9.1 Turntable with Ortofon 2m Black cartridge Graham Slee Era Gold V phono pre-amplifier Harbeth P3ESR Speakers Price: $7999.99 Level 7 With Level 7 you get a quantum leap in accuracy but still retain musicality which few expensive systems can boast. At the heart of the system is the amazing Audio Research VSi55 tube amplifier. Substitute the Pro-Ject 9.1 for a Rega Saturn for $100 more. Audio Research VSi60 Amplifier Pro-Ject 9.1 Turntable with Ortofon 2m Black cartridge Graham Slee Era Gold phono pre-amplifier Harbeth Compact 7ES-3 Speakers Price: $10999.99 Level 8 With Level 8, we begin pushing the limits of what a stereo can do. The Harbeth speakers bring a level of transparency and presence which is amongst the most natural of any speaker at any price. The Audio Research only reinforces the naturality by providing all the detail and timing of the source to give a realistic sense of the acoustic space. The Pro-Ject RPM 9.1 turntable is so good that it can take a cartridge costing more than the table, the world class Ortofon Cadenza Black Audio Research SP17 Preamplifier Audio Research VS60 Amplifier Pro-Ject 9.1 Turntable with Ortofon Cadenza Black cartridge Graham Slee Elevator phono step up amplifier Harbeth Super HL5 Speakers Price: $19999.99 Level 9 It's hard to get around the fact that ultimately, if you want to listen at concert-like levels with real dynamics you need big speakers. Unfortunately, most big speakers are dreadful sounding with uneven frequency responses, boomy bass and terrible imaging. Getting two or three drivers to integrate, especially if you also have to control big woofers is one of the toughest things to do. It takes a company with the engineering resolve of Harbeth to attack the problem and succeed. Custom made 12" woofer, proprietary midrange Radial driver and hand selected tweeter are brought together in a "lossy" cabinet which dissipates unwanted energy from the box so you don't hear it as unwanted distortion. The Harbeth Monitor 40.1s are truly one of the best all-round in the world. Thankfully they are also quite easy to drive and the light touch of the 50 watt Audio Research VS55 brings exceptional midrange texture and detail. The LS26 preamp is one of the world's best regardless of price and simply gets out of the way completely so that you hear the full glory of the source. The source is the same as the Level 8 and 9 systems because we think so highly of it. Optionally substitute the Pro-Ject, cartridge and phono preamps for an Audio Research CD5 CD players for $1000 more. Audio Research LS26 Preamplifier Audio Research VS60 Power amplifier Pro-Ject 9.1 Turntable with Dynavector XX-2 cartridge Graham Slee Era Gold Reflex phono preamplifier Graham Slee Elevator phono step up amplifier Harbeth Monitor 40.1 Speakers Price: $27999.99 Level 10 This is our reference system. We don't feel you can improve upon the speakers for all round listening - the Monitor 40.1 are supremely capable for rock to classical. Same goes for the pre-amp. Is there a better one available today? Perhaps some may prefer the REF3 but it would come down to small character differences only. That brings us to the source. It must be the Simon Yorke S9 record player. Hand made to the highest standards, it is a music playing, detail retrieving machine par-excellence! The natural cartridge match is the Allaerts MC1BMKII, again, hand made by one of, if not the world's finest cartridge builders - Jan Allaerts. Round out the system with more power from the VS115 and more subtlety and musicality from the 47 Labs Phonocube and the gelling of the system is complete. A real tour de force of capability and harmony. How much better is this system than Level 9? We confidently say twice as good. Considering how many horrendous $100,000 and $200,000 systems we've heard, this is a bargain. If you've got the money, this is our best recommendation. Audio Research LS26 Preamplifier Audio Research REF110 Power amplifier Simon Yorke S9 Record Player with Allaerts MC1BMKII cartridge 47 Labs Phonocube phono preamplifier Harbeth Monitor 40.1 Speakers Price: $49999.99