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Here’s How to Build the Best Stereo System for Less Than $2,000

For Record Store Day, we created a guide for how to build the best stereo system for under $2,000 to help make your vinyls sound great.

(Much of home audio performance essentially comes down to reducing vibrations and electrical interference — admittedly rather nerdy obsessions, but they dramatically affect the music you hear.) It’s easier to evaluate turntable motors or CD player digital-to-analog conversion systems, but various combinations of amplifiers and speakers differ in how they present sound in ways that are much harder to describe, let alone judge. Think of what kind of music you listen to most: A system that booms with the heavy bass of EDM might not have the detail demanded by jazz, which is a fancy way of saying your mileage may vary.

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