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Bottleneck / Upgrade Recommendations - Yamaha RVX-475 Receiver, Pro-Ject Phono Box MM

Hey all, first post here. Apologies if I’m not following standards.

I have the upgrade itch but not sure where to start. Here’s an overview of my current setup:

Speakers:

Polk RTI A1 Bookshelf on Sanus Natural Foundations speaker stands

AV Receiver:

Yamaha RX-V475 AV Receiver

Turntable and Pre-Amp:

Pro-Ject Debut Carbon EVO with Sumiko Rainier cartridge and acrylic platter

Pro-Ject Phonobox MM Preamp

Other:

Sony PS5 for media streaming

Samsung PN60F5300 Plasma TV

Hifman Edition XS Headphones

FiiO Q15 Headphone Amp/DAC

Room Layout:

Apartment living room in a mostly open floor plan on the first floor. Living room area with my gear has hardwood floors with a rug covering like 90% of the space. 9ft ceiling

Uses:

Moslty used to stream music and play records. I also game and watch movies with this setup but music is the focus.

Overall I’m fairly happy with my set up but would like to revamp it. I’m leaning towards replacing the receiver first with something like the Marantz STEREO 70s. I don’t see myself getting surround sound anytime soon and like the option to transmit bluetooth audio to my DAC. Also looking to get something that supports 4k so I can eventually replace my ancient plasma. Would you recommend I replace the receiver first? I’m not opposed to getting a modular setup either. I was thinking if I ever do get a dedicated speaker amp(s) I could still use a receiver as a preamp. Budget isn’t a huge concern. Trying to keep costs under $3k or so. I’d love to demo gear in person but there aren’t really any shops around me that I’m aware of besides big box stores.

I’ve also considered upgrading my turntable styles to the Sumiko Moonstone though I’m not sure how big of an improvement that would be. Audio is more of a priority for me so I’d also be ok hanging on to my receiver for a while if a new preamp or stylus would be the biggest improvement. I guess I don’t really know what I’m missing.

 

EDIT: To clarify what I’m asking, what seems to be the weakest link in this setup? Where would I see the biggest improvement by upgrading? I’d love a subwoofer but don’t want to drive my neighbors crazy.

 

hifidan26

Showing 3 responses by hifidan26

hifidan26 OP
3 posts
 

You guys rock. Thank you for the info.

deadhead1000

You could add a small Sub to your spearkers, there are many ’mini’ ones out there now that would not bother your neighbors ’too much’

I never considered that…I like the idea. The Cambridge Audio Minx X201 looks like it would be a good fit. If you have any recommendations I’m all ears.

erik_squires

Also, speaker placement and room treatments should be high on your list.

That’s another thing I overlooked. I have a sectional sofa and rug in the living room but that’s about it. I think the quickest/easiest thing I can do is get soundproof curtains for the sliding glass door in my living room. Would that be worthwhile?

I think my speaker placement is “ok”. Do you mean where they are in the room or relative to the listener? I have them on stands that are at ear height, about a foot away from the wall with each speaker beside the TV with 6ish inches of space between the speaker and TV. From where I sit when listening I’m about 10 feet away, gap between the speakers is about 5.5’ . Hopefully that makes sense.

Sounds like the consensus is to replace the AVR with an integrated amp. If I don’t get a preamp or HT processor right away do I just run an optical cable from my TV to the integrated amp?

hifidan26 OP
3 posts
 

To give additional background I got the turntable, preamp, headphones and headphone amp/DAC all within the last year.  Really impressed with the Edition XS and FiiO Q15 for the price. Now they have me feeling like my stereo setup is lacking. I think what blew my mind the most was the imaging (I think that and not soundstage, not really clear on the difference still) 

@soix im definitely experimenting with speaker placement this weekend. Thank you for the advice.

@theflattire in hindsight I wish I didn’t cheap out on the turntable preamp. I have a buddy with the same turntable and speakers as me. We compared my Pro-ject Phono Box with his Fosi Audio Box X2 which is about the same price.  From what I remember, it made the Phono Box sound a bit “hollow” for lack of a better word. since I got the turntable I do most of my listening with it and maybe stream Spotify like 25% of the time. 
 

@mesch I’m trying to keep any/all upgrades under $3000 total but not super firm on that. 
 

hifidan26 OP
3 posts
 

@mesch I’m leaning towards an integrated amp to start. If I upgrade piecemeal I’m thinking of doing it in this order:

  1. Integrated Amp
  2. Phono Preamp
  3. DAC

I generally like to use things that do one thing and do it well, but if I have ~$3k to spend, does it make sense to start with an integrated amp that has a passable phono preamp and DAC and get dedicated ones later? I’m not opposed to buying used gear as well.

The Leak Stereo 130 looks like it would meet my needs. So does the Outlaw Audio RR2160. Thank you @yogiboy for the suggestion.

@soix I don’t think I quite understand how ht bypass works. If I had surround sound, would I keep the rear and center speakers wired to the receiver and the front speakers wired to an integrated amp? After that is where I get a little lost. How do you connect the front speakers to the receiver? Is it RCA preout from the receiver to an input on the integrated amp? I don’t think my receiver would work for this if it doesn’t have pre outs for the front channels, right? Would some sort of amp switcher/selector also work? E.g. I could have the front speakers wired to both the integrated amp and the receiver and switch between them with that. I’m not too concerned with surround sound, so I don’t think this is something I need at this time.

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