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Hand me down audio equip- upgrade advice

First off, this might be my first post, but I’ve been admiring the Audiogon community for a while now. There’s a ton of helpful information that a lot of you have shared, and I appreciate that!

I’m lucky enough to have a boss who’s big into audio equipment, and handed down some of his older gear to me:

Benchmark DAC2 D
Classe CP-700
NuForce Reference 18 monoblocks
KEF 103/3 Reference w/ Kef Kube equalizer
Vandersteen v2w sub

I ended up having to refoam the KEF’s, but I have to say they are a great speaker! I’ve been enjoying this setup for about a year now, and want to explore some newer speaker options- preferably a floor standing full range variety. At this point, I’m fairly overwhelmed with the options out there- and looking for some wisdom.

I’d like to keep my first upgrade under $1500, with some wiggle room. I’ve been drooling over some Sonus Faber’s, but alas, I’m not ready to bite the bullet on anything in that price range (used, of course). KEF has plenty of lower to medium priced speakers, but I’d like to explore other avenues.

Thanks in advance
rillerr
rillerr OP
3 posts
 
@millercarbon and @soix I see what you’re getting at, part of my issue is definitely the lack of auditioning. I think what I’m after is a more full range sound. The KEF’s really struggle with mid-lower range (I have done different tests on them, but don’t remember the exact roll off struggles). I primarily listen to a lot of jazz, symphonies, 60’s and 70’s light rock, with some hip hop thrown in there occasionally. I’ve been keeping my eye out for a second vandersteen v2w that I could incorporate into the system, but ultimately would like to get a bigger sound stage than my current KEF’s.
bvdiman
491 posts
 
Explore planars perhaps—Magnepan/ML.. you don’t pay for expensive boxes ie.good value/sound for the dollar—life-size staging and sounds great generally—should work well with your current rig.
ardsley
4 posts
 
First you need to find out what your boss is going to hand you down next. If nothing, ask your boss what you should get, and pick up some brownie points. Sorry!
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
You could probably sell the Classe, NuForce, and KEF for about enough to get a Raven Blackhawk and Tekton Double Impacts. Depending on what you can get for them this could be anywhere from a little cash in your pocket to costing about what you're planning now. Only instead of baby steps this would be a big leap forward. Bigger sound stage, plenty of bass, and a rig that will sound great with all your range of music.
audite84
110 posts
 
OP, 

Someone with better hands did the refoam and ferrofluid. I did the recap of crossover and the Kube. If you have the time and the confidence (well, you did the refoam), I think you can do the ferrofluid as well. 
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