help me improve my sysyem

Hi Ginntonic. I would like to help you but first I would like to know what you don't like about your systems sound? Is it bright? Is it not involving enough for your senses? Do you just have the upgrade itch? I'm sure you can find lots of people who will offer their opinion on what you should get to upgrade your system but it would serve you better if you told us what you didn't like about your systems sound. What do you feel it's lacking in terms of performance and maybe atleast I can make a reccommendation for you that may save you a lot of time and money in improving your sound.

Krell Master Reference amp $120,000
Conrad Johnson Art Preamp $ 18,000
Wadia 27ix DAC $ 8'950
Wadia Transport $ 7,950
Genesis 1.1 Speaker $135,000
NBS Speaker cables $ 15,000
NBS Interconnects $ 9,000

That should make a big improvement. But on a serious note I think it would be helpful to know your budget and what attribute of the system you are dissatisfied with

Martice has said it well and got in before I finished writing my post.

what could i change to get better sound quality i forgot to mention that i have an asw 1000 would better rca's help? if so any suggestions in the 500 to 1000 dollar range would help i have two 555's on each nautilus speaker. maybe better power cords? ANY SUGGESTIONS WOULD HELP?

I am not familiar with the asw 1000 nor have I owned any of the equipment that you have. I do know that B&W is a favorite around here so I would rule out changing those. I don't know that a change of cables will give you what you are looking for. However I am familiar with the Adcom gear. Though it has a great bang for the buck, there are better. You have a massive amount of power. You might consider selling the amps on Ebay ($350-400) per amp and taking the money to buy a better amp. I like Conrad Johnson myself, but you might research what other B&W owners are using to accomplish a great sound with them. Hope this helps. Happy hunting.

Welcome to the Wild Wild West Artemus. Anyway, Ginn what is it that you don't like about your system? Is it bright or lacking power? What about clarity? If you tell us what is it that your system doesn't do for you I'm sure lots of us will gladly give our opinions.

Ginntonic: I agree also with the above. You are going to get alot of suggestions depending on what you are looking for & how much to spend. What I see as your weak point would also be power. A couple of [opionions] I have would be a sherbourn 5/1500, b&k 7250, rotel 1095, and if you really want to stay with adcom then adcom gfa5503 & gfa5500. Those are my [opionions] in order, which for the $$$ will give you a big bang for the buck. All these amps range in the $2000-$2500 retail price. And we all know that is a price we do not pay that's why we are here for. The #1 web. I hope this helped you a little bit. Good Luck.

Viridian I can't agree more. The preamp should be the best piece in your system such that it's not your limiting factor(1) in order to get all that is available from your source components (2) in order to drive the downline equipment with the best quality signal possible.

thanks for the feedback so far .... some of you are saying i dont have enough power while some of you are saying i have too much just for clarification i have four gfa 555 running my 804's. i also have the gtp 830 which is adcoms newest preamp. would power cords help? would a change in rca's help? i am looking to clear it up so it is crisp and clean sounding.

I don't think that anyone has said you have too much or too little power. I did say you had a massive amount of power however I was not trying to say you had too much. I am saying this, I would rather have 50 super clean watts of power than 150 watts of average power. This is not to say that the Adcom power is junk but to say that there are some 50 watt class A amps which are better sounding. My experience is that a change of amps made the most impact on my system. I found that a change of preamps made a change but not as much as the amp. BTW I changed from Adcom GTP-450 to CJ PFR so I am familiar with Adcom. My son also has Adcom and is very pleased with it. I have been pleased with the pieces I have had. Wires make a subtle change, but I think your system seems to be balanced in that area which leads me to the next question. How do you have the amps connected? Could there be a problem in the amp setup?
As far as power chords and interconnects are concerned, you will find plenty of people on both sides of the issue. Some will say you need them, some not. If you want to try them Audio advisor has a 30 day $ back warranty.

I would replace the Monster HTS 5000 with the much better sounding and cheaper ($130) HTS-2000.

Take a look at the www.hcm.com site and follow to the Sonic Horizon site. They have a number of power cords at different prices from $89.00 to $499.00 and they have a 30 day trial with a full money back guarantee. Plus they have some great deals on some Audioquest and MIT power cables. Two years ago I had a set of Acurus A-150 amps with an Adcom preamp. The sound was pretty sharp and a set of Harmonic Tech AC-11n power cables mellowed it out very nicely. If you are basically happy with your equipment but would like to improve and refine it. I did have good luck with improving power cables. Plus there are many used power cables here at Audiogon. I wouldn't think that you have to go too high up to get an improvement on it. But it is worth the try.