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Help me spend $100,000 on a new system

I’ve recently been considering moving and downsizing my home. While exploring how much I might sell my house and land for, I was shocked that I might have an excess of $100,000 after selling and buying a smaller new home with less acreage. I’m 71 years old and can’t take it with me, so I’m trying to figure out how to spend that potential resource.

One possibility would be to purchase a new stereo system with all that cash. I would like to demo a system costing that much to see what sound quality you could get for a stupendous amount like that. But I don’t have any idea what brand/model components to look at. Perhaps you could suggest components you might consider if you were setting up a system at that price point. Also how would you budget the total amount per component including wiring.

I am not interested in adding streaming or anything else I might not already have to the system. I would be open to buying separates to replace any single component such as the integrated amplifier. Maybe a separate DAC, phono stage, preamp etc. Please tell me what you would do.

Following are the components I already have to upgrade. My system consists of Magico A3 speakers, a Luxman 507uX MK2 integrated amp, a Marantz Ruby KI CD/SACD player, A VPI Classic 2 turntable with a Fatboy tonearm and a Lyra Kleos cartridge. Wiring consists of Audioquest Rocket 88 speaker cables, and VPI house brand wires that connect to the tonearm. I forget the brands of the other wires and cables, but they are of similar quality to the above.

I also have a Shunyata Hydra Denali 4000 power conditioner with a Venom power cord (I think) that I will continue to use without upgrading.

I would welcome any of your suggestions and utilize them next time I go up to Washington DC to visit dealer showrooms for demos. Thank you much.

It does sound weird to consider spending that much on a system costing over three times what I paid for my first home, so I hope I’m not sounding uppity here.

Mike

 

 

skyscraper

Showing 3 responses by mapman

mapman's avatar
mapman
21,890 posts
 

At this point I’m really only wanting to hear what $100.000 can buy and sound like.

It’s probably a fair assumption that anything reputable you buy for that money should be very good, in which case the end results will be determined largely by personal preferences (everyone is different here) and how well executed the system is end-to-end, including room, no matter what path is chosen.

Main thing is to enjoy what you are doing at all times, both along teh ride and once you reach the destination.

Were it me making that investment, I would be probably be seeking to have a large room that would be amenable to a nice pair of mbl omnis and go from there.

In lieu of just the right room needed for best results from full omnis like the mbl, I’d probably either stick with my large Ohms, or might consider splurging on a pair of KEF meta blade 1 or 2s. I might even settle for a pair of KEF Reference 3 meta for ~ $15K and optimize for those upstream. This is actually something currently on my radar screen, but so far I can’t justify the additional investment and overhead of another pair of fairly large and heavy speakers. I’ve actually downsized in recent years and when I compare what I have to that ideal, I find I am in a very good place for a lot less cost and operational overhead.

Cheers and good luck!

mapman's avatar
mapman
21,890 posts
 

If you are advertising spending $100k there is a good chance there are a few dealers or other high end industry affiliated folks around here licking their chops and offering “unbiased” advice. So be aware of that.

Also the people advising to not change anything until you know what you have in a new house and room are absolutely correct. You can’t know how anything will in fact sound there until you are there and listening. Anything is possible including ending up with your dream system for a lot less. Make one change at a time and the room and it’s acoustics will likely be a big one up front that does not change again.

I am also older and approaching retirement. I want the best sound and a system that is physically manageable. That means smaller and simpler is better. That’s just me but worth considering. Would you really want to deal with a large heavy bulky and hard to manipulate bunch of gear at this point that $100k could easily buy? Good things can come in smaller packages. Just something to consider perhaps.

mapman's avatar
mapman
21,890 posts
 

Find the right house with the right room for listening that will make you happy to spend time in first. You have good stuff to start with. See what the gear you have can do there first. Then consider what might be improved if needed.

Spending the money on gear too soon just because you can is probably not a wise way to go.

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