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 5 responses by tomic601

Fantastic bass w EQ i refer to wins lots of awards and recommendations from a wide swath …since 1977… starting below $20 k… It’s really not that difficult….

prudent dimensions, 11 bands of analog EQ below 120 hz and a swarm only if needed I am part owner of a recording studio…. i am very aware…. 

Some of the best mastering rooms - think Blue Note Tone Poet are not the over treated dedicated audiophile rooms…..in fact they resemble living rooms … You can ( i’ve done it many times ) get control room RT-60 targets using natural absorbers and more diffusion….. 

You got lots of advice on gear… some spotty advice on acoustics… you might want to start a separate thread on what to look for and avoid in the new  space… including electrical….

Finally, speaking from some direct experience…tubes might be more reliable than certain old Mercedes…. ha….

Transducers are the magical devices that change one kind of energy to another…. in your case the two most important are the phono cartridge and speakers. I was hinting at a Lyra Etna… or better… For speakers as Patrick said, i advise an unfair advantage when speaker designer build a purpose built amplifier / amplifier ecosystem : in your budget the Vandersteen Quattro CT / M5 high pass amplifiers…. but like i said, lots of choices out there…. You got great advice on HRS isolation……  

Your post is not uppity in any shape or form…. i suggest permanently ignoring any who react with such petty emotion…. i would color it green.

Is it a blessing ? Sure.

I wouldn’t at your budget level focus on a sea change… but i would suggest working the two transducers in your system and the room. For $35 K you could have monoblocks and speakers with 11 bands of EQ below 120 hz to work in just about ANY room you choose… Get into a better Lambda  Lyra ( keep your Kleos as a backup ), get dual pivot on VPI ( can’t remember IF you pulled trigger on it. )… put some $ in the room….but don’t kill it w over treatment AS so many dedicated rooms do……

Finally have fun, enjoy the journey….