To be takeen in considaration at 72 : health care services ; good neibourghood,( friends nearby, safety ) fiscal laws , etc . A major decision , for sure .
Anyway , good luck .
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
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Maxwave, I’m still in the considering options phase and have not sold my house as of yet. I’ve been seriously considering becoming an expatriate, except that moving all my stuff to another country and dealing with buying a home, visas and the like is a pretty tall order for a 72 year old. So I’m standing pat at the moment in my current situation, without an extra 100 grand to throw around. Thanks for asking, though. Mike |
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do things gradually so you can appreciate the changes. Why would you want to spend $100,000 and have like eight boxes of stuff and then you put them all together and maybe it’ll sound OK but you’ll never know what does what in terms of a contribution. In short a really really bad idea. Would you take a helicopter ride up to the top of Kilimanjaro if you could? Seems to me it’s all about the journey and not the destination. Why do you want to change the process?
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Wise post! thanks unreceivedogma... 😊
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Well …. I’ve spent about $35K, … with the OTL rebuild, now maybe closer to $40K over 50 years and while there are systems that sound as good, I haven’t heard one that sounds better. And this stuff is so subjective: what sounds good to me may sound like crap to you. So … I can’t help you, as I have a different philosophical approach to getting to where I want to go.
Also, at our ages, do you really want to complicate your life with more stuff? I’d use that money to see the world. Good luck. theaudioatticvinylsundays.com |
As a retired audio consultant, and have spent lots of people’s money, I am with the statement by ronres which is, only you can know what " sound ", what " characteristics " of recorded music, you are looking for. Plus, especially with that much money, the room size, speaker / listening seat location, and the acoustical design of the listening room / area, can make or break the expenditure. This is, imo, all premature. Get the room 1st ( house ). I mean no offense. Enjoy the journey....My best, MrD. |
Happy to help, Btw, the friend I mentioned is about the same age as you, and is doing something very similar. He’s landed on the following choices: Moon 861 amp ($22k), Moon 891 pre ($25k), and Wilson Sasha V ($50k). He’s a digital-only guy, and a big part of the appeal of the Moon pre is the quality of its streamer. There’s probably a different Moon combo that would be more appropriate for you given your indifference to streaming; Ember also has some other SS brands that could be interesting (e.g., Atoll, Hegel, etc.), not to mention turntables (AMG, Clearaudio, Rega. and I think Feickert as well). |
There are numerous approaches to bass management none of which are perfect. Personally I favor trapping over all others. Although I am very interested in the Trinnov Waveforming technology for bass management 50 Hz and lower. I’m betting on a combination of Wide band absorptive traps focused diaphragmatic traps, active bass traps and the Trinnov system to be the best solution. The goal is an even impulse response uniformly bellow 150 milliseconds with flat frequency response using minimal EQ. But no bass management is going to be a problem. |
“Some of the "best mastering rooms" use tuned resonators to address all the strong room modes (It may have been quite discreet, i.e. you may have thought there wasn’t anything there).” indeed, there is no “naturalistic” way to manage room issues in the bass. There are ways to keep bass traps out of sight. |
Next time you're in the DC area stop in at Linear Tube Audio and have a listen in their new listening room. The new 120-watt mono’s are fantastic sounding and will probably be production-ready in a couple of months. Also, if you're in the area you stop in to see me and listen to my DS Audio Grand Master cartridge with the Integrity Tru-Glider tone arm. I have Gamut RS5i speakers I greatly enjoy and my Backert Labs preamp is no slouch either.
Lance |
Some of the "best mastering rooms" use tuned resonators to address all the strong room modes (It may have been quite discreet, i.e. you may have thought there wasn’t anything there).
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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…. |
hsounds, Trouble with the room decor is that I have mostly Federal style furnishings (mostly repros of an early American, roughly 1790-1820 style, for anyone not familiar) that doesn’t lend itself to what you are describing. How would you tell if you had either Series 1 or 2 tweeters?. I will listen to the Magico S3’s. niodari, If I can use rugs, furniture, plus lots bookshelves and some paintings to achieve the same ends that would be great. mdalton, I will look at Ember Audio and Design, see what they carry. on their website and hopefully pay them a visit. Thanks for mentioning them. They’re about two and a half hours away, maybe an hour closer than DC. Mike
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Sure. Absorption is not uniform across the frequency spectrum. It depends on the absorptive material, how thick it is and how much space if any there is between it and the reflective surface behind it. If one haphazardly puts 1”-2” “acoustic foam” on the walls the result will certainly be duller highs and no improvement in the mid range |
@scottwheel , can you expound upon that? |
Hey, I get you do not want your space looking like a Studio. If that’s the case use the very cheapest cables and some egg cartons. All joking aside, there are some really great innovations in the acoustic room treatments world. Like acoustic absorbers with nice pictures either yours or pre done. Diffusers that look like art sculptures with waves and colors, and finally treating your front wall with a beautiful paintable difusion arrangements that look amazing. Look at Jays Iyage. Not cheep, but sounds amazing! Your guests would be none the wiser. this is my first recommendation. |
“I honestly don’t want my listening room to look anything like a studio as it is my primary living space. But I am fully open to using what I have in terms of furnishings (many books on shelves furniture, rugs, artwork etc. as well as designing room dimensions and wall materials) to augment the acoustics.” Also there are active bass traps from PSI in Switzerland. You can get 8 of them and place them strategically throughout the room. They are relatively small and very effective in a w swarm array. That would cost around $30K |
“I honestly don’t want my listening room to look anything like a studio as it is my primary living space. But I am fully open to using what I have in terms of furnishings (many books on shelves furniture, rugs, artwork etc. as well as designing room dimensions and wall materials) to augment the acoustics.” Do you have an attic space above your he ceiling? You can build a state of the art wide band bass trap into any ceiling that has a large space above it that is yours to modify as you wish. And you can make it virtually indistinguishable from normal ceiling. |
laoman, as you pointed out I would appreciate if in replies if anyone would primarily address the questions originally posted, like most of you have. That would be most helpful and will keep this thread on track. Thanks for mentioning this laoman. I did mix up the Gryphon Diablo 300 and the new 330 model. I’d read reviews of the Diablo 300 previously, but not the new Diablo 330 as I mistakenly stated. Inna called that one right. Sorry for the confusion. occasionallycurrent, I honestly don’t want my listening room to look anything like a studio as it is my primary living space. But I am fully open to using what I have in terms of furnishings (many books on shelves furniture, rugs, artwork etc. as well as designing room dimensions and wall materials) to augment the acoustics. Mike
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"I can tell why not. Because the man has a different idea. He invited us to participate in his idea, not to suggest other possible ways of money management." EXACTLY! It is incredibly rude for people to suggest other than what he is asking. "Yeah, you meant Diablo 300." No he did not. This model has been superseded.
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Considering the gear you already have, I would spend every bit of that $100,000 on fully treating a room.
See if there are any recording studio designers in your area, and explain to them what you’re looking for. You’ve already acquired quite nice gear, give them the room to shine, and let your ears lead the way from there. |
Gryphon also makes speakers, though they are less known than their electronics. Yeah, you meant Diablo 300. If possible, you might be interested in auditioning Kharma and Lansche speakers. They are different from Magico and Wilson. I think, their entry level speakers start at about $25k. Lansches do need plasma tweeters to be replaced from time to time, which is inconvenient and not inexpensive, unless they managed to overcome this shortcoming. But the sound of that tweeter..
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Inna, I read a review on the Diablo Gryphon 333 when it first came out. Can’t remember who did the review or what if anything they said about it’s phono stage and DAC, or how they compared to other phono stage or DAC separates. Seems like they are a reputable company and have been around for a while, which has its’ appeal. axeis1, no need to get insulting. I was thinking at a $100,000 price tag each component in my current system would probably need upgrading to fit in and not be a weak link. Maybe not. At age 71 I don’t need appreciating assets more than I already have. I don’t care that if I decide to spend that much on a new system if it loses half its value as I’ll never sell it, I held onto my previous system for some forty years, only upgrading that whole system to what I currently have a couple of years ago. At some point in your life you need to cash in your chips so to speak, and enjoy the benefits of what you worked for all your life. scotwheel, no not yet, I’m only exploring my options at this point.. Mike |
tunefuldude, no where else I can think of. macg19, will do. maxwave, my heirs will have to worry about thar eventuality. I plan on using the room ’til I drop. Thanks for the many equipment recommendations. I’ll look into all of them. garrettc, fortunately I already had a bit stashed for unexpected issues, so this new amount should be free and clear for any use, sensible or not. I’ll look into the Wilson Alexx speakers you mention. mtbiker29. I do like your recommendation, so you obviously do have good taste. I’ll be checking into all of them. Getting an old Mercedes might be a good idea too, if it turns out the amount of audio improvement is not significant enough to warrant such a huge expenditure. fritenheimer, Good thought, but after spending a lifetime in psychology related "helping" professions both in and out of Corrections, it’s time to help myself to some fu,n even if its’ on the selfish side. kennyc, thank you especially for the DAC recommends. I need to learn more about them. I’ll look up the cable recommends too. I was going to demo some Josehp Audio speakers prior to getting Magico A3’s. But having to go all the way from SW Virginia to Pennsylvania just to find dealer, plus get a demo, seemed prohibitive at the time This time I won’t be so lazy. inna, I wonder how good the optional DAC and phono stage are on the Gryphon Diablo 333.ntegrated amp. It would be nice to have that all in one package rather than having to waste money on more expensive wires and cables for separates I’ll read up on your other suggestions too. Thanks again for good advice. btbluesky, it would be funny to get JBL speakers again. My first decent speakers many years ago were JBL Century 100’s. I’ll add your suggested JBL’s to my list to read up on. overthemoon. thank you for multiple recommendations. That’s exactly what I’m looking for here. I’ll look into each one. immatthew, thanks for the links. I’ll check each out. Again thanks all, Mike |
a)Room ( acoustic / dedicated electricity / pleasant room design ) If you have to …….. : b)Speakers choice ( +cables / anti vibration feet )
Keep in mind that when you will sell your new house one day , you will not get the room’s money back. |
You could buy some killer Wilson Alexx speakers and supplement the setup with a high end amp and preamp. The guys here will have plenty of suggestions. Alternatively, maybe write the editors at Stereophile for some recommendations. I like the idea of buying a a house with a room you could dedicate to a listening. room. Another un-exciting option would be save that $100k for times when you have health problems and need to pay the bills. Actually, it's kind of nice just having the cash and not having to use it. |
With Vinnie Rossi Brama line , you have the choice to listen in SS mode and Tubes mode . Brama integrated : SS mode or Tube mode In Audio Shows , Vinnie Rossi Brama line has been paired with Magico , Rockport , QLN , YG .
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