Help me spend $6000


I’m looking to get the best bang for the dollar. My amp is the Pass Labs INT-25. I listen to a lot of jazz,folk,classic rock,and funk. 
Floor-stander or monitor is fine. Prefer new, but I’m open to used. I’m looking for a detailed presentation, but not bright. I also prefer a thick midrange. 

Room is a bonus room with knee walls with carpet and bookshelves everywhere, but not officially treated. I sit near field. 
 

Pro-Ject RPM 10 Carbon

Soundsmith Zephyr III

Parasound JC3+

Denefrips Iris DDC

Denefrips Pontus II 

Hifi Rose RS250

Wilsenton R8

Klipsch Heresy IV

REL T5i x 2

Mac mini server running Roon

Degritter 

Pass Labs INT25

128x128travisg

Showing 2 responses by optimize

@travisg 

Room is a bonus room with knee walls with carpet and bookshelves everywhere, but not officially treated. I sit near field. 

That is great ^^^ .

But as I see it you got great electronic and gear.

So at this point my view is that you are asking how you can spend more money to get a different sound probably not better but just different and maybe hopefully to your more subjective liking. With the  gear you happen to have currently.

 

I see that you are at the point there you will just carry in and out to this room different HW/gear. And the combination of gear will give you a differently frequency response.. And if we looking at it from that point you will use gear as a equalizer and that is a very expensive way to equalize the sound and very cumbersome to do equalize. (But maybe just that is your hobby and keep doing that rest of your life and enjoy. You can also stop reading here.)

 

Another problem with use gear for equalizing is that they're static. For example if a specific item is good in low level listening senario or something else that you value. But you value other stuff also so you will come to the point that swapping out X component will sacrifice low volume listening experience for something else that you like. In other words hard to keep both things in some situations.

 

  • But if we want to increase sound quality.
  • And depending on mood/time on the day still be able to enjoy your system at different volume levels.
  • Plus being able to tailor to your own preferencences (!) That can adopt to you change preference over time.
  • Plus it will adjust to your specific room, gear and their physical positions.

What is that magical thing that can take you to the next level?

Get a DSP and measuring mic as a preamp (that is the correct position in the system). The analog (TT), digital streaming and optical media. 

Then you can integrate your subwoofers perfectly and for your room at your listening position. The same goes for the mains. You for example have four presets on the Mini DSP FLEX (measures as a good) that you can use different volume levels (as a loudness control) and with your preferences.

 

So better sound quality (indirectly fixing your room issues, that you even don't know probably you have today..) and versatile that do stuff that none if your other HW can do today. That brings added value to your system and you.

 

But you can use something more automatically calibration as Dirac or you can do it manually and with REW. That has a steeper learning curve but you have time to learn. 

 

(When you have a TT and 2 rels then the DSP can fix issues with rumble (acustic feedback from the bass to the TT depending on tonearm effective mass and the compliance of the cartridge the frequency will vary depending on them.) Implement a high pass filter in the DSP. So you see the DSP has many use cases, but you need to know about them.)

Maybe this is not a forum for me.

When I focus on getting better sound quality as the primary goal.

And changing in and out components year after year and just gaining something here and there maybe, in sound quality by losing something else somewhere else, By trying to match into a existing system something new.

 

That is not getting better sound quality it is just to get something different sounding it is what I call "chasing you tail", in my book.

 

And not gaining any new knowledge, by hook up another pair of speakers in this case (same procedure as for the previous once).

Nothing else than learning that speaker X sounds little bit of this and a little bit of that (in your room, with your electronics and your biases.). In other words will not help anybody else anything and it is useless knowledge except for yourself.

Maybe that is the case it is harder to learn new than just repeating old pattern. End of ranting.

Good luck with your new speakers whatever the are.❤️🎵🎶🎼💸