A decent surge protector is different from a power conditioner and yes we all need one. We just had a power outage that tripped the protectors in all 3 of my systems.
Everything survived, thankfully
Help me upgrade my beginner system!
So I’ve been an entry-level audiophile for a while - I’ve never spent a large amount of money to put together a truly impressive system. Currently, I have the following gear:
- Elac Discovery Music Server
- Technics SL-1700 Turntable w/Pickering XSV300 cartridge
- Peachtree Nova 300 Integrated Amp
- GoldenEar BRX Bookshelf speakers
- NHT SW2P Subwoofer (w/MA-1 amp)
I also have a bunch of gear I inherited from my brother (all from the 1990s) that I will be trading in to a local stereo shop. That’s where I need help. What should I add/replace to improve on my setup? I’m not sure what I’ll get for the traded-in gear, but I suspect I’ll be able to purchase around $2 - $2.5K in new gear.
I’m personally leaning towards a DAC to improve upon the one built into the Peachtree, and maybe a good power conditioner (although I’m currently using my brother’s old Tice Elite AC Conditioner). I’m very hesitant to replace the Elac Discovery because it comes with Roon and works with both Tidal and Qobuz. Anyway, would love to get your thoughts on this!
Very appreciative of all the passionate advice! I'm going to contact my local store and send them my trade-in list and go from there, as well as get their recommendations. At this point, I've not ruled out room treatments, a speaker upgrade, and/or an integrated amp upgrade. This will probably take a number of weeks to work through but I'll definitely report back on what I got and the results. |
There is NOTHING wrong with the DAC in your Peachtree. It sounds better than you think. Of course, if you're hell-bent upon spending money, then by all means do so, but you'll be throwing it away. I run the early model Peachtree DAC-iT. Your amp will be running the newer iTx version. |
At one time I compared the preamp + amp sections of the Peachtree Nova 150. I had this unit for about 3 years. I forgot how I did the separation of the different parts to test, but I know I did do that and came to the following conclusions: - the preamp section is terrible - I think I also thought the DAC was terrible - the amp section was pretty good, though nowhere close to the Peachtree GAN1 that I mentioned above. |