How to make the Focal Kanta No. 2 speakers sing?

As a Focal dealer, PLEASE treat your room first before you do anything else. Your room is more that 50% of what you are hearing. Once your room is treated correctly, you will be able to ascertain the differences between your components. Without treating your room, you haven't heard the Kantas yet.

There is science behind treating your room. Couches, rugs etc. don't treat the room correctly. Companies like Vicoustic will give you a package based on performance and aesthetics required. We do it all the time for our customers.

Drinking a nice wine out of a dixie cup tastes terrible. Put it in a Riedel glass and you are tasting what the wine maker created.

Chad

@donald_dac I have Focal Kanta 2s in a quite large room (3m x 5m). And am on the same journey as you. My journey, toward making the Focals sound warmer, and fuller and less fatiguing is ongoing. However, I have learned a few things along the way. The first was that adding REL subs made a big difference. They were hard to position and took quite a long time to break in, but they have made the biggest difference. I have the S/812s. But I over bought and should have bought the 510s.
Second, I moved to a Bryston 14 B3 amp from a Hegel H390. If I did it again, I would have bought the Bryston mono blocks as their input impedance is higher. Mistake!

Right now I have borrowed a tube preamp from my dealer who was exceedingly kind to lend it to me. That, combined with a tube DAC has made a difference. Even before switching from the Hegel integrated H390, the Lab 12 DAC 1 made an enormous difference. This is an inexpensive DAC from Greece that will not break the bank. Read the reviews! They are very positive.

Before my dealer lent me the DAC, I had bought an excellent sounding tube preamp from an Italian company called Synthesis, which totally brought the Focals to life. In a good way! But there was an impedance mismatch between the low input impedance on the Bryston and the slightly elevated output impedance on the Synthesis  but no doubt about it, that was the right preamp for the Focals.

My dealer has now ordered me a Pathos preamp, which I suspect will work well too.

A note on cables. They make a big difference. I upgraded my speaker cables to the DH labs Q 10. And also my amp power cable.

The Focals can sound amazing, but they need to be babied along on their journey to greatness.

I’d try to demo a tube preamp at home if at all possible.

Good tips from everyone. I'm, taking them all in consideration.

@rick_n Yes good, point. The ceiling is the weakest link here, plasterboard... It's a living room so I can't put anything up there for diffusing either.

@mm1tt77 Wise words. Great to hear you experience. Thanks. This is really what it boils down to.

An easy next step as pointed out is to mess around with the Yamaha AVR and see how far EQ:ing takes me. In combination with REW and the Umik perhaps. If that turns out well it might be a path to walk down further. And after a proven concept, perhaps later on getting a better performing device with EQ / room acoustics tools built in.

What about putting a pre amp, be it tube based or not, in front of the Class D amp. Has anyone done that in a case like this to achieve a welcoming warmth to the sound? Some sound tuning possibilities is also good to have.

I have not really planned to invest more than a like 2000€-3000€ on gear at this moment. On what would that money best be spent in this case?

Hi OP,

I haven’t had the Kanta’s but I have older Focal Towers 816V’s that I now use as my surround sound speakers, I have the 800v center.

I had the Electra 1028BE’s which prior to Focal revamping their line up was the trickle down speaker that had the Woofers / Tweeters found in their top line options. 
 

I struggled with what you are right now.  Highs were very pronounced, could be eerily smooth with the right recording but fatiguing with most.  Mid’s lacked, bass was there, deep, fast, punchy.  You’ll find Focal’s tend to lean toward the highs, fall into the more analytical camp.  They are also tougher to drive, especially if you want to get the most out of them, a better blend of Mid range to go with the Highs and lower region bass.  If they are slightly bright to you but you really love the sound signature, room treatment and changing your Amp will do the trick.  If you are further away from loving the sound signature than feeling like a few small tweaks will do the trick you’ll likely need to change your speakers.  I spent a lot of time and money chasing the right Pre / Amp / DAC combo and I still moved on from the Electra’a which many will hail as a tremendous speaker in the Focal line, blending in their top tier materials into a more affordable overall package.  Did I improve the performance of the speakers, mainly through amplification changes, absolutely, did it change the tweeter / tuning of the speakers being fatiguing, nope.  
 

If you are sure you want to keep the speakers, they’ll need amplification that isn’t all about Watts but impedance / handling difficult swings, loads.  Brands like Pass, Parasound, Coda, Music Fidelity, Mac, Krell, Hegel.  Naim is also often paired as they are owned by the same parent company.  You can find Amps today that won’t heat your room.  If you want to keep costs down, look for used Integrated units, Parasound Hint 6, Music Fidelity, a little pricier but a step up amplification / Pre wise, Coda, and the latest Krell would be fantastic fit, you can get it with a DAC.  You could also go all in one streamer, DAC Pre / Amp with Naim or Hegel, the Hegel 390 would be a great all in 1 solution. 
 

Amplification will make the biggest difference in performance followed by Room Treatment.  I tried those plus Room Correction andEQ’d things via Roon, still moved on.  A great recording that focused on vocals, I have never heard a speaker speak to me like the Electra’s with their BE Tweeters and I’ve cycled through some speakers, but I only loved them 10 % of the time as when I moved onto poorer recordings, rock and other genres they were fatiguing.  
 

So, I’ve lived what you are going through, you can warm them up, bring the mids more into the equation but that won’t change the highs, if they are really fatiguing now, that fatigue will still be there to a lower degree but there.  Best advice I got that I ignore for too long was only your ears matter, if the sound signature isn’t for you on a particular speaker you won’t be able gear or room treatment your way out of it.  

+1 to the OP for the detailed question!  I have a good deal of experience with Focal.  They can sound quite good, very lively, in a properly treated room.  One thing that is too often overlooked is the point of reflection off the ceiling.  Untreated this yields an unwanted point of reflection of the highs which causes phase issues and thins the mids.  To get more out of the mids you might want to reposition the speakers to get more room gain.  I demoed the Kanta 3's  and thought they sounded fantastic.  They were being driven by tube/ss hybrid McIntosh MA352 and the pairing was lovely.  If you would like to keep the speakers I would look for a used MA352, they are usually available on the second hand market, and try your Eversolo analogue out into the amp.  Cheers and good luck.

Just a reminder that technically "warmth" is associated with ~ 150-250hz frequency range which is the upper range of what is considered bass. Worth noting if one is to attempt to add "warmth" . A sub or two properly mixed in might be called for otherwise perhaps some simple equalization or DSP.

Also 2-6 khz range is high midrange and  associated with "crunch and edge" so too much of that is not a good thing.

I’d take a sound meter or good sound meter app to the problem with some streamed white noise to determine what is really going on. Adjectives alone may not be the best way to properly identify and resolve the issue.

I took a closer look at the directivity plots for this speaker, and while I stand by everything I said, there’s some additional thoughts:

This is, generally, a narrow directivity speaker, but the 5-8kHz range has a wider dispersion than the rest, while the top octaves are even narrower. So, yes to minimizing toe-in but also they will benefit a great deal from thin wall treatments to the sides. This will greatly reduce that excess 5-8kHz energy in the room, relative to the rest of the speaker. This should warm them up but also greatly improve imaging. The room treatment in this case is going to be a significantly better and more nuanced solution than simply applying EQ to the problem. Fixing it via EQ also means reducing on-axis performance. OTOH, if you are going to reduce toe in or eliminate it, then an EQ may be just the finishing touch.

If you feel this reduces the signature Focal air you may wish to add diffusion between the speakers to compensate.

Honestly I’m a little surprised at how well that large mid functions up to 3 kHz.

Get a parasound JC5 amp it works amazing with Kanta’s because they need BALLS to drive and make any bass.
preamp do not do parasound do the Holo Audio Preamp forget the Schiit crap it’s total junk on amplification.
your cables are also probably horrible get Kubala Sosna Temptation level for speaker cables and interconnects.
Or spend $15800 get a Mola Mola Kula integrated or a spend 10k get the Modwright integrated. Your problem is you’re looking at complete midfi affordable stuff to play Nicer focal speakers because you want to beat the system psychologically. You should always spend more money on the Electronics than the speakers in your system!

@donald_dac 

As a few others have said I also think the Kanta 2s are a fine speakers that can sound great. We have Kanta 3s in our home theatre with the Kanta center channel and Kanta 1s for surrounds and they all sound great. We have the Marantz 8805 processor with a McIntosh 8207 amp.  We have also heavily treated the room with Vicoustics panels ( located in Portugal ) and some Gik panels.  It’s probably more panels than you would want to do but it has worked out well in our room. You can see the room in my details section. Vicoustics also does a free analysis for you. Good luck whichever path you take ! 

I  have focal scala v2 with ARC amp and preamp tubes 

No issue there

i have also used same speakers with CJ 27A amp and Cj preamp great warm sound with jazz , vocal  LPs

i have used big boy Mc1.2kw in past  no complaints but SS is not my cup of tea.

For a high quality, effective, inexpensive, sonically quiet approach to the problem:

https://www.schiit.com/products/lokius

When I heard the focal Kanta , I did not hear any brightness and thin sound. I remember the gear are esoteric , all storm series power cables, and wireworld ic and speakers cable.I like them a lot.

I have some loss of hearing in the high frequencies, so the tweeter isn’t the issue for me. I’m led to believe it is the flax drivers and the lower frequencies in the Kanta line that are the weak link.

It’s the tweeter. I had the Sopras 2 and they bled my ears till I sold them

I agree with Erik that tube gear is not a good match with most Focal speakers due to their erratic impedance curves. Kevin Deal shills his Prima Luna gear as being a good match with Focal speakers, but he doesn’t use Prima Luna gear to drive his 94 dB Focal Grand Utopias (he uses very high wattage and expensive tube Pathos amps).Macintosh solid state might warm the Kanta 2s up a bit, and several subs would help fill in the wimpy low frequencies. In the end I think they are a poorly balanced speaker. They are indeed thin and bright. I am a fan of the Electra and Sopra collections, but not Kanta.

@deep_333 You never got a chance to post those pics of your two channel system that incorporates Bache, Id still love to see that setup, thanks in advance.

@bikeboy52 The virtual systems module has been broken for months. I can neither upload my system nor view anyone's system. IT guy around here must be on a permanent vacation.

You can block anyone by going to your settings page

Good grief, i found it, thanks...Now, i can only hope that I am isolated from this one dude (either a genuine barking imbecile or peddler for some brands/paid pied piper, whatever he may be).

Misogyny, that is an incredible response.  You must have a lot of knowledge.

Donald, I noticed your units of measurement were in metric.  Do you live in Canada or Europe.

Great discussion.  There is a lot of knowledge in this group.

I have Kanta 2's in an all tube 2 channel system. Carver Crimson 275 amp, PrimaLuna preamp and Allinic H-5500 phono stage. Vinyl and CD's sound fantastic. Your speakers are definitely not your weakest link. At a minimum, dump the Class D amp for a decent tube amp and you'll feel the difference. 

Hegal sounds very good with them  detailed and a bit warmer.

Easy, drive them with an amplifier that's two ohm stable to deal with the impedance dip. 

You can block anyone by going to your settings page 

I've never owned Focal speakers but have heard them demonstrated at dealers and at shows. These include Kantas and Sopras and what I heard aligns with your experience that they sounded bright and thin and very much in your face. So my conclusion is ditch the speakers and look at something in the Sonus Faber range or Josephs and even electrostatics or planars from the likes of Martin Logan or Magneplanar

Hey guys, is there any way on this forum to put one clueless barking bozo (who follows me around on threads like a rabid creature) in a permanent ignore blackhole?

Yeah. Stop posting clueless and silly crap like what you’ve been posting here. That’ll work.

Yep, it’s the speakers. No doubt about it. 
 

Ship them to me and I will dispose of them.

Hey guys, is there any way on this forum to put one clueless barking bozo (who follows me around on threads like a rabid creature)  in a permanent ignore blackhole?

Well that’s just utter crap. If a mass market prepro incorporated anywhere near the level of parts quality of a good stereo preamp its price would go up several times, which is exactly why the better prepros out there that actually do a decent job as a stereo preamp cost multiples of what mass market units go for.

@soix , Sure, spend 60k on a Trinnov prepro. You will also pay/get a lifetime of free customer support anytime (US labor rates). I highly doubt a dude like you will still get anywhere with it without hiring a system integrator who knows what he is doing.

Drinking raw eggs will help singing practice.

At least one audiophile have to try that tweak on speakers and see if they will start singing.

@deep_333 You never got a chance to post those pics of your two channel system that incorporates Bache, Id still love to see that setup, thanks in advance.

What cream preamp were you gonna suggest to a dude with a Focal Kanta soix? 40k? 80k? Gryphon? Boulder? Do you even know what his budget is soix?

That's some high-school-level and tendentious trolling. Bad form.

+1 @soix 

On the same note, don't be fooled by the misinformation and the fact that  some of these insanely featured high quality prepros are still offered at "relatively affordable" prices (compared to purist gear). They are heavily subsidized for you by the motherload of hometheater people

Well that’s just utter crap.  If a mass market prepro incorporated anywhere near the level of parts quality of a good stereo preamp its price would go up several times, which is exactly why the better prepros out there that actually do a decent job as a stereo preamp cost multiples of what mass market units go for.  You’re totally misrepresenting what economies of scale can accomplish, and saying a $2700 prepro can hold its own against the better stereo preamps out there is seriously misguided and is misleading the OP here.  That you can somehow use DSP to cover up the warts of a component designed to offer a host of features and meet a low price point is just polishing the turd, but it’s still a turd. 

@donald_dac , On the same note, don't be fooled by the misinformation and the fact that  some of these insanely featured high quality prepros are still offered at "relatively affordable" prices (compared to purist gear). They are heavily subsidized for you by the motherload of hometheater people around the world and the system integrators who deploy them in houses. Yes, they come big with learning curves and its typically system integrators who deploy them for a pretty penny. 

If these things were marketed to purist audiophiles alone, they would cost magnitudes more. If cars weren't subsidized for you by the market scale, i.e., every other guy buying a car out there with a loan....a lotta guys couldn't afford cars and would walk everywhere...similar concept.... 

You seem that to think that as you keep spending on the powersupply, caps, parts quality or whatever (facepalm) till you hit a 100k, sonic nirvana will continue to flow expansively like the Niagara beyond any limits of perceptibility.
 

@deep_333 I think better parts quality properly implemented will outperform a properly implemented preamp with cheap parts.  Yeah, parts matter, and they matter a lot.  Compare an ARC preamp to an upgraded SE version or a McCormack amp upgraded by SMcAudio with better parts and you learn that lesson right quick.

You seem to not understand the diminishing returns or the limitations of a preamp section itself in a chain, a treated room, etc (no matter how much you spend)…To me, the extent of what a preamp can achieve in a chain ain’t all that much (as you seem to imagine).

Well, you seem to not understand the importance of a preamp in the context of overall system performance, and no one with any level of experience that you profess to have would ever say what you said.  And it’s not what I imagine but what I’ve heard in my system, and IME a preamp is one of the most critical components in a system.  If you think a preamp doesn’t achieve all that much in the context of a system I think you’re absolutely mistaken and that you’ll find most here very much on the opposite side of that argument. 

@soix 

+1

@erik_squires Accurate well thought out and researched post. I own and love the Kanta Two,s. Your absolutely right on all counts and a tube amp should be a bad choice for this speakers impedance challenges. However I use them with both a Classe solid state amp and a Prima Luna Evo 400 tube amp and prefer the sound of the tubes with them. You can never tell what’ll work till you give it try right? Synergy ,room , individual tastes, so much goin on with this crazy hobby.

It's really good to get input from people with different experiences and preferences. Love it.

@deep_333 Thanks for the extensive Yamaha PEQ guide. I will give the Yamaha another 2 channel chance based on your tips, thanks for the push!

I have found that YPAO hasn't worked out for me though. I always ended up with measuring tape and manual PEQ settings, as you point out too. The other PEQ modes are not very good. Especially the subs needed manual setting as described. The enhancer gave me phase problems with the subs so it's turned off, as well as the other features you mention.

REW room simulator is a good tool, especially to identify the 32 Hz room mode I have. I have a Umik-1 as well but haven't overcome the hurdle to start measuring properly. Also on the todo list!

YPAO is not up to the same level as Dirac as I understand, thus a Marantz AVR was mentioned as a possible upgrade. Haven't heard one in action though...

I will do a shootout with the Eversolo/Purifi amp and the Yamaha with and without Purifi amp and see where that puts me.

The Eversolo is quite nice BTW, especially with the latest update which provided an impressive spectrum analyzer. Reminds me of my first stereo system I got in 1992, the Sony MHC 2600 which also had a spectrum analyzer 😀 Good memories from that one.

@soix I see the point here with the Yamaha AVR not having the best pre amp/ Dacs etc. It's a good allrounder with lots of functionality and is probably ok but not at the level of separates in a higher price range. That's also why I've been looking at a 2 channel path in parallell to the multichannel path.

@erik_squires I've also understood that the Kantas are current hungry despite they quite high sensitivity and need a capable amp to perform.

@larsman @mapman The speakers are indeed broken in and are 3-4 years old. I got them used 15 months ago or so and I have 1000+ playing hours myself on them. Some really loud hours as well, so they should be as soft and mellow as they could be.

He also didn’t read the part where i mentioned that the dude’s upgrade path should go to a Yamaha flagship prepro (since he has a hybrid stereo/multichannel setup), which holds its own against any preamp out there.

@deep_333 So, a $2700 pre pro holds its own against any preamp out there?  No. Just…no.  That’s just silly talk.  There’s no way a $2700 pre pro can match the parts quality, power supply, etc. of the better stereo preamps out there.  No way.  And yes I did read and understand your prior post where you said the Yamaha RXA2080 has a “great” preamp section.  It does not and you’re just flat out wrong for saying it.  You can talk all you want, but your words are your words, and maybe you should just choose them more carefully when spewing out stuff here.

Good point to determine if speakers are broken in yet. Could be that if not.

Have the speakers been broken in yet? Your description sounds very much like many speakers sound right out of the box; a few hundred hours later, they may sound much different.... 

I don’t know about the new Focal line; but  McIntosh and Focal was a good    
match  many years ago.

And you will not loose much money , if you resell McIntosh  .

Audioclassics  has used McIntosh gears.         
https://www.audioclassics.com

@deep_333 So, a $1700 AVR has a great preamp section??? I beg to differ, and a good stereo preamp is absolutely critical. I’m a fan of Yammy AVRs, but no $1700 AVR has a “great” preamp section. Period.

Every dude has to start somewhere...But, as expected, @soix didn’t read the full post or even understood what it was about.... and assumes that a 1700 Yamaha AVR that he never played with has an abyssmal preamp section. He also didn’t read the part where i mentioned that the dude’s upgrade path should go to a Yamaha flagship prepro (since he has a hybrid stereo/multichannel setup), which holds its own against any preamp out there. It is indeed a possibility that soix knows nothing about the performance/value offered in Yamaha gear.

For reference, I have Yamaha’s flagship prepro, a 10k purist preamp (Yamaha C5000) and a 20k preamp (Luxman C900) currently. I have had the Gryphons and the Esoterics and the whatever else in the past...I sure as sht am not gonna suggest to a guy with a Focal Kanta that he should get a 20k preamp.

What cream preamp were you gonna suggest to a dude with a Focal Kanta soix? 40k? 80k? Gryphon? Boulder? Do you even know what his budget is soix?

I’m not saying Focal and a tube amp are a technical match made in heaven in that tube amps seldom are for the impedance reasons mentioned, but I do think the tonal results might be of interest in this particular case as described.

Individuals tend to prefer many different flavors of sound, like flavors of ice cream. The best technical matches do not always win as is often cited here, although personally I tend to levitate towards things done right for the best chances of good results.

Alternately I have heard Focal sound very good with Krell SS amplification. Also Audio Research tube amplification (almost always a safe bet). Rogue is essentially a more cost effective alternate to ARC. A hybrid integrated like Rogue Pharoah is another I am familiar with that I would consider were it me. No impedance issues there.

I suspect Pharoah should sound very good in most any setup. It was awesome demoed to me with both Magnepan and Sonus Faber which tells me Focal would be no problem whatsoever.

In my experience, Focal speakers are excessively sensitive to amplifier current capabilities.

The Kanta’s, like many of Focal’s floor standers with dual woofers, suffers from excessively low impedance in the mid bass. IMHO, a bad match for most tube amps. They need careful positioning relative to the rear wall to get maximum reinforcement and a solid amplifier.

Other positioning tips are to minimize toe-in and increase mid/treble absorbers in the room which will better balance out the speaker.  Those inverted domes have resonances which make them sound best off-axis.  You'll know you did it right when you go from having a Left, Center and Right image to an image that is seamless from left to right without a gap. 

https://www.stereophile.com/content/focal-kanta-no2-loudspeaker-measurements

If I were you, with those very fine speakers, I would want to hear if a tube amp in place of the Class D would be more to your liking. I’d consider something like a Rogue Cronus Magnum personally.

Note I run good quality Class D amps on all my systems personally but being familiar with the Focal sound that particular combo might be a bit too much in the manner you describe  for many. 

@soix 

+1

that receiver is a full featured/polished up streamer+good DAC implementation+great preamp sections and.... poweramp sections which are a bit weak (as is typical of multichannel receivers)

@deep_333 So, a $1700 AVR has a great preamp section???  I beg to differ, and a good stereo preamp is absolutely critical.  I’m a fan of Yammy AVRs, but no $1700 AVR has a “great” preamp section.  Period. 

@donald_dac , 

Good grief dude, it looks like you are about to go down some major rabbit holes and continue resurfacing with  disgruntlement and vexation of spirit, simply because you haven't explored what you already have in its entirety. Fortunately, you have a nice piece of Yamaha gear that could deliver you and provide salvation in these times of darkness.

Step a) Unplug the eversolo and set it aside for now.

Step b) Unplug the Audiophonics Class D crap and sell it to a Class D crap lover on Audiosciencereview.

Step c) Plug your front speakers directly into your Yamaha Class AB RX-A2080. The RX-A2080 is a step lower than their former flagship receiver (RX-A3080) and would possibly have many of the feature sets in their former flagship prepro (CX-A5200). As far as your 2 channel music listening goes, that receiver is a full featured/polished up streamer+good DAC implementation+great preamp sections and.... poweramp sections which are a bit weak (as is typical of multichannel receivers). Your Eversolo and the Audiophonics crap are not gonna beat it for 2 channel listening. I don't know much about your specific Focal speaker, but Focals i've heard are generally abrasively bright with thin mids, etc (like some of the ear abusing hometheater Klipsch speakers).

The following will also be a very important exercise for you to fully study/understand the type of sound signature you like...the signature that pleases you most without spending money...

Step d) Run YPAO calibration correctly for your hometheater. First mic location with tripod will be at your primarily listening position/sweetspot. Set additional positions within 1 foot of this primary location (your sweet spot is all that matters). At the end of the cal, disable "YPAO volume" and "enhancer".

Step e) Go into your configuration, YPAO would have have set your EQ to "YPAO flat", "YPAO natual", etc. That is for entry level users. You would go into MANUAL PEQ.

Step f) Use the manual PEQ to warm things up and improve spatial qualities without contributing to shoutiness, reducing brightness, etc. The perception of warm, chunky, chocolatey, delicious, etc can vary in frequency band for different types of guys....So try the following as a starting point, an example....
~99hz, Q=0.5, +2 dB
~198hz, Q=0.79, +1db
1khz, Q=0.79, +2.5
8k, Q=0.5, -1db
16k, Q=0.5, -1 db

If it is still shouty, pull the 8k band a bit lower with low Q's still....You see this type of utility? Sky is the limit on how you change the sound of a speaker with full featured PEQ and examining the sound you like.

Step g) Moving on....You will have "pattern settings" (saving all your specific settings) in your receiver. Set pattern 1 for specific hometheater settings and pattern 2 for 2 channel stereo. In 2 channel stereo (if you wanna be more of a purist), don't setup a subwoofer crossover in its bass management module. Run the 2 fronts "LARGE" and turn on "extra bass", which will dovetail your subs in where your mains drop off. Manually set the subwoofer crossover knob on sub to around 60hz or so. The Yamaha will do the rest/do a seamless blend.

Step h) After you get satisfactory results from your PEQ experiments and the full featureset/utility level of your receiver, you will also have a much better understanding of the type of sound you like. Now, get meaty Class AB or Class A power amps for your receiver's preouts into your 2 front speakers for music.  I would recommend preouts to a pair of the Schiit TYR monoblocks for your fronts, i.e., a weird type of Class Aish topology with gobs of power that sounds exquisite.

After you fully read your Yamaha's manual cover to cover and understand the insanity levels of its feature set and utility, you may never be able to let it go. At the least, it is a very good experimentation tool. At that point, upgrade to a Yamaha prepro, either get a used CX-A5200 or wait a minute for the upcoming flagship prepro (CX-A5300 or whatever else they may plan to name it).

When you go into purist gear, you will lose all such flexibility and just keep diving from rabbit hole to rabbit hole like most dudes around here...unless you've fully experimented with what type of sound signature you really like and become surgical with the type of purist gear you get.

 Good luck.