I am looking to upgrade - looking for advice
So I am the guy who recently asked if a Rotel 1572 preamp would work with a Parasound A21+ amp. So I was asking because I was thinking of upgrading my current amp which is a Rotel 1552. The rest of my system is Yamaha CD player and project turntable (both approx $400 each), Bluesound Node, and B&W 705 S2 speakers. Right now I primarily stream my music through the node. So I was interested in the next step to improvement and I thought it would be what the amplifier. After reading some of the posts on my original question (would the A21 work well with my Rotel preamp I am now thinking that I need to look at both the preamp and amp. Of course that is you agree with my assessment. Here are a few of the amps I was looking at: A21, Vincent SP-332, and Bryson 3b3. The preamps that were suggested all look outstanding: Benchmark LA4, Backert Labs Rhumba 1.3 and the Audionet Pre 1 G3. It looks like with these I would need to also get a DAC, not sure about the phono stage. Any advice is appreciated. I am knee to this.
I am not sure why you are mixing the brands if you plan to upgrade both. Why wouldn't you stick with e.g. Parasound? Or Bryston. Etc. You will likely not struck out with 2 different "random" brands for a pre and power amp to find a perfect match. I would pick one component to upgrade to make the jump and try a number of models. Then I would upgrade the other components. Patience is your best friend :) |
@vthokie83 budget is what he listed he is interested in, I assume - 4-5K |
On the plus side, with the Hegel, now your amp is the strongest link in your chain. That’s not a bad thing, aside from: at 250Watts, it is a beast, way above the B&Ws’ capacity. I don’t know the B&W 705 S2 and how they sound in your room and how big is your room. If you add 2 subs, maybe it will be a huge step up from your previous rig. I used to think speakers make the biggest difference, but here is my analogy: speakers emit the sound that you hear, it’s the constant that can’t change. It’s like a car and the driver, the speakers are the car and everything else are the driver, your room, placement, sweet spot, amp, source, cables, etc. My approach is to find a speaker I like and then I "drive" the best and most out of it. |
yes, any of them.
your Pro-ject is already in the $500 range. You could upgrade the cartridge. I think their tonearms are really good and the rest is OK. I had an mmf and there is an Evo Carbon in the family and no complaints. I have searched a lot in the 500-1000 range and ended up with a slightly used Rega P3 which was a meaningful upgrade. Other than that, the $1000 range TT is the most argued subject here. |
