If there is one thing you could change in your current system. What would it be?

@ghdprentice i started with a system that was $3500 in the beginning. Well its 20 years later and lets just say every component cost way more than that. But our systems are our joy. Some like cars we like audio. I went  for it and got the sound I sought. Enjoy. We all have these audio journey. 

@simao 

Interesting, I look at this completely opposite from the way you do.

From my point of view, now that I am 72 and have upgraded and stretched to financially afford the system I have built over the last fifty years. Which I researched endlessly, built and  listened to by myself.

I am thankful that I stretched the limit of my financial ability, that I did not hold back and settle for anything less than the very best sound quality. I purchased cheap TP, used cars instead of new, did my own yardwork and household repairs so I could invest in my system. It brings me great joy on a daily basis and stands as an achievement of one of my dreams of a young adult. 

You only live once, and when you get to retirement, you want to be able to look back and say "the time was well spent it... these are my experiences". I am very fortunate to have a very long list of these things, and my audio system is one of them... and it  isn’t made up of Schiit. Well... ok, I have a Schitt DAC in my office system, and a Schitt preamp for burning in cables. But my main system is great.

@simao i understand but when you get great sound we chase and chase. Wallet be damned 

Me. I would change me so I'm more fiscally responsible and less of a elitist pain in the ass when it comes to Fidelity and Sonic quality. It would make life so much easier and affordable.

I can vouch for more power on Maggie 3.7i's.   They come alive with more power.

@stuartk might can get you a demo of our new Infigo Audio Streamer. 

@ghdprentice you pointed out something very important to all of us! Ear care. We listen so much sometimes we don’t think about it. 

@newton_john congrats. My music calms me after long stressful days. 

I did it myself when i learned how to do it...

I dont need it for sometime now...( clearing ears from wax)

Hearing is more precious that seeing for me... As it was for Ray Charles giving his money for deaf child...He said to the journalist interrogating him "why not the blind as you are "?

He answered with his Ray Charles voice : " there is nothing there "....

During the spring my allergies get worse and sometimes my ears get wax buildup. A couple times my doctor noticed excessive wax and had the nurse use a device attached to the water faucet to clean my ear channels. Sounds like a jet engine in my ears... but clear and better reception after. 

The sound volume of the cleaning bothered me. That volume, which must be well over 100db cannot be good for you... even if only for a minute. 

Then it dawned on me... that the device was really only an elaborate water jet. So, when showering, I simple put a little soap in my ears, take the shower head and point it into my ears, parallel the the ear canal. Takes a bit of maneuvering... but you can tell when it is going in. The sound volume is low, and clean ears all the time. 

If there is an excessive buildup, you can drop some  DeBrox Ear Wax Remover before the shower, then rinse when in the shower... Walla, clean ears. 

I could say a dedicated room but that’s not gonna happen, so I’ll say an affordable (5K)  improvement in resolution, however that could best be achieved. Perhaps moving from my Hegel H390’s internal DAC to a standalone unit. 

mylogic

@mihorn “Nothing can improve my system sound”

l think 🤔 the only way to improve your system would be to invest in a good pair of syringes. Both in the capable hands of a professional ear hearing physician technician.    After that and from experience, it’s as good as it gets.
Twin Syringes are the real deal for the best all round singing and dancing stereo sound. 

Agreed. If nothing can improve the sound better, change myself. A good idea. Your idea makes me smile. Yeah. Twin syringes are a punch line. Alex/Wavetouch audio

@mylogic 

Thank you for your kind and amusing comments. 
I was grateful for such a good outcome. Many others are not so fortunate.

@newton_john 

So pleased to hear (ha ha) you are hearing better. I am coming up to 72 so we are in the same league.

A lot of my posts l try to inject a little humour as well as addressing the issue under discussion. The easiest solution is often the best and you have proved it.
 

l have noticed that in the UK ear specialists are springing up everywhere and not only in aging population eariers (intended joke) An easy upgrade for your “own personal system”
 

Some audiologists are now offering a mobile service and come to their patients houses. Consider it an M.O.T* Yearly inspection.

*In the UK a Ministry of Transport test certificate is a legal requirement for your vehicles safety. (Explanation offered for our American friends)
 

@mylogic 

A couple of years ago at nearly seventy, I consulted with an audiologist because I was suffering from Tinnitus that was affecting my enjoyment of music. She was able to remove some stubborn wax and referred me to a guy with a microscope to operate safely deep in my ears.

He sucked out more residual wax and dead skin that had become attached to my ear drums. The result of this was an instant improvement in my hearing. I’d had no idea how deaf I’d become. The Tinnitus also reduced considerably.

Music sounded amazing again. Surprisingly, I found on my 70th birthday that I could now follow several people talking around a table with ease. My social confidence was increased considerably. My deafness had been making me anti-social. It was all the most wonderful birthday present.

I could so easily have never visited the lady and just given up on music. I have since got back in vinyl which I'd previously given up. 

Finally finish my dedicated audio room, it's been 8 months of expense and changes and reimagining......hopefully by December, if my wife doesn't run out of patience first

Paying for the albums I play on it...

Yeah I'm happy with my systems...besides I'm 73 and don't hear as well as when I was 23...a lot of loud music since then...lol

@mihorn “Nothing can improve my system sound”

l think 🤔 the only way to improve your system would be to invest in a good pair of syringes. Both in the capable hands of a professional ear hearing physician technician.

After that and from experience, it’s as good as it gets.
 

Twin Syringes are the real deal for the best all round singing and dancing stereo sound.          
 

               ……🎶……..…....…....🎶……

@bigtwin them rels 212se got me covered 

I would invest in a more powerful power amp for my Maggie 3.7i speakers. Currently using Conrad Johnson solid state amp MM2275, 135 watts per channel.  It does a decent job in a room that is 26 feet by 14 feet.  However, I have read that more powerful amps really make Maggies sing.  Curious if others on here have traded up to more powerful amps for their Maggies and how it worked out.  

@deep_333 Yes, the Great Lake region of NY offers much better value.  Had a job opportunity at B&L Rochester in the late 90’s that I turned down and was amazed at the value.  I would have my room there, plus lake front and pool.   In-law family ties prevented the move.  I do not have fear of moving for retirement.  The same family ties are still the issue.  In my area, while not the most dear in the country, real property is over $650 per square foot, and probably average for large city US.  Taxes are an average of $11-12 a square foot and depending on the age and lot size.  Insanity.   The town offers a low cost country club and excellent educational system, but it’s still tax insanity.  It’s time to say arrivederci NY suburbs.  

@jsalerno277  I walked into a young lady's house in Buffalo sometime around 2020..., full blown house, you could crank it up to the clouds and not bother anyone..

i said, "how much?"..and she says, "80 thousand dollars!"

NYC is a .....well,. it becomes more of a psychological condition over time. Even the thought of moving a block can become very very scary.

However, living in the overpriced and overrated suburbs of NYC, with extraordinary real estate and education taxes, my listening room in my small home is the untreated living room, on a suspended floor system. If I move out of the area in retirement or otherwise hit the numbers big and stay, I would have at least have a dedicated treated trapezoidal listening room, possibly designed ground up with a solid foundation, no parallel surfaces, vaulted ceiling rising front to back, and four dedicated 20 amp lines from a separate breaker. Oh … to sleep, to sleep, per chance to dream (note I left out the die at my age).

Like the Stones with A Bigger Bang, a bigger room!

@pdreher That's been my experience also excited and hoping they work in my small room the woofer is a sealed cabinet and the bass doesn't go crazy low mid-30s. And the Japanese always seem to have huge horns jammed in tiny apartments!

@jond I bet you are going to love them.   I wish I had discovered horn speakers earlier... their dynamics and live sound can't be matched by box speakers in my experience.

@pdreher It's made by Deja Vu Audio my local dealer they usually make custom horns with vintage horns and drivers or a mix of modern and vintage. But they found some modern drivers they like and so they are doing a run of these it's either a 15 or 18 inch low excursion Italian driver, I went 15 inch with a horn loaded midrange and tweeter. They sounded amazing and were the first speaker of theirs I heard that I could remotely afford so I went for it. 

I just went through a bit of an upgrade cycle with new speakers amp and preamp. Very happy with what I have now, at least until I’m not, we all know how that goes.

the one thing I would change is the price

im very happy with my system, however, I heard my speakers with the burmester 909's in mono mode and I ordered a pair to replace my 218s which are stunning, the 909 is just a special amp, very excited

bump

@jond looking forward to finding out what horns you purchased!

@erik_squires Vandersteen make two amplifiers the hybrid 7 and all SS 5, both are monoblocks. Dream big !,,, Don’t miss the new SS control center either 

best to you in music

If there was something I wanted to change, I would have done it already. Never been shy about that. Taking a well deserved break now.

My room def.

But then id like to get a new DAC

Upgrade my Denafrips Pontus II DAC to the Denafrips Venus 15 DAC. 

The question has been posed many times before. I will respond as I have in the past.

I would change nothing with the component system.   However, living in the overpriced and overrated suburbs of NYC, with extraordinary real estate and education taxes, my listening room in my small home is the untreated living room, on a suspended floor system.  If I move out of the area in retirement or otherwise hit the numbers big and stay, I would have at least have a dedicated treated trapezoidal listening room, possibly designed ground up with a solid foundation, no parallel surfaces, vaulted ceiling rising front to back, and four dedicated 20 amp lines from a separate breaker.  Oh … to sleep, to sleep, per chance to dream (note I left out the die at my age).

Well I have to say a pair of horn speakers since I just bought them not sure exactly when I'll have them but very excited.

I sometimes think I can go a bigger speaker.  My infigo electronics and cables have me set there. My gato speakers are great I just think I would love to try another speaker one day. I’m happy but just curious. 

DAC/DDC/Clock

Besides better organization of my living room the only gear I have seriously heard that was just so spectacularly better than current is perhaps the CAT preamp and Vandersteen amp.  Yes, they make an amp. 

Besides that I’ve heard incremental differences in very expensive gear but these two are the only bits of gear I heard that actually made me wish I was part of the 1%. 

Everything else compared to my Luxman integrated was just a small improvement for tons  of cash or worse.  Those two bits of gear though are amazing. 

my knowledge of all things audio. That's by far the biggest obstacle in improving my system.

Nothing can improve my system sound. Everything (source, amp, cables, speakers) in my audio system are the best and most transparent sound in the world. Only way to improve my system’s sound will be modify (by me) the expensive (>$10k) SACD player (or streamer)

In 2nd thought, I don’t think that will improve my WT-95 sound because the new chip technology destroys the original musical data and the sound won’t be better. I've modded ESS 9038pro DAC and Chord Hugo2. Anyway, separate DACs can’t sound better than All-in-one WT-95. Every separate DACs always sound veiled and distorted. As long as audio companies don’t know what causes sound distortion, the separate DAC will always sound veiled and distorted. I know why separate DACs sound distorted but there is no way DACs to avoid it.

I won’t mod any $10k SACD player. The sound improvement will be noticeable but it won’t be worth extra $10k. Also, my mod is hard and needs many special replacement parts which are are hard to get for $10k players. Alex/Wavetouch audio

Small Core Audio Designs ceiling cloud. Arnold the proprietor has a fantastic music room and imo product.

Agree with @immatthewj in adding transducers of types. Maybe even immersive audio. 

Nothing... or everything. If I suddenly could afford to double my investment... then I would start research. 

I will change nothing right now because there is synergy between all the pieces of my small speakers system and i optimized everything (mechanical,electrical acoustical) to reach their peak working level together...(it takes many months to do that)..

I will change nothing now because the pieces cost : dac,amplifier,pre-amp tube equaliser, headphone amp, powered speakers, linear power supply,conditioner  are all at the same low price each pieces under 200 bucks each most around 150...

This is my secondary system for casual listening and non focussed listening...

I will change nothing in my main system: AKG K340, Sansui alpha, and Hidizs dac + file bank+equalizer... because this system is a TOP one already at peanuts cost (i tried to upgrade the amplifier and i failed the Sansui alpha is a TOP amp even for today and the K340 is very hard on most headphone amplifier...

But if budget is not a problem...

It is very easy to improve my secondary system with new  TOP speakers (driven now my my Sansui alpha instead of smaller powered one so good they are right now as modified and optimized, i will replace them with 1,000 bucks non amplified speakers probably...

i dont think i can replace the AKG K340 optimized with any headphone under 1,000 bucks and by most costlier headphones for reasons i will not repeat here...

My main improvement anyway in the last months was buying a better  non linear supply, a better purifier/conditioner at price lower even than the price of the pieces they replaced...

But my greatest impactful change was not buying gear ...

it was the specific grounding of ALL pieces of gear in my 2 system...(even the linear power supply, the computer, the conditioner were grounded separetely with all the other gear piece separately)

Epochal improvement...

As powerful as acoustics controls if i want to compared the change...Lower noise floor  impacting my 2 systems...

THe K340 is now a king among headphones...nothing i ever own even touch it...

Large separate room with dedicated AC lines instead of shared living space rooms.

Maybe a more efficient speaker.  The Ref 3A de Capos do well with a 4 watt Decware amp but every now and then a speaker with a 95db or above would be nice. lol 

No changes. Very happy with setup.

I can no longer think of a single thing, took me decades to get every t crossed and i dotted. I can think of a number of amps I'd like to add to the collection, specifically 2a3, 45 or 50 SET monoblocks.