new member, some questions, need help please

Hello everyone, thank you kindly for the information you provided. Very helpful. Having confirmatory info from various members resonates with my approach to new purchases.  Thank you

I live in Boise Idaho, not much here tho we have grown in the valley over that past 8-10 years. I've been to one high end dealer (see above speaker audition in my post), nice people, very nice physical plant and interior decoration.  Planning on going back, but I think its the only high end store in the valley.

As far as room dimensions is concerned, this will change as I plan to sell my current home/property and go back to SoCal where I grew up and did all my training. Thinking on landing in South Orange County somewhere.

Budget:  Well, depends on how i'm feeling but I am an emotional buyer and often take the "for a little bit more I can have model x instead of y".   I think for the right price I would be interested in the price range of preowned Sash2's but not necessarily DAW.  I need to budget for other gear and SoCal will not be inexpensive living.

Again, thank you all for your input

Jaime

@jaimeromero at (what i think is) the price of used Sasha 2 you should look into some of the new offerings out there.

I like planar drivers and had a brief listen to some PS Audio FR 20 and they are very nice.  Worth a test.

Moving to SoCal, you should stop in Sacramento and visit the vintage store there.  They have a lot of cool vintage components and speakers.

http://www.flyhifi.net/

@jaimeromero - agree that demoing speakers best course of action as there have been sonic improvements in high-end audio since the old WP. We cannot tell what speakers would subjectively resonate with you.

Starting from scratch, I researched the latest top loudspeakers, then tried to demo them at audio shows and audio stores, keeping in mind that poor audio show rooms often make the speaker perform subpar. After finding the sound I favor, I try to reproduce at home within budget.

Wilson also offers a new 2024 WP with iirc similar drivers as the Sasha V.  Personally, I never warmed up to the Wilson sound presentation, my tastes run top Magico and YG speakers.  I ended up purchasing the AXPONA audio show demo speakers Vimberg Mino D - they sounded fantastic. 

@jaimeromero ,

Welcome back to the hobby.  A mixed bag of advice on this forum.  I have been into audio for a similar amount of time.  Some has stayed the same, a lot has changed and most confusingly, some brands that were great are less so today.  

If you have time and patience, I would recommend coming to Axpona in Chicago, mid-April. Quintessence Audio (which was mentioned earlier) is a fantastic dealer and carries Wilson here in Chicago area.  As you will find out Wilson speakers now range new from $20K to $1M and are really excellent as are some of the others mentioned on the thread; i.e. Magico, Sonus Faber and others.  Yes, digital is a completely different realm than in the 80’s (separate DAC’s, streamers, etc.) and can be quite good but analogue is still also doing great.   Quintessence has both.  Other stores I’m familiar with that are in southern CA are Scott Walker Audio and Alma Audio (a new Wilson dealer).  My strongest recommendation is to find a store that you feel you can trust and will patiently work with you as you explore what is now available and start to define your wants/needs and most importantly—budget!

 I have friends that have assembled really musical systems for <$20K and friends that have systems that are $1M+. Mine is somewhere in the middle.  Nice if you can network into a group of friends that are knowledgeable without being “know it alls”.  

If you do come to a big audio show, one thing you will quickly realize is that most of the crappy stuff is gone.  The general level of equipment has improved.  There are many good-great options.  But within that reality, the best costs the most… or at least a lot.  

The final point I would make is that the cost of your primary components: source, pre-amp (if you’re using), amp (or integrated amp and speakers) is not the end of the story.  Cables, racks, power supplies/conditioners, isolation devices, room treatments, etc. can easily cost more than the basic equipment.  Make sure when you start to build your system, that you factor in the auxiliaries.  

Good luck in your journey and have fun!