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Opinions on what my next step should be

My system: Atmasphere S30, Soliloquy 5.3, EVS Mod MSB Dac, EVS Passive Attenuators, Analysis Plus Oval 9 Biwire, Siltech 4/80 ( between amp and dac) and a Sony 608ES CD player as transport. Im looking for the biggest improvement for the money. Choice #1: Get a better transport. Im actually quite pleased with it. problem is it has a captive powercord. Not sure what the future of digital holds. Choice #2: Upgrade the powercords. I presently have one aftermarket cord (Syn Res AC Master) connected to amp. Choice #3: Powerline conditioners. I have none at the moment. I do have 2 dedicated lines- one for amp & the other for digital. Choice #4: try a sub. I cant say that Im unhappy with the bass performance of the Sols but I did hear what a sub can do and was quite impressed. I was surprised at the amount of low frequency information that was on some of my CDs. Choice #5: Experiment with some Argent room lenses and the like as well as Bright Star Audio isolation devices and the like. Thanks to all who respond, Emil
emil
8 responses Add your response
aniwolfe
760 posts
 
check out the Vandersteen 2wq sub(www.vandersteen.com). It is the most musical sub out there, and seamlessly becomes an added woofer to your speakers. It has gotting amazing reviews and has upgraded my thin, shouty sounding speakers into smooth full range speakers. It takes away the doppler effect that plaques two way systems. It's also like having a distortion free loudness button. An amazing product! Good luck
redkiwi
1,092 posts
 
Emil, in your position I would put a decent cord on everything, sort out your vibration isolation and treat the room. Unless you attend to all the major variables you will be throwing money away upgrading your components. Next on the list would be replacing the CD transport. A little-known hi fi secret you might wish to explore is that some DVD transports make fantastic cd transports. Two that I think are pretty good are the Sony S7000 (much better than its successor, the S7700) and the el-cheapo Pioneer DV525. These players do not sound great as CD players, but as CD transports they are fantastic bargains. It would seem that the reason is that the servos are so much faster and more precise in a DVD player that you can get very low jitter performance out of them. But beware, not all DVD players make good CD transports. If you can get a Pioneer DV525 on trial, you may very well be blown away with the improvement over your existing transport.
carl_eber
1,425 posts
 
Agreed Craig, ASC traps.
garfish
1,840 posts
 
Hi Emil; You have a well stated list of potential up-grades. I would say that if your room has acoustic problems, no matter what you do with electronics is going to help much. So, you need to assess whether or not your room has problems such as bass "boom", or excess brightness etc. I admit room treatment is not a very exciting thing to do, but when I finally put several ASC tube traps in my listening room they made an important improvement (I had more of a problem with excess brightness than with bass). As the ASC tubes have a full absortion side and a combination bass absorbtion, mid-treble reflection side you can actually "tune your room" to what YOU prefer". ASC is at www.tubetrap.com. But if you're considering a sub, you probably don't have a bass problem. On the other hand, I agree that up-grading your 10 year old Siltech cables could be pretty beneficial. Good Luck. Craig.
ejlif's avatar
ejlif
1,375 posts
 
I agree the P300 on the front end makes a huge diffrence. Even better, but you probably aren't going to hear this from anyone else is a product called the Electraclear EAU-1 at 495.00 this small black box that you simply plug into the wall makes a fundamental diffrence in my system. It is available from quantumproducts.com and has a 14 day moneyback guarantee, but if you get one I bet you won't be sending it back, I know I'm keeping mine. The only reason I know about this product is through a fellow audiophile who I highly respect. He stumbled onto it and heartily reccomended it to me and I am sure glad he did
rec
328 posts
 
I would like at choice #3 power line conditioner and the one I would look at is the PS Audio P300(995.00) or P600(1995.00) It transformed my system, I am upgrading to the P600(I'm on the waiting list)You have a solid system and I agree with you about the future of digital, I wouldn't buy a transport or DAC yet.Power cords will also make a difference but in my system the PS Audio P300 by far made the biggest difference. Good luck.
shawnharvey
30 posts
 
I would probably look into a nice sub if you don't have one, probably REL Storm or Strata. You can't lose with a sub-bass like the REL. Next choice would be either a PS Audio 300 to try out or stuff for the room. One can never be sure how the room is affecting sound without trying some diffusors or other treatment. Only problem is they are usually obtrusive and somewhat ugly. Your call.
emil OP
205 posts
 
and one more. Choice #6. Replace the Siltech.i have had this cable for about 10 years. Maybe its time for some new blood. Thanks again Emil
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