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Rate my system and chose the next upgrade

Good evening,

I'm looking to get my system to the "next" level.  Before you ask, what is "lacking", I can not pinpoint anything.  Over all, seems to sound "pretty good" to me.  I've been back to vinyl, buying nicer copies and cleaning well with a musichall machine.  Most of my time is spent utilizing a quick CD or SACD and Hi-Rez digital with Audirvana but really enjoy the vinyl experience.  I would utilize more vinyl but usually it's more time consuming.

Why am I upgrading?  I feel I may be missing out on improvement of sound somehow, therefore "upgrading" must be the correct answer right?  Here's my system.  What would you start with to upgrade?  My typical upgrade budgets are about $3k at a time.  I'll list the approximate retail value (new)

Yamaha A-s2000 integrated- $3000?
Yamaha A-s2100 SACD/CD- $3000?
Teac UD-501 DAC with DSD capability - $850
Clear Audio Performance DC Turntable- $3500 with clarify tonearm
Clear Audio Balance Phono stage- $1000
Sound Smith Cart- can't remember which but a $1200 unit
Martin Logan motion 40XT's- $2000/pair
Martin Logan small sub woofer-$500?

Go!



128x128dhpeck
dhpeck's avatar
dhpeck OP
59 posts
 
DvdKitch, do you think Focus HD placement would suffice about 10 feet apart?  they would sit on each side of the fireplace- away from the wall of course
dvdkitch
6 posts
 
Yes I do, they are less sensitive to location than some of my other speakers. After a flood in my theater room which is 14x24x8 I had them in my open concept first floor which sounds similar to your room and was completely untreated. They really energized the room. My wife is still mad I put them back in the theater room. The Legacy’s plus some treatment would be fantastic. I got mine at the factory as trade ins. I had them watch for a set. They called in 2 weeks......
dvdkitch
6 posts
 
I used a Rogue Audio Pharaoh with the HDs when in my living room. I am very happy with it. It’s now in a smaller room on Vianna Acoustics Baby Grands, so it is versitile.
mulveling's avatar
mulveling
1,883 posts
 
I’ve heard a Magico S1 driven by VAC Sigma 160 integrated (both original versions), sounding really really dang good in a medium-ish room. Each of those are doable in the $5K-ish used range; not saying that would for sure work in your room, but in your shoes I’d be tempted to try. Could work in a near/mid-field arrangement. Some bronze S1’s just came up FS here (no affiliation), which is what reminded me of that nice system.

As for the Clarify arm -- yeah I’ve seen that arm easily popped out of the groove by footfalls and even energy from nearby big speakers (in the same room as the S1 / VAC system). Much more so than other arms, though possibly setup related. The Magnify arm did great, though, and I like that arm. But if you don’t have obvious problems in your setup you should be OK there.
auxinput
2,920 posts
 

I was going to point out that Teac DAC, but somebody already did.  I will definitely agree that Teac DAC has got to go.  The Yamaha SACD player will do the same thing as the Teac DAC for your hi-res music.  Just use the digital inputs on the back of the SACD player (USB / COAX / Toslink) to use it as a DAC.  It will play anything up to 24/192, and I think it will play DSD if used through the USB input.

If you look at the mini-dsp, I highly recommend you get an external linear power supply.  At your level, the switching power supply "wall wart" that comes with it will definitely sacrifice sound quality.  You could also look at the DSpeaker DSP module if you want, but it's definitely a lot more expensive.  Once again, recommend an external linear power supply for that as well.

Speakers are a hard thing and since I don't have experience with the Martin Logans, I will let others advise.

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