some members here are knowledgeable, eloquent and kind. I have learned 80% of what I know from them.
Seeking Advice to Improve My Audio System ($1000 Budget)
Hello everyone. I have started collecting physical media (mainly Classical Music, but also some Metal, and older singer/songwriter material) for a few years now, and have built up a collection that is mainly vinyl, but also some CDs. I have slowly built up a stereo system to support it. I am not very knowledgeable with audio equipment and feel like I am drowning in information, and so I have pieced together what there seems to be a consensus around with my budget. So far I have:
Audio Engine A5+ 150 W Speakers
REGA Planar Plus 1 Turntable with built in stage
SMSL PL200 CD Player
I use the RCA port for my turntable, and the aux port for my CD player.
Now I am wondering where I should go with my setup. I want my next investment to be around the $1000 range, but am not sure where to go with it. Should I get a woofer for the speakers and an external preamp for my turntable? Or at this price, am I better off looking for better speakers...or is there another weak point in my system? My main concerns are that the midrange and upper frequencies do sound muddy compared to other systems I have heard (but they aren't terrible) and while the bass isn't bad, it certainly could be enhanced.
As a final question, I am confused when it comes to the pre-amp. I don't quite understand how they work, and I am a bit confused and worried that I would run into an issue with my existing built-in preamp overriding an external one? Any advice?
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- 31 posts total
For $1000 and a real step up. NAD 316bEE V2 $500 Schiit Modi DaC $129 if you want a digital source. and a pair of bookshelf or floor-standing speakers from KEF or ELAC. Crutchfield has lots of low price high value speakers in your range. You could easily stay around $1000 or go a little over and get better speakers. The other path is something like KEF LSX wireless. $1500
good luck |
1) Everyone here (and world) are listening noisy, veiled, bright sound audio systems, except me. They've heard these sounds all their lives. Your trial and error learning process will be similar to those people that it will be merry-go-round upgrades which takes much money, effort, and time. It can be fun some times but won't be fun more times when you are disappointed with your upgrades. Remember this. No one succeeded and satisfied and done with audio upgrade. 2) Why almost all women don't like their husbands' audio sounds? It's because non-a'philes (women) don't have the listening technique which converts all-around distortion noise to the all-around the listener sound, so called "immersive sound". Immersive sound is known as the best way to listen hi-end audio. I've always enjoyed imm sound before I have my current natural sound system. 3) There are different ways to achieve the immersive sound hearing mode such as dilating pupils, watching hard (like eyes out) between spkrs to be sucked into noisy sounds, changing to blur eye vision, disconnecting nerve between eras and brain, etc. This is very hard to do and a'philes fall asleep in few minutes in immersive sound. 4) Bad audio sound (immersive sound) is health hazard. I don't like to do IS anymore since I have the natural sound system. But I have to do it to hear audio sounds (in car radio, in church, speakers everywhere). It's bad feeling and it actually hurt my eyes and ears physically. And I believe the bad audio sound is one of reasons for more Tinnitus, watery constant dilated eyes, itch ears, dementia, etc. Natural sound wan't avail before and people had to hear un-natural audio sounds all their lives. Now the natural sound is avail and you OP can choose a different audio journey from others. Alex/Wavetouch audio |
I hope you have an opportunity to go to stores, shows, other homes (is there an audiophile club in your area?) to hear a broad range of speakers. The fact is that not everyone wants the same things from their sound system. When I first started in this hobby/lifestyle, I had a friend that was a drummer. After listening to every speaker he could find in the area, he bought his dream speakers and they are truly legendary - the Rogers LS3/5A. They're still in production ~50 years later. They're also tiny standmounts, use a 4.5" woofer, and feature a well-designed bass "hump" to get semi-decent low frequency extension. However, what he wanted most was speakers that imaged properly and I have yet to hear speakers that I would swear better the LS3/5A in that aspect. Most speaker makers will sell 1 or more standmount and tower type speakers. Many of the larger, more established brands will have more than 1 line - reference and standard, maybe even home theater or wall-mount variations. For example, KEF has Q ("affordable Hi-Fi"), R ("performance redefined"), Reference ("detail remastered") lines, plus more. The LS50 is not part of any line, as it's too refined for Q, and lacks the bass performance required of an R. While you might not end up preferring the KEF sound, hearing comparable speakers from the Q and R ranges (or any other maker with a similar model profile) might help you decide how far up-market you need to go to be satisfied. |
OP, I'm glad you decided to do some trialing instead of just purchasing something based on someone else's experience. I highly recommend you start looking at used components as well though. A new system is going to cost twice as much to get the same value. And actives will keep you from going down the amplifier rabbit hole. Just my two cents. Get something that's within the last 5-10 years old and try it in your system. Best of luck to you! |
- 31 posts total