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Seeking help finding the weak link(s) in my system and offering suggestions please.

Hi! I recently paid a visit to a local audio salon and listened to a system that was so good I was "moved". However, I could never afford the price of entry to realize this kind of sound reproduction. I have spent the last couple of years assembling a system I could afford, focusing on components I felt were the best bang for the buck. I'm not trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, however with your help I am hoping to find where I may have a weak link or two. My budget makes this a challenge as I have only about 1K to invest. Thank you to all those in advance for your suggestions, my system is listed below. One more item, about 90% of my listening is Qobuz streaming.

System:
Dedicated/Isolated 20Amp AC source with PS Audio outlet.
Furman AC power conditioning.
Nordost Magus Power cords for source equipment and Kimber PK10 for Amp.
Ethernet cables all CAT7.
Kimber Silver Streak both balanced and SE throughout.
Speaker cables are Blue-Jeans 10AWG White - two 15' pair.
USB cable from PC to streamer is Audio Adviser Pangea SE 2 meter.
Canare/Have digital 1.5M coax from transport to Streamer.
Krell Vanguard Integrated Amp.
Cambridge Audio AZURE 851N Streamer/DAC.
Sonus Faber Electa monitors.
Sunfire HRS series subwoofer.
Sony SCD2000ES Transport/SACD player.
Luxman T117 Tuner (Best sounding component)?

Again, I appreciate your kind assistance, I am really looking forward to responses!

GRM

grm

Showing 3 responses by auxinput

auxinput
2,920 posts
 
It seems that you are doing a double-run of the Blue Jean 10awg.  If you wanted to do something like that with AQ, you could get Rocket 33 no frills for $279:

https://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=AQRO33NF&opt=579|584|592|596

Then use the Rocket 44 for low-end binding posts and Rocket 33 for upper binding posts.  This brings you to $794.

Then buy 12 Furutech rhodium FP-201 R spades for $207.  You can combine the 33/44 together on the amp side spades and terminate each one separately on the speaker end so that you have a true bi-wire configuration.  This puts you just over the $1k mark (barely).
auxinput
2,920 posts
 
Two components I see that are reducing the overall resolution:

Krell Vanguard Integrated.  This is an excellent integrated, but the newer Krell amplifiers are very smooth and really smooth over the high frequencies.

Blue-Jeans 10AWG White.  This is basically the Beldon 5T00UP cable.  It's low grade copper.  I have actually had this in my system and it sounded very low res and did not have the high frequency resolution and transparency.  Kind of like lo-fidelity product.  A basic 12 awg stranded Monster cable did SIGNIFICANTLY better.

These two combined with the Sonus Faber, which are absolutely excellent sounding, but do not have as much high frequency extension and resolution as other speakers, means that the system is not going to be as transparent as you would like it to be.
auxinput
2,920 posts
 
A 15 foot pair of Rocket 44 Premium No Frills at audio advisor is $515.  The premium version uses better Pangea spades/bananas than the regular no frills:

https://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=AQPGRO44N&opt=3926|3933|3940|3944

Or you could move up to Rocket 88 no frills for $1049.  It uses better copper and would have better resolution, but doesn't have the Pangea banana/spades:

https://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=AQRO88NF&opt=4736|4745|4749|4752

I would NOT bi-wire these because it splits apart the conductors and you end up with smaller amount of overall bass/mid conductor.  Just get a normal pair and connect it to the upper binding posts on the Electa.  Then use a really good jumper to connect upper/lower binding posts.

However, if you wanted much better resolution, I would get the rocket 44/88 and chop the ends and re-terminate with Furutech Rhodium FP-201 R spades available for $17 each from Sonic Craft or Parts Connexion.   The gold-plated terminations are nice but warmer in sound and don't have as much high frequency resolution.  You could start out with the gold and then chop/upgrade to rhodium later if you felt you needed more resolution.  The rhodium will also have tighter deep bass as well.
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