Thoughts? Have b&w 802 d3 and other items...


So a buying spree results in having a pair of b&w 802 d3’s biwired via monster cables to a McIntosh mc255 amp used for 3 spkrs, b&w center htm2 d3, a chord tt2 dac connected via usb audio quest carbon cable to a Roon nucleus, a schiit freya plus preamp and a marantz 5014 avr.    Am I ready to retire?
emergingsoul
Blimo
thanks for allowing me to be reborn!

bought the schiit preamp due to pure ht bypass capability (ht bypass works with tube off and input source controlled by remote).

no high end tube preamps do this. Hearing this may change soon, eg. arc, modwright.

will think about cables.
Ditch the Monster Cable and get either some Mogami speaker cables or Canare 4S11 speaker cables.  You can thank me later. 
My biggest issue I have is the Freya+.  I have one hear and find it quite noisy.  This thing is so bad I am not sure I can sell it.   It seems like their gear may be hit or miss and I might have one that was a bad miss. I can think of many preamps I would take over it.  
You could consider a step up in terms of DAC either to a Dave or the addition of an MScaler.  The Dave is definitely more resolving and the MScaler makes a big change to your sound.  

the Nucleus is nice, you could move to a higher end server/streamer like an  Antipodes S30 or S40.  I find this has a bigger impact even compared to a DAC.  

Not seeing anything in terms of power conditioning.  This is more beneficial depending on season and time of day but can have a noteworthy impact.

you could improve a bit with a step up in cables.  I was not a believer for a long time then I swapped Kimber for Nordost cables.  It was like I switched from your Mc amp to a Chord amp it was such a big swing in sound profile.  Incidentally I hated the Nordost and there is nothing you could do to get me to keep them but the point is, cables do matter.


So a buying spree results in ... monster cables. Am I ready to retire?

Retire? With monster cables I would say put out to pasture.
Monster cables are mcx-1s biwire.  Don’t make em anymore.

and there is a probably a reason why .

there are plenty of cables out there that are good that are better than the ( cough , cough ) Monster cables you have....and you dont need to spend $2k.

you asked if you were ready to retire....and we replied.           if you are happy with the way things are, then leave it be.....
monster cables

yuck......

spend all that money on good equipment and you use those cables ?