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Upgrade Interconnects/Cables or…?

At 71 years of age, I have two possible upgrades I’d like to perform. After that I’m done, except for the usual tweaks (i.e., tubes, isolation, etc.). I’m very happy with the system I’ve built over the years, and it fits my room (medium), and the sound I’ve been after has been realized. I am guilty of concentrating on the main components of my system, and not paying much attention to what connects them. And, I’m in the hunt to upgrade my line stage…Maybe? So, what to do first, and perhaps I can hold off on the second option entirely? My budget is under $6,000 for either one.

I’m still an analog guy, even though I do have a DAC, Streamer, and NAS. My concentration here is for my phono playback. My interconnects and cables are old, but even so, each time I’ve upgraded a main component I have heard definite and sometimes significant improvement. Whenever I purchased interconnects/cables in the past, they were always decent ones at the time.

Option 1 - I’m looking at replacing the following interconnects/cables for my phono playback…

Turntable, Arm, Cartridge: Upgraded TW Acustic Raven, Ortofon RS 309D, Ortofon Verismo

               Current Phono Cable: Cardas Cross

Phono Stage: Tron Seven with the Reference caps

               Current Interconnect to Line Stage: Cardas Cross Reference

Line Stage: Boulder L3AE and recently upgraded the caps by Boulder

               Current Interconnect to Amps: Crystal Piccolo

Amps: TW Acustic 300B Monoblocks

               Current Speaker Cable: WireWorld Silver (original)

Option 2 - My system is fully unbalanced, so when considering a line stage, I don’t want to pay extra for designs that benefit from using the balanced side when I won’t be using that. One consideration for replacing my Boulder, is the Audible Illusions L3B.

So, which option might you choose if you could only choose one? And, what might you go with?

Thanks,

Kenny

kennythekey

Showing 6 responses by audphile1

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
5,654 posts
 

Kenny…looking at your system pictures the speakers are very close to the front wall and there’s not much acoustic treatment. 
Swapping cables out won’t give you that wrap around soundstage you’re looking for. That’s more amp/speakers/room combination given the source and preamp are up to the task and I believe that to be the case in your system. 
Have you tried pulling speakers our more into the room. You can also tow them in so they fire direct at the listening chair. 
 

It sounds like you’re happy with the sound overall. Hence my recommendation to play with speaker placement and room acoustics.

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
5,654 posts
 

Kenny…the fact that you don’t have sidewalls and corners is not entirely a downside. You can try treating the front wall but I’m not sure it will accomplish what you’re looking for. You need a more transparent and open sounding amplifier and speakers combination. Your cardas cables aren’t helping but I don’t believe they’re the single culprit. 

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
5,654 posts
 

Good to hear you tried and are hearing the difference. More resolving cables will help a bit with soundstage but I’m not familiar with your amps and preamp. And that’s where you will most likely hit the nail on the head. You gotta start somewhere. 
You’re using a solid state preamp with tubed amps correct? May be try a tube linestage? Different amps may be? 
 

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
5,654 posts
 

Sure why not…try cables. Something less warm than Cardas. Nordost, DH Labs, Kimber are some that come to mind. 

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
5,654 posts
 

Kenny…just checked High Water Sounds and they’re Audience dealer. I highly recommend Audience cables but they’re kind of pricey.

My recommendation, especially if you’re going to tackle one cable upgrade, is to start the upgrade process with speaker cables and work your way up the audio chain. I owned Audience AU24SX (you can find them used at a good price) and just recently upgraded to FrontRow speaker cables. The AU24SX is awesome. Detailed, extended and natural sounding.
However, if buying new from the dealer, they’re not cheap. See if you can borrow these cables to try in your system.

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
5,654 posts
 

@mclinnguy…no I haven’t tried Nordost Norse 2 speaker cables. I was torn between Frey 2 and Audience and decided on the Audience. If it was between Tyr 2 and Audience I would probably go Tyr 2 but I just didn’t want to spend that much on cables (got a good deal on FrontRow).
My concern was, since I’m using Frey 2 and Heimdall 2 power cords, the scale could tip a bit towards leaner sound if I got Frey 2 speaker cables. I think I struck a really nice balance with the Audience.

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