What's Next?


Im 6months new to this high end audio. My current system consists of B&W 803s 805s htm center for the speakers. Transparent speaker cables tributarie rca's and digital connects. DSP is the Rotel 1098 AMP Rotel 1095 CD Rotel. My problem is Im looking for new speaker's to look into. Another brand maybe. Must sound better obviously. Stereo is what id be mostly concerned about. These speakers must have a real wood finish, must like being played loud for a decent amout of time and still be accurate. The 803s never disapointed me Im just ready for my next step. Later next year Ill do the amplification. But Id like to build this system around great speakers. Thanks I know you a-goners will help steer me in the right direction with your honest knowledgeable advise. Thanks again Matt
mattblueg35
Mattblueg,

Not to harp on this point, but I think you're possibly approaching this from the wrong perspective. If you know you're going to go with McIntosh (not a bad decision, but curious why you it's def. mc gear?) then you should get the amplification section worked out and then deal with the source. Why spend 10000 on speakers and drive them with a rotel HT system? If you're not getting the full sound of your 803s, then you'll be spending a lot of money to get very little improvement. It would seem to make more sense to get the sound of your source/amp right, and then see how the 803s fair. If you're not sure what speaker you want to mate with the mac gear, then you're going to need to play around anyway, so I say wait on the speakers.
Why would you use a pair of $5,000 Class A (Stereophile) Rated Speakers with a $500 DVD Player? And how could you even think about useing the same low-fi source with $12,000 Reference Speakers? If there's ever been a case of mixing Apples with Oranges this is it! My first suggestion is to buy a HI-FI source with an A+ or A (Stereophile) Rating. Then buy an Amplifier worthy of driving those wonderful Nautilus 803s, try Classe, Krell or Mark Levinson (to name a few). These Speakers that you own and others that your considering, were not designed to partner with components that most professionals consider to be barely mid-fi. Reference/Statement Speakers are designed around state-of-the-art components, without these partner components these Speakers are nothing more than very expensive room furnishings. Once your Speakers are fully optimized then you should start to consider upgrading them, right now, as you will see if you take my advice, they are grossly under-utilized. Get real electronics and those Nautilus Speakers will blow your mind!
I would get rid of the Rotel and opt for something better that the B&Ws deserve.....
Everyone tells me the direction they would take after I wrote that I was going speakers first? The dvd player was brought up I replied can I get something for 2000. No one answered that. But kept telling me what I should do instead. Obviously I understand those components need to be replaced I told all of you Ill be going mcintosh. But not at this time.So I appreciate everyone telling me what they would do and thank everyone that actually answered a question that I asked. LOL Can any one tell me what (class A)DVD players to look into? Or is this going to go back to what I should do instead? Id like to stay around 2000.00 but would like all suggestions.Thanks
The Classe CD/DVD-1 and Marantz DV-9500 are both "A" rated DVD/CD Players, Both retail(ed) new for around $2,000 and sell used for around $1,500 (or less). The Marantz is newer and plays SACD. The Classe, I believe, offers better CD sound along with balanced outputs. In this price range, I don't think you can go wrong with either player.