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What's the weakest link in my stereo set up? I live in a townhome, so limited on space.

90% of my time is used listening to records. The other 10% is used by my wife and I to just stream TIDAL or Spotify.

I live in a three story townhome. High ceilings. Not wide rooms, but long.

I would love to be able to use a room just for the stereo, but I cannot. I like staying married, which also means I cannot turn our guest bedroom into just a music-listening adventure room. So, the stereo is in my living room on the first floor. This also means I don’t have room for floor standing speakers.

Focal 906 bookshelf speakers

Technics SL-1210 Mk II (modded out by KAB USA)

Currently using a Nagaoka MP-150 cartridge

McIntosh MP100 phono amp

Cambridge EVO 150 stereo amplifier, entertainment hub, streamer, etc (my wife uses this a lot to stream Spotify while going about the house)

Topping A70Pro headphone amplifier

 

I’m going to assume people are going to say either my turntable or my speakers. Would it be wise to upgrade my Technics to one of the higher end models? I really love the ease of using this little beast of a player. I know it’s known as "the DJ turntable", but it wasn’t made to be one -- it just became that.

The Focals are nice too, and they were also bought new for less than a grand.

(Also, sorry if this is subjective as a question. I’m new to a lot of this. I hope something stands out as an obvious room to upgrade no matter what your tastes are.

Also, I’ve been selling some of the equipment that my late father had, and while doing so I’ve been getting interested in upgrading the system I cobbled together years ago. And no, for emotional and attachment reasons, I didn’t want to keep things that he owned.)

Budget ~$2K

128x128vrikkian
knotscott's avatar
knotscott
1,015 posts
 

The first thing I’d do is add the JN-P200 or JN-P500 stylus to your MP150. The 200 adds the benefit of the boron cantilever. The 500 goes a step farther with boron cantilever, and a fine line stylus. Both are great upgrades over the 150. Amazon shows them @ $156 and $252 currently....almost a no brainer, but it is subjective.  (I added the JN-P500 to my MP150, and love it.  The friction fit is fine, and you can leave the screw off.  I added a few grams of mass to the headshell to offset cartridge weight differences)

You already have a very well regarded TT, but isolation pucks or platform can help optimize things.

An active sub (or 2) is an easy and affordable improvement as well.

How are your cables and interconnects?

 

 

2psyop's avatar
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2psyop
1,664 posts
 

Many here will ask questions similar to these? What do you think you are lacking? Dynamics, bass, soundstage etc, etc? What kind of music do you listen to? Would your speakers be close to a wall or can you have them out in the room? Stands? Are you limited by WAF? (Wife acceptance factor) in terms of aesthetics. I agree you have a good enough turntable and upgrading the cartridge could help. BUT what are you looking for, specifically? And of course, what is your budget? After all, many wives care about that too.

larsman's avatar
larsman
2,081 posts
 

The room will have more effect on sound than the gear. If there's anything you can do in that regard that your spouse would approve of - and some sound treatments can still be very attractive aesthetically - Makes a big difference whether you're on hardwood floors or wall-to-wall carpeting. Makes a big difference if you have plush furniture and stuff on the walls or if your furniture is minimalistic with the walls being unbroken flat planes, to help control sound bouncing around all over. 

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