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

@vrikkian Can the JN-P500 fit onto the body of the MP-150? If so, that may be an extremely economical way to get some upgrades without swapping out audio.

It certainly can.  It's a perfect friction fit.  As stated, I did add some mass to the headshell to compensate for differences in the cart weight between the MP150 and MP500, but am not sure it's even necessary.  It's subjective, but the results sound sublime to me.  

 

 

Townhouses and stereos sometimes don't mix well. Living too close to other people causes a lack of volume and dynamics. 

 

Sounds like getting a new cart is an easy sell. I’ll go with the new needle first.

 

Next, since I like my Focals, I’ll see if there are better bookshelves out there than the ones I have now that have been discontinued for some time.

Subwoofer all day long. You are missing a ton of bass. Take some of load off the 906 and let a subwoofer do the heavy lifting. Buy the subwoofer with the best specs in your budget which is likely the SVS SB-2000 Pro.

I think you know who the weakest link in your set up is. For your wife's needs, your system is perfect.