Where should I go next?


Hi all, I am relatively new to high end, and am building from the bottom up. Literally. I currently have an old Sony STRDE875, DD & DTS, 5-ch. I am playing through an all - Infinity speaker system, Entra One floorstanders L/R, Entra Center, Entra Two surrounds, and an Entra Sub.
I have started building by purchasing a Monster HTPS-7000ss, which although did extend my soundstage and enhanced imaging, detail, and bass response, has not had all that huge of an effect considering my front end.
I also recently purchased a Pioneer ElitE DV-47ai player, and am very very happy with the video performance (through a Philips 4:3 flatscreen, non-HD) as well as the multichannel performance. The stereo performance i really cannot gauge until i have upgraded my front end, but what i can hear in my system now is nothing short of spectacular (even the girlfriend could hear the diff) after my Sony DVD/CD player. I am running some hgiher-quality front cables that i recieved from a friend in the high-end industry, and am not sure what they are. I have Monster XP for surrounds, and a Transparent MusicWave for the center.

Where do I go next? How should i attack this system? I have been thinking a B&K Ref.50 / Ref 200.7 setup might be great, but am really open to suggestions from more experienced 'philes. I do want to build a system that is flat-out phenomenal for both music and movies, from power and speaker cables and interconnects on up to the speakers, which will probably come last - the Entras were cheap, and apart from an overly strong midbass response, are damn good for the cash - $1600 for the whole set F/Surr/sub.

I will purchase most of my equip off of Audiogon, used, and although i'd like to, cant afford the huge prices of Theta Digital or Levinson etc.

HELP! Where Do I go From Here? Any sugestions are welcome either here or on my email. breitlingdj@yahoo.com

THanks, JonBrown
breitlingdj

Showing 1 response by f1stserve

One "first" step is to decide what kind of sound you like. Electrostatic/Ribbon speakers (Maggies, Quads, Martin Logan, etc.)sound quite different than horns (Klipsch, etc), which are quite different than cone speakers (which themself can be warm, laidback, bright, etc.) Deciding which camp you are in can help you decide on your mains, and then it all falls into place from there.

In this price range, I wouldn't buy anything that I hadn't heard in my room first. It can sound quite different than at the dealer's showroom. The process should be fun!

John