OP,
Wow. Sorry to hear so many useless replies. There is no end to the improvements you can make. The big question, which one first? Which is what I think you asked.
It would be tremendously helpful to see your system and venue. There is a place under your user I’d to show it and components. This would help us understand your current system. Also, any comments about what you like about your system now. You have great speakers… so, there is great improvement possible.
Most of us that are really passionate have long term interest in improving one component at a time to achieve the best possible sound. But, also to have each purchase be satisfying in itself and bring us closer to the maximum capability of what we own. With your speakers there is a lot of possibilities.
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There's nothing wrong with what you have. There is nothing you're going to buy that is really going make an improvement worth the trouble and money you're going to go through.
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Money to burn,….?
Hookers, kegs, firetrucks, guns & blow, Audi R-8, 2 Omega sea masters, hire Holy Moses & Sodom for a concert at the cabin purchased in west Texas for you and everyone at audiogon, your family and friends, Bobby flay to cook and bar-b-q for us. It’s what’s left, go buy some monoblocks and CD player
What’s left, go stereo shopping
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My recommendation to anyone is used is good, but be careful about price. I have a rule of thumb. If it lists for more than 60 percent of new. Buy new or offer, or move on. Any blurry pictures, ask for better. reasearch at least 3 items in you catagory and price. Low, medium, high. Good and bad buys out there. Reasearch!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its easy to make a good $10k turntable, but not as easy on a good $1000.00 Turntable. My holy grail is sound returns.For instance, my Schitt Mani sounds great. Does it sound better than my Lehmann Black Box with power conditioner? NO, but it gets 90% there. Same with any thing pretty much. I go for the middle of the road in cost returns. But sometimes you have to treat yourself. And a warranty aint bad. Good luck.
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Don’t over look the VPI Scouts, especially with the heavy metal platter and nordost JmW 9 tonearm. These are the precursor to the Prime and with a few upgrades like feet and motor you can get equal to or surpass the performance of a Prime for less money.
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Regarding amps - get a First Watt F4 and drive it with the LS-16. That will give you 50wpc@ 4ohms of Class A power! For jazz and classical that's enough power. BTW I have an F4 that I can drive with my ARC SP6!
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I'd go for the VPI Prime and add a Dynavector arm with a Dynavector lomc cartridge into an SUT (Denon, Entre, FR ...). Does the LS-16 have a phono stage? I'd consider something like a Herron or Counterpoint tube phono stage.
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If you're looking to improve turntable magic, I'd first determine if the existing setup is optimized.
No mention of an outboard phonostage, so assuimng the LS16 has one? If so, arguably your table setup may not be fully exploited.
Since you like the tube sound-tube phono stage and maybe a cart upgrade.
Used Primes for a good deal are an easy find. You might also consider a nice tube integrated.
Tube usage/cost is not that big of a deal as you may think.
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What improvements are you looking for, and what preamp and cables/power conditioning do you have?
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Great response. Thank you. And yes I do have a good friend who I trust alot who used to work at Progressive Audio in Columbus. He has never steered me wrong and has saved me money. He has a very good ear and is honest. When he gets really clean gear within my budget he normally reaches out. And it virtually every case I can audition before i commit.
I was just looking for some other opinions. I appreciate your thoughts. I do like the tube sound. My pre amp actually is a hybrid (two tubes)...but I'm not sure if i will go that way with a large amp only because of the cost of tube replacement. Today's tube prices are crazy....
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Given what you listen to, I would be tempted to part from solid state completely. That said, I believe you will get more bang for your buck, for making a departure from your current sound, by changing the amp. I love the Audio Research sound but the Pass, in my opinion, adds more musicality. That said, the best set up for "jazz" that I have ever heard was an Audio Research VS-55, a SP-11, a VPI Scoutmaster and some JBL L-150a's. It is like you can hear the smoke in the air from an old jazz club, hear the fingers on the instruments and the music flows effortlessly through the air. Tubes create, again in my opinion, the best reproduction of the music. That said, Pass is darn good. Any chance you can sample some amps with your current set up, perhaps through some friends or a really nice hi-fi store? The final test is your ears and your ears alone.
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I would keep that TT, and add additional uni-pivot arm wands, with alternate cartridges ready to go. Jazz: there are lots of excellent sounding Mono LPs when so many of the greats made their reputations, so an arm wand with mono cartridge ready to go. Existing cartridge if it has some life in it.
MC cartridge (do you have MC phono stage set up? If not, a SUT with PASS for MM and a few inputs and x factor adjustments will set you up for future choices.
I chose a vintage Fidelity Research FRT-4 for that reason, there are Entre 100’s I think, others that members here know about.
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