Wife opened door to build my best ever system...ideas for what it should be?
Long ago investment that had languished for decades suddenly was transformed in value and is going to pay out. While the bulk of the money will help with our retirement, my wife suggested that this is the opportunity for me to "buy the system you always wanted but never had the chance to buy".....I am figuring on $10-20k to do this. I am presently fairly happy with my speakers (Ohm Walsh 2-100s, Kef R300s) and my sources (Sony SACD 5400ES, Marantz SA8006) but think my power sources have room for improvement (Acurus R11, McIntosh MC250, Marantz PM8005). Dont have a dedicated room though if we are able to buy a new house from this that is my BIG DREAM? For now, the 2 systems, which I would like to edit down to 1 with 1 set of power amps, are in my LR which is a bit cluttered but what I have. I listen to jazz, blues, rock, classical, acoustic music, Hawaiian slack key, bluegrass, female vocals...about 5000 CDs. There is no real shop locally, no techs, here in Hawaii but my in laws are in DE where I have been to Overture alot as well as a few other shops in PA, NJ. I expect it will probably be 6-9 months before I am in the place to spend the money and also hopefully to get off the rock and travel safely. So, its a good time for research and strategizing...especially under the pandemic. I think the amplification is focus one but maybe I need to think bigger and upgrade my speakers too? I cant get anything bigger than the Ohms and the room (12 deep by 18 wide by 9-14 feet high) will absorb only some much energy. I have never owned tubes and am intrigued although concerned about the heat during summer...I do have AC but also the US' most expensive power utility. My mind goes to things like McIntosh MC275 or MA7000, maybe Pass (never heard it), frankly never put a fantasy system together because I didnt see it happening... Any and all suggestions are appreciated. I figure I will put a list together then down the road spend time on the Mnld and do lots of listening for system synergy...then hopefully be able to buy and ship and in a year have a new system....
Joe - Paradise man !! Good for you. Ohm is a going concern and if you like what the do ( I suspect your high ceiling help a great deal ) and since you have other speakers , have a conversation w factory and see where things have evolved since yours were built. Some investment in driver and crossover might be feasible as shipping is obviously expensive. Nail that down first, that dictates power. The ES is rock solid. Visit Johnny Rutan at Audio Connection in NJ when you are back, he has SS and Tube gear. best to you, enjoy the music !!! jim
My wife did something similar with me also a couple years ago. I live in Arizona where it is extremely hot in the summer and I had tube amps. The heat from tube amps is not an issue. The sound is just more musical in my mind.
As part of my research and journey and picking out a new audio system, we did travel together to visit many audio stores around the country. There are many in California especially Los Angeles where we got a lot of ideas. I also went to New Jersey and New York and listened to some great systems. Once you are done with your initial research, if there’s a way for you to come to California or the East Coast you really do need to listen to the systems yourself.
Given your budget I would recommend you include in your research looking at Raven audio out of Texas. They have many different types of integrated and mono tube amps, speakers, and cables. They also offer a 45 day money back guarantee. I would also call Dave Thomson from Raven and get his views on amplification and speakers. He is a super friendly guy and extremely knowledgeable. If you were in New Jersey, I would give the audio doctor a call. He had a major health concern the spring but also can give you some valuable advice.
I can tell you it is a fun experience made even better by a wife who is also interested in me having the best sound possible. Good luck and have fun.
If you are keeping your speakers and this is all going to amplification: McIntosh 462 with matching tube or solid state preamp; or Luxman M900, Son of Ampzilla, Plinius Reference 150, or Belles Power Modules Virtuoso--any with matching preamp; or Gryphon 300 Integrated Amplifier. Coda 8 stereo amplifier and Boulder 866 Integrated Amplifiers have gotten good press recently.
God I love Hawaii! I went there on my first honeymoon and a second vacation with my first wife and I still love the state. Given it was with the first wife, that is saying a lot!
If it was me and you are thinking about consolidating down to one system, why not upgrade both? Your room is about the size of most demo rooms at hotel shows like AXPONA and Capital Audiofest so if you can deliver great sound in a show,
In a room that size you have a choice between a smallish floorstander or a great standmount with maybe a smallish subwoofer. Given your current system, it sounds like you prefer a slightly forward sound profile.
Given your taste and budget, there are a million options so getting things narrowed to what you like based on sound, looks and your concerns around energy consumption and additionally, how many pieces do you want? Separates or an integrated?
Really think through what you want and then it will be easier to map out a plan on how to get to it? Especially in terms of sound.
A few things I would look at through:
Linear Tube Audio - David Berning's ZOTL circuit is amazing and you in essence get a cool running tube amplifier. These are brilliant, albeit lower power.
Bob Carver equipment - This is also cool running tube gear. Bob Carver found a circuit that used to be used in CRTs that he applied here. These are much higher power.
Rogue Audio - Check out the Hydra and DragoN power amps. These are Class D with a tube input stage. I own a Hydra and it is a spectacular amp. Also look at their RPX line of preamps. An RP5 is wonderful with the Hydra and would also work well with a Bob Carver or LTA amp.
Other class Ds, Gs and Hs - Wyred4Sound, NuPrime, Benchmark, Krell, etc.... There are a million of these products on the market these days and most are very good. They will all run at similar temp or cooler than your current Class A/B gear. A/B gear is wonderful and there are lots of choice.
I would avoid Class A if heat is a concern. 75% of the energy that goes through a Class A amp burns off as heat so...
For speakers, there are 100s of brands and even more sub-brands that are on your budget and are amazing. To narrow this, key is sound profile and looks. I would take a look at B&W, Spendor, Focal, Revel, Scansonic/Raidho, Harbeth, Kef, Vandersteen, Wharfedale, Elac, Tekton, Zu, Magnepan, Martin Logan and Paradigm and let us know what you like and don't like aesthetically, Once we know what you like in terms of looks and sound, it becomes easier to help zero in on products that are worth listening too.
That is where I would start and reporting back on your thoughts can help narrow things.
Full disclosure, I am a dealer and manufacturer of speakers that sells some of the brands listed above.
This will take care of the bass issues so you get proper bass at the listening position in almost any room, from about 75Hz and down to 20Hz.
This frees up the main speakers to not have to go down so deep, and that dramatically widens your choices. For example if you want to go tubes but are worried about heat, you can get a more efficient main speaker that does not require a lot of power and so your tube amps can be smaller. The beauty of this approach is it scales nicely in most rooms! If you decide you want some sort of planar speaker it will still work great; and no need to lose resolution or bandwidth relative to the most expensive speakers made; you won't have to take a back seat to any of those issues.
A Hilo Haudiophile sez HI. I got to say, too, that I worry more about my tranny gear going belly up in the heat than I do my tubed gear. The way I figure it, the designer of the tube stuff probably made doubly sure the device can take the heat. Needless to say, my grass shack doesn't have A/C. Cooling is the responsibility of the trade winds and a ceiling fan.
atmasphere:" I would start with the Swarm subwoofer system."
+1 For all the reasons he listed.
A complete Audio Kinesis Swarm or Debra 4-sub distributed bass array (DBA) system is a bargain at only about $3,000 and will provide near sota bass performance throughout your entire room. Getting the bass sounding and feeling right is typically the most difficult thing to do with any audio system. A DBA will provide a powerful, dynamic, solid, smooth, fast and very realistic bass foundation to all your music. I believe powerful, dynamic, visceral, palpable and natural bass reproduction is the biggest single distinguishing characteristic between an audio system that sounds and feels like a hi-fi system playing prerecorded music and a system that sounds and feels like you’re listening to music played live in your living room or have been transported to the recording’s musical venue and are listening live to the performance. The distinction will be very obvious with a properly setup and configured DBA, the bass will integrate seamlessly with your main speakers no matter which brand, size or type of main speakers you utilize and music listening sessions will be transformed into visceral, palpable and very high quality musical experiences that are extremely enjoyable. I realize my description of the DBA concept likely sounds like hyperbole and too good to be true to you. However, I’m fairly certain that even a brief home audition would convince you of the concept’s extraordinary effectiveness. I’m not associated with Audio Kinesis in any way, other than being an owner and user of the AK Debra 4-sub DBA complete kit system for the past 5+ years, and a big fan. I think you’ll almost certainly become a big fan, too, if you decide to audition one in your room.
we would welcome you to visit our store we have one of the largest collections of high end gear in the east coast we have 5 sound rooms and have loudspeakers from atc,legacy,kef,elac,cabasse,paradigm,alta,audio,dali,and afew more
we have elecctronics from t+A, krell,zesto,naim,electrocompaniet,anthem,coda,unison research,musical fidelity,rega,peachtree,hegeland more
digital:lumin, mytek,chord,ifi,T+A,naim, nad,bricastiaqua hifi,m2 tech and 432Evo servers
analog:rega,merrill williams ,nittingham,onk
we have a new speaker package tha should embarass most 40-60k speakers comming in the next two months
the package is a set of elegant self powered subwoofers which double as stands for the most unique monitors in the world which can sit on top
these monitors are from a company called jern http://jernspeakers.com/when we say they are unique they are the only loudspeakers with a cast iron and graphite cabinet
hanks to high quality drivers from ScanSpeak, Mundorf’s best capacitors in the 6db/octave crossover and a high density, cast iron enclosure that redefines inert, these speakers threw a massive, three dimensional soundfield in our 15 x 25 foot listening room. With the JERNs only about 6 feet away from my listening chair in an equilateral triangle, there was no real interaction with the rear or side walls and it was easy to get them aligned to perfection.
this combination should outperform most of the big boys such as wilson or magicos yet cost 15k
the subs go down to 10 hz yet are incredibily fast and articulate
and with active subs you can adjust the bass output to match the room size and location
the monitors are incredibly transparent and holographic
dave and troy audio intellect Nj us importers 432 evo music servers,mj acoustics subwoofers and jern monitors
9-25-2020 7:24pmwe would welcome you to visit our store we have one of the largest collections of high end gear in the east coast we have 5 sound rooms and have loudspeakers from atc,legacy,kef,elac,cabasse,paradigm,alta,audio,dali,and afew more
we have elecctronics from t+A, krell,zesto,naim,electrocompaniet,anthem,coda,unison research,musical fidelity,rega,peachtree,hegeland more
digital:lumin, mytek,chord,ifi,T+A,naim, nad,bricastiaqua hifi,m2 tech and 432Evo servers
analog:rega,merrill williams ,nittingham,onk
we have a new speaker package tha should embarass most 40-60k speakers comming in the next two months
the package is a set of elegant self powered subwoofers which double as stands for the most unique monitors in the world which can sit on top
these monitors are from a company called jern http://jernspeakers.com/when we say they are unique they are the only loudspeakers with a cast iron and graphite cabinet
hanks to high quality drivers from ScanSpeak, Mundorf’s best capacitors in the 6db/octave crossover and a high density, cast iron enclosure that redefines inert, these speakers threw a massive, three dimensional soundfield in our 15 x 25 foot listening room. With the JERNs only about 6 feet away from my listening chair in an equilateral triangle, there was no real interaction with the rear or side walls and it was easy to get them aligned to perfection.
this combination should outperform most of the big boys such as wilson or magicos yet cost 15k
the subs go down to 10 hz yet are incredibily fast and articulate
and with active subs you can adjust the bass output to match the room size and location
the monitors are incredibly transparent and holographic
dave and troy audio intellect Nj us importers 432 evo music servers,mj acoustics subwoofers and jern monitor
@
joekapahulu Congrats on the investment. I am also waiting on an 8 year investment to pop so I can get a "free" set of speakers. I am set on buying the Yamaha NS 5000 after hearing a ton of great systems. You should check them out or the much cheaper NS 3000. I think an NS 4000 in-between the 2 likely will also be released. Not sure if the NS 3000 is in the USA yet. It is a very technologically advanced speaker.
Surprisingly, this evening I got an email the CEO of a company I worked and invested in about 15 years ago. Seems they are going to cash out on Monday (2 days from now). I likely will get $100 from my stock investment there. with all the dilution, but it is going to be fun to see what happens next week. I do not even remember how much stock I own there. Maybe I get lucky and can get the NS 5000 early.
I did get all my new electronics for the future NS 5000 over the last 3 months. I realized the stuff I liked the best was cheaper than my initial very very expensive choices.
I just looked at the new Stereophile Recommended Components for 2020 and it seems the 3 new pieces I bought are all in the A+ category. I did not know this before hand but looking over the list today, I think they have some good guidance (and measurements).
Thanks for all the feedback. I think it will be even more challenging to do this after reading all these comments. I have historically preferred separates over integrated amps but probably mostly due to possibly out of date thinking that the integrateds were a compromise. The current Marantz integrated was a concession for a remote due to back injury that necessitated having a means to adjust my system without moving much during a 6 month recovery. It was also the first modern piece I had bought in at least 10 years other than CDPs. Got the Kef R300s at the same time for a very good price because I needed something which was quieter to use at night when I couldnt sleep and listened to music to relax. I like the open sound of the Ohm Walsh's and appreciate the fact they have a very wide sweet spot, wide soundstage and go pretty low in the bass. I also enjoy what they do with voices. I have enjoyed Spendors, Harbeths, Rogers, other Brit speakers. I have had limited exposure to all tube systems but the ones I have liked (Mac 275) had I guess an older style sound vs the Rogue Cronus Magnum which sounded more like solid state to me. Heard both at Overture on B & Ws, Magico and Sonus Fabers. Liked the B W the least, seemed a bit bright to me. I like my Kefs but I think the UniQ needs to be carefully paired. I heard the Kef Ref1s with Marantz KI gear a few years ago up in NJ (cant remember where) but that was an eye opener which took me to looking for Kefs. I was going to do the LS50s but heard them side by side up at Quest For Sound IN PA and felt the 300 had more bass, presence and WAF. Will have to do some more research on this....given Covid it is probably summer next year at the earliest when we will be traveling to the Mainland. So, I have the time.
edcyn...Aloha bro. Good to see there is at least one other audiophile out here...we are hidden well. I am up in the mountains so maybe similar weather to Hilo area although we dont get the cool winters and rain like we used. I did the fan and open windows thing for years here but developed some asthma suddenly and found a portable AC helped alot. When we needed to do some remodeling, it was a natural to add a split system. Best thing I ever did in this house for our health and made a lengthy recovery from surgery much better. Now, it has me thinking I could do tubes even if they put out heat....we shal see. Thanks for the feedback.
My choices would include about anything in the Pass Labs lineup that fits your budget. Their stuff is just so consistently top notch and great sounding. Extreme attention to quality and detail in both sound and build. The best customer service in the business.
I did many hours of research (well over 100+ hours) and listening to numerous brands over the span of a year before settling on a Pass Labs int 250 integrated. I’m running the int 250 through a pair of Harbeth Super HL 5+ 40th Anniversary speakers, a dual power supply MSB Discrete DAC, and now have a little over 300 listening hours on the amp and my new system. I’m ecstatic with it. I couldn’t be happier. My ears are pretty happy too. ;)
A name that, IMHO, seems to sometimes get overlooked is Naim. I would take a serious look at a complete Naim system headed by their Supernait 3 integrated. Superb sounding amp and system. Major bang for the buck.
Other names I auditioned that I’d recommend include Luxman, Boulder, VAC, Simaudio/Moon and Gryphon. So many great choices out there.
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