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  3. 186581-130

Does an upgrade make sense?

I may be coming down with the upgrade bug, and I’m open to suggestions. I’m quite happy with what I have—excellent imaging, musicality, dynamics. Maybe I could use a little more depth (left right is fine and speakers truly disappear), and maybe a touch more dynamics.

Almost everything I listen to is Qobuz streaming or hi res and flac files from a NAS (hard drive). My system:

Cambridge 851 Streamer/DAC

Bel Canto Pre5

Bel Canto Ref 500 monoblocks

Dali Mentor 6 floorstanders

Everything sits on maple plinths, Gaia iiis, or pucks.

Cabling is mid range Morrows. I previously had Kimber KS1116s but sold them as the Morrows sounded just as good, on the current set up.

What do I need to get more of everything? Speakers? DAC, Streamer? Amp?

tomaswv
elliottbnewcombjr
5,202 posts
 

"I’m quite happy with what I have"

NOOOOOO, buy more content, a better coffee maker, wine cooler, better wine, other worthless life improving gizmos!

If you visit a friend, and come home every time thinking, his system is much better than mine, well, then you’ve got work to do. Let's be clear, different is not better.

Ag insider logo xs@2x
jallan
255 posts
 

I’m going to ask for consideration of another perspective re subs. I lived with two subs for more than 20 years (double Dahlquist DQ1Ws with DQ10’s). The subs added a lot in terms of dynamic range and weight, but always compromised the imaging, especially in terms of depth. The complexity of the setup was also leading to issues, with more things to go wrong. When I changed my speakers (to ATC’s, I found I never missed the lowest frequencies as the image and sound was more coherent.

 I would suggest your streaming setup is the area most profitably improved. Finding a used Aurender N10 if you want a single box or else an Aurender N150 combined with one of the Yggdrasils would be nice.

aewarren
579 posts
 

Leave it alone and enjoy the music. You'll be miles ahead of 90% of the people on this forum.

dentdog's avatar
dentdog
474 posts
 

Redo the room. If the ceiling is low (hope it's not), use GIK diffusor/absorption. 36' long by 25 wide. Study up on ideal wall construction. Stop fighting this if you will be in the home for a while. Bring in a EQUI-TECH balanced power wall unit and run a couple of dedicated lines. Accomplish this and you can begin to consider components. Believe me, quiet power gives something no component can deliver.

mahgister's avatar
mahgister
12,745 posts
 

It is the reason why i never go on with sub after one trial to do so...

It is way more complex that it is presented by sellers and costly if we want to do it right...

I use another road...

I improved my small active box speakers with a rear porthole with a bundle of TUNED (different lenght and diameter) of straws put inside it...

I go from 80 hertz in specs to 50... With no downside and a very clear punch bass.. No boominess..

Each speakers is an Helmholtz resonators then we can take advantage of this...No sellers of speakers will sell them with this advice or with tubes going outside of them like a decapitated bouquet of flowers ... 😊

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