Help me spend $100,000 on a new system


I’ve recently been considering moving and downsizing my home. While exploring how much I might sell my house and land for, I was shocked that I might have an excess of $100,000 after selling and buying a smaller new home with less acreage. I’m 71 years old and can’t take it with me, so I’m trying to figure out how to spend that potential resource.

One possibility would be to purchase a new stereo system with all that cash. I would like to demo a system costing that much to see what sound quality you could get for a stupendous amount like that. But I don’t have any idea what brand/model components to look at. Perhaps you could suggest components you might consider if you were setting up a system at that price point. Also how would you budget the total amount per component including wiring.

I am not interested in adding streaming or anything else I might not already have to the system. I would be open to buying separates to replace any single component such as the integrated amplifier. Maybe a separate DAC, phono stage, preamp etc. Please tell me what you would do.

Following are the components I already have to upgrade. My system consists of Magico A3 speakers, a Luxman 507uX MK2 integrated amp, a Marantz Ruby KI CD/SACD player, A VPI Classic 2 turntable with a Fatboy tonearm and a Lyra Kleos cartridge. Wiring consists of Audioquest Rocket 88 speaker cables, and VPI house brand wires that connect to the tonearm. I forget the brands of the other wires and cables, but they are of similar quality to the above.

I also have a Shunyata Hydra Denali 4000 power conditioner with a Venom power cord (I think) that I will continue to use without upgrading.

I would welcome any of your suggestions and utilize them next time I go up to Washington DC to visit dealer showrooms for demos. Thank you much.

It does sound weird to consider spending that much on a system costing over three times what I paid for my first home, so I hope I’m not sounding uppity here.

Mike

 

 

skyscraper

Your post is not uppity in any shape or form…. i suggest permanently ignoring any who react with such petty emotion…. i would color it green.

Is it a blessing ? Sure.

I wouldn’t at your budget level focus on a sea change… but i would suggest working the two transducers in your system and the room. For $35 K you could have monoblocks and speakers with 11 bands of EQ below 120 hz to work in just about ANY room you choose… Get into a better Lambda  Lyra ( keep your Kleos as a backup ), get dual pivot on VPI ( can’t remember IF you pulled trigger on it. )… put some $ in the room….but don’t kill it w over treatment AS so many dedicated rooms do……

Finally have fun, enjoy the journey….

Email me ,myself being an ex dealer I can lead youto dealers where you can get a solid 20%+ off on many brands of top brand equipment .

Keep your speakers and get a Mark Levinson no526 pream and 534 Amp, that will set you back 50k, then upgrade to Cardas Clear cables another 10k and then treat your room another 2k. Then spend the rest on vacations and travel. Now you're set!

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I would definitely choose your home… with a great audio area, if you can. I accidentally bought a home with one of the best audio areas imaginable. Very much by accident. It has almost no symmetry… overall a big Z shaped room (s). Underground, so silent.

 

I am 71 as well. You want streaming… one old fart to another. 

Anyway, take your current system… and then do what audiophiles do… find your weakest link and upgrade the heck out of it. I would definitely look at upgrading your preamp / amp to tube: Audio Research or VAC, or Conrad Johnson. Real musical stuff. Us old guys finally get it.

 

As you age, getting up and constantly changing records gets to be a real announce. You can get the same quality sound and not have to get up an futz every twenty minutes. You can see my solution under my user ID. Audio Research / Aurender… three heavenly hours a day and not up and down. I walk in the forest and bicycle for exercise.

It seems that OP wants to change his system just for the sake of spending money.

It is very strange approach, to me at least.