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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
boxcarman
326 posts
 

Start with the room.  You could spend big bucks on the system and still be unhappy if you do not start with the listening space.  Then, pick  speakers that fit the room and then the components and wires.

vthokie83
661 posts
 

OP, a great problem to have!

As others have mentioned, I'd start with a dedicated room...pay attention to room dimensions, Greek golden method will get you in the ballpark. A badly designed room can ruin any great equipment purchases.

Pull at least a couple of dedicated lines for the room, at least one for signal components, and one for power amplification. Use audiophile receptacles (Furutech GTX-D(G or R...gold or rhodium) or Oyaide R1. I'd recommend that you NOT run an amp through the conditioner, IMO it should be plugged directly into the receptacles. There is some great information here to use. The best use for $1,500 to $2,000 you can make.

Reach out to Mike Major or John Dykstra at GIK Acoustics for room treatment ideas. They can help all of the way from design ideas to product choice, to placement, etc.

Make sure that proper speaker placement is taken into consideration first and foremost, then equipment placement.

Choose what pieces you already own will work in the new environment, and which ones will need to be replaced. You're getting great recommendations: maybe the turntable, power conditioner, and speakers are good enough already?

Have fun!

magnuman's avatar
magnuman
200 posts
 

Your equipment is already very good but I would definitely upgrade to separates, preamp and amp, my suggestion would be the Simaudio 861 amp and the 850p preamp, also you could upgrade all the wiring to the NeoTech rectangular OCC wire which is far superior to anything OFC and even better than the round OCC, other than that everything else you can keep.

magnuman's avatar
magnuman
200 posts
 

Your equipment is already very good but I would definitely upgrade to separates, preamp and amp, my suggestion would be the Simaudio 861 amp and the 850p preamp, also you could upgrade all the wiring to the NeoTech rectangular OCC wire which is far superior to anything OFC and even better than the round OCC, other than that everything else you can keep.

tunehead's avatar
tunehead
151 posts
 

If I was in your situation I'd take a year off and demo/listen/research at dealer(s) letting them know what your plans are. AND, during this 1 year invest that $100000 in a GIC. If it's locked away, your forced to take a year and really figure out where you want to spend. The interest alone would pay for a trip to an Audio show of your choice or room treatments. Plus, you already have a kick ass system to listen to in your new room. Once the new room is treated you may find that is the improvement you've been looking for.

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