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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
ronboco
749 posts
 

@skyscraper 

I would say to that your amplifier choice will depend alot on what speakers you decide on. I have Rockport Avior ii speakers and would highly recommend an audition. Good luck with your search and have fun! 
 

Regards 

Ron 

terry9
2,243 posts
 

Sounds like you might be pretty good with your hands. Consider DIY - much higher performance, much more fun.

skyscraper OP
825 posts
 

mapman, I fortunately know how to build, having built my current 3000 square foot home myself, and should be able to buy a house that will either suit any equipment I might demo and really like, or can be modified to do so. That’s kind of backwards from buying equipment to suit a given room, but fortunately easy pickings having some carpentry skills.

At this point I’m really only wanting to hear what $100.000 can buy and sound like. I could head in a completely different direction, as I am happy with my current system and home, albeit it's way bigger than I need with my wife having passed, and ten acres is a lot to keep up anymore, making me consider downsizing.

terry9, I’d especially like to read that Absolute Sound article on room construction. If anyone knows what issue of Absolute Sound it was in that would helpful.

Ron, thanks for your recommendation on your Rockport Avoirs. I’ll look into them.

Mike

mapman's avatar
mapman
21,879 posts
 

At this point I’m really only wanting to hear what $100.000 can buy and sound like.

It’s probably a fair assumption that anything reputable you buy for that money should be very good, in which case the end results will be determined largely by personal preferences (everyone is different here) and how well executed the system is end-to-end, including room, no matter what path is chosen.

Main thing is to enjoy what you are doing at all times, both along teh ride and once you reach the destination.

Were it me making that investment, I would be probably be seeking to have a large room that would be amenable to a nice pair of mbl omnis and go from there.

In lieu of just the right room needed for best results from full omnis like the mbl, I’d probably either stick with my large Ohms, or might consider splurging on a pair of KEF meta blade 1 or 2s. I might even settle for a pair of KEF Reference 3 meta for ~ $15K and optimize for those upstream. This is actually something currently on my radar screen, but so far I can’t justify the additional investment and overhead of another pair of fairly large and heavy speakers. I’ve actually downsized in recent years and when I compare what I have to that ideal, I find I am in a very good place for a lot less cost and operational overhead.

Cheers and good luck!

inna
7,135 posts
 

skysraper, there really are almost infinite possibilities, and $100k can buy truly excellent sound. Choose your speakers first, something that you wouldn’t want to replace for the next 20 years. Take your time with that. The rest will be easier if not easy. I would probably audition $25k-$40k new speakers with good SS amplification. This is quite a range, I know. The brand you get should have a high reputation in terms of warranty and repair work after the warranty expires. You don’t want any problems with this. I would buy all the cables demo or used unless you must have something particular that is impossible to find. Great cables and cords are usually outrageously overpriced. Frankly, I don’t know what I myself would choose at this level, the biggest challenge would be to find those near perfect speakers for many years to come.

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