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New to the Hobby what would you do next?

I have spent six to eight months trying to stretch my very Modest sub $1000 budget on my first audio system. It started when I was looking to upgrade my HT system from a cheap Onkyo reciever and Cd changer to an older Carver amp/preamp combo. I had $600 and a few parts to sell to get the starting budget to about $1000.
Long story short I spent months buying "value used components" but never getting the last piece to be able to listen to music.
I went from Adcom, to JBL Synthesis, to NAD and ended up finding an Odyssey amp that has made me very happy. The Adcom processor, JBL processor, led to a Passive Odyssey preamp. And my Polk audio LS 50 were sold to make room for Vandersteen 1B, sold to make room for DCM TF400, that are going to be leaving soon to make room for Chapman T-7 speakers.
I have a cheap Pioneer DV-578A SACD/DVD player model and a Denon DCD 3250 cd player and some garbage ICs. I have Impact Accoustics sonic wave speaker wire and ICs.

The question is: What would you do next?

I know that there are tons of "tweaks" that can make this sound better for a few bucks. I have read about small little boxes that help the cd sound. I wanted a tuved cd, but could never find one in my range.

At this point I will keep looking for the "right speaker" and a Odyssey Stratos Extreem Amp and eventually a better preamp. But I would like to tinker with what I have without making any huge changes.

Any and all help welcomed.
brownsanandy
warnerwh
539 posts
 
The first thing to do is to learn the most important tweak of all: Speaker Position. This is free and can make a very large difference in the sound of your system, more than an amp, preamp or cd player usually. Try different distances from sidewalls and the rear wall. Also try toeing in to the point of crossfiring in front of you a couple of feet. Find the best compromise.

Read up on room acoustics. This will affect the quality of the sound more than different electronics and can make a very large improvement in your sound. The cost per quality of sound unit is excellent.

Most of us here did it backwards in my opinion. We should have concentrated on knowing how to get the most out of our systems as they were before buying better gear. This will get you the best sound on the least amount of money. After thirty plus years in this hobby I feel that this is the most intelligent path and if I were to do it again I'd learn about room acoustics first, not after 20+ years.
brownsanandy OP
92 posts
 
I would like to find a DAC, I have been watching for Ack, Nixon, or Sonic frontiers Dacs, but will add the Dac Ah to the list.

The suggestion with spikes will be headed as will, I have no stands to put sand in.

Any suggestion about were to learn about room accoustics?
brownsanandy OP
92 posts
 
12-10-05: Maineiac
If I read this right, you've gone through 4 amps, 3 pre-amps, and 3 sets of speakers in 8 months. When do you have time to listen and figure out what you like and don't like?

I guess I need to reread the thread. I started out with a system that included the polk audio ls 50 for at least 6 years. I wanted to upgrade and started buying parts that others suggested. I bought some of the sfuff, and ran out of money so I never had a full set up. I never had a chance to listen to much of the gear and the Adcom was a 3 channel home theater amp. I got fed up with it all and sold everything and bought the Odyssey stuff. The cd player that I started with was free, but the Pioneer sacd sounds better in my rig.
I sold the Polk and the vandersteens to get some cash. The DCM TF-400 was $125 and finally got me listening to music. They do not match my room at all and the Chapmans will be in the rig by the end of the month.
shersta
140 posts
 
I'll second the previous ideas of playing around with speaker placement and looking into DIY room treatments. But if you're still looking for a good, cheap DAC, I'd heartily recommend looking at MSB line of dacs. The older ones should start at under 200.
qualia8
49 posts
 
I want to second Warner's post, above. Room acoustics for some reason doesn't seem as sexy as equipment, but IMO it makes a bigger difference for the $. Here's one more thing to try...

get your rack out from between your speakers. As I see the pic on your system thread, your speakers are no taller than your rack, and it's directly between them. When I took my tv, and then my rack, out from between the speakers, I got a huge improvement in imaging. (I went so far as to remove everything from center except my amp.)

you could just try pulling the speakers forward, and maybe also mounting them on top of some blocks to get the tweeters to ear-level.
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