What in your path caused the biggest change?

VR3

Hands down the biggest change I have heard at this point - in order is as follows...

1) Crossover upgrades - This literally transformed everything
2) MIT Shotgun Cables - Another immediate, positive difference
3) Keeping it simple.. No eqs, no crossovers, no extra things in the mix - CDP > PRE > Amp > Speakers
4) Having a good quality Source
5) Tube Preamp

Systems

Dedicated cryoed 10 ga 20 amp line, and Furutech 20amp gold recept.

ben62670

It was a set of Polk drivers that I was using to replace some foam surround drivers with. I heard them and it was a gradual downhill slope from that till I got my SDA'2. It was all over after that.
Ben

doctor r

Tubes

Tubed CDP - Tubed Preamp - Tubed Poweramps.
The VAC Standard LE pre made my system 4 levels better IMO.

treitz3

Depends on where I was in my audio journey as to what made the biggest change. Everything affects everything.

AudioGenics

Vr3MxStyler2k3 wrote: »

.....5) Tube Preamp

It was the Audio Research SP-1 preamplifier.
Made in the USA and made with great Respect
to the High End Client.

zarrdoss

Joining this forum.

SCompRacer

Acoustic treatments. Saves a bunch of floundering around. If the room has problems, you absolutely cannot get a totally accurate representation of the gear in the mix.

steveinaz

1. My speakers
2. My DAC
3. Passive linestage

In that order...

Toolfan66

zarrdoss wrote: »

Joining this forum.

I have to agree!!! lol

Crossover Upgrades W/RDO's
Spikes!!! That was huge.
Getting a dedicated Pre Amp!! Another huge step.
MIT Shotgun Cables!!
Tubes (Phono Pre, Pre Amp)
Power Cords
Room Treatments

All of these made a huge impact and are in no paticular order.

Can't forget the rings I made for the drivers and passives of my SDA's:cool:

Toolfan66

xcapri79 wrote: »

.
100) Cables and Interconnects (The law of diminishing returns applies here)

Can't help yourself can you??? This wasn't asked..

Trolling at it's finest!!

falconcry72

Discovering SDA's

More serious power amp

Source/External DAC

Speaker placement

vmaxer

deleted...will re post

vmaxer

xcapri79 wrote: »

1) Speakers
2) Source
3) Amplifier
4) Preamp
5) Room Treatments
.
.
100) Cables and Interconnects (The law of diminishing returns applies here)

TOOLFORLIFEFAN wrote: »

Can't help yourself can you??? This wasn't asked..

Trolling at it's finest!!

Some things never change huh:rolleyes:

quadzilla

treitz3 wrote: »

Depends on where I was in my audio journey as to what made the biggest change. Everything affects everything.

This. First big change was going from a low-end HK to a Pio Elite AVR. Then there was much mucking around without a lot of results until I went to external amplification. More mucking around until I switched to Anti-cables speaker cable in a bi-amp configuration, etc.

The last really big change was just simply learning to properly set up my turntable and getting a really good tube phono stage. This one is a really good example because I thought I had my cart set up properly. It sounded fine on my old pre. But once I got the Aural Thrills, I could hear a lot of cart break up. Once I got really, really painstaking in my cart set up, they started working together to provide some truly amazing sound.

So there isn't one thing that I can point to and say "that's the change that made all the difference, or even the biggest difference."

hearingimpared

TOOLFORLIFEFAN wrote: »

I have to agree!!! lol

Crossover Upgrades W/RDO's
Spikes!!! That was huge.
Getting a dedicated Pre Amp!! Another huge step.
MIT Shotgun Cables!!
Tubes (Phono Pre, Pre Amp)
Power Cords
Room Treatments

All of these made a huge impact and are in no paticular order.

Can't forget the rings I made for the drivers and passives of my SDA's:cool:

Mine is close Larry;

1) Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista 300

2) xover upgrades & RDO198s

3) MIT Shotgun S3s ICs all around

4) Raysonic CD 168 (closest thing to analog in CDP I've ever heard)

5) ZYX Airy 3 Cartridge.

If I had to pick just one it would be a tie between the xover upgrades and the Tri-Vista.

zingo

The Shuguang Treasure 300B integrated amp was the biggest and best change to my system.

ShinAce

1) speakers
2) room treatments
3) alcohol

That is all.

Ern Dog

I'd have to say Modwright tube preamp made the biggest difference.

Jetmaker737

My LSi-15's. Since then the rest of the system has had to change to measure up.

Ern Dog wrote: »

I'd have to say Modwright tube preamp made the biggest difference.

I hear ya brother.... I love mine!

vmaxer

Several years ago I purchased a new pair of RT55i's and found this forum...It started there.

By reading more and more on here I went from just having a basic Onkyo receiver and the 55's to what you see in my signature.....A lot of Polk and other stuff.

I realize that my system is still not a top end system, but I will keep upgrading as I can and maybe some day I will have one.

So, joining this place would be the biggest difference:biggrin:, since I wouldn't have know what I was missing. Now just missing a lot of money:redface:

WilliamM2

Speakers and placement have made the biggest difference. Anything else has always been subtle at best.

madmax

Tubes, horns and vinyl.

NJPOLKER

zarrdoss wrote: »

Joining this forum.

I agree 100% or so :redface: It has also cost me plenty but well worth it

When I upgraded the x-overs in my three pair of Polks I gotta say they were the most effective and economically wise decisions I ever made.


Buying 2 Mullard and 2 Mazda tubes for the Anthem PRE2L for about $100. each made a huge difference in sound quality. Not an inexpensive upgrade but well worth it. The music blossomed and became realistic, no B.S. it transformed the entire scope of my listening pleasure. As someone around here says "tubes rule".

Upgrading the caps in my Anthem PRE2L was a great move for the dollar spent. For $50.00 you can't beat it and it was a easy DIY upgrade. I have a thread around here explaining the upgrade process I think.

W WALDECKER

#1 Dropping transistors in favor of tubes #2 trying many different components in my system and listening room to help me discern what my preferences really are.

lmuller1

Speakers and placements I would put at the top of the list. I would say source material is huge. Can't stand poorly recorded music or over-eq'd stuff. I find most live recordings hard to listen to. Thank goodness there are many exceptions to this.
Power for big headroom. dbx bx-3 mk2 400/ch, dbx bx-2 250/ch, QSC 1400 300/ch and QSC CX-702 700/ch. Makes for effortless control. I'll take too much power over not enough any day. When I went from a QSC model 1400 at to the CX-702 on my dbx sf1's and was stunned at the difference.

zingo

lmuller1 wrote: »

I would say source material is huge. Can't stand poorly recorded music or over-eq'd stuff.

Agreed. Most non-audiophiles have no idea how much of a difference this makes.

ben62670

People telling me to use great top dollar shelf stuff when I could mod middle of the road stuff to kick butt.

jinjuku

1> Speakers
2> Clean and abundant wall power
3> Ample amp power

I have a feeling when I get around to it: Dumping passive x-over components and going fully active with enough channels of amplification. Which will have the side benefit of about 30% more power getting to the driver instead of warming resistors on a passive x-over. A 2 for 1 type upgrade.

BottomFeeder

Moving from a, gulp, receiver, to an NAD integrated.

98Badger

1. Speakers without a doubt
2. Well recorded material
3. Plenty of power
4. Quality sub
5. Good DAC