looking to step up sound

scottyboy76

recently upgraded fom ht rec. and monos to adcom gtp540 and 2 gfa 5400s,and a gcd 700.

will be looking at a max of 500 bucks to help make the next step up.

Have some vintage kef carina IIs, and q60s, as well as a tremendous set of apl prism500s, i know you have never heard of this now defunct atlanta based comp, but they made at least one pair of fine little bookshelf speakers, will not be getting rid of any.

Also some fx surrounds and a cs350 center and a couple good quality subs and some mint dcm tf-400s, dont laugh, i have enjoyed every minute with them.

Im hoping to rtake a step up, my question, for this meager amount, would i be better off looking for a better adcom used pre, with phono input, i have many clean records just gathering dust, or scour the classifieds for speaks.

If you have any recommendations of models, feel free and thanks.

jsours

Oh, wouldn't these be nice: http://milwaukee.craigslist.org/ele/2419349709.html

Timeframes are certainly decent speakers. I had a pair and found them very listenable. I have to be honest and say that the Timewindows are my all-time favorites. I've had bigger, louder, thumpier, brighter, more expensive... they are still my standard for separation, clarity, soundstage, etc. KEF makes some interesting speakers that 500 bucks used would get you into. Polk and Klipsch too. Some people aren't partial to horns, but placement and usage can make a difference there. Audio Pro from Sweden makes some good stuff, but it is hard to find. Personally, I like to stick to CL or garage sales or Ebay and get stuff that way. It is fun to discover some old, new, good and bad speakers. Its like a treasure hunt.
If I had unlimited funds, it might be different, but I like the search and discovery as much as the speakers sometimes. I found a very nice pair of huge Yamaha NS-570s. I got a cool story, a great buy, and some very unique speakers that I will never sell.

scottyboy76

jsours, we share the love of the hunt.

As a disabled man, theres little to fill up my formerly vigorous busy life as a successful albeit short lived landscape designer and installer, at the same time working 10 hours each, fri- mon.

Now, besides helping family and piddling around the house,my main source of fun is pouring over atlanta ga., greenville sc., and chatt, tenn. craigslist ads, most of which are fake beats by dr. dre headphones, terribly worded fake ads from china, plastic boom boxes for twice what the retail price was, until you find that gem, there are great pieces of audio out there,

Despite what some very few members here think, when you share pics of a new find with cp, its not nanner nanner, whatever that was in father knows best days, its sharing your good fortune, just like showing your VERY expensive new piece of audio gear,letting others drool all over their screens, and hope they might have something similar someday, you are right, the point is great gear you might never afford otherwise, but the journey is a huge part.

I think i will renew my timewindow quest after being sidetracked by the Infinity crescendos i recently heard, the emit tweets are almost shocking.

george daniel

there is a Dared tubed pre on the Fm now,,and you might be able to pry some tube rolling advice from Brock (h9)

treitz3

Excellent suggestion, George.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=120448

scottyboy76

Aguy from nashville cl is going to his mini warehouse to get his deceased sons prized, mint infinity 3007s, with professionally refoamed woofs, and will drive 2.5 to 3 hours to meet us for me to buy them.

But believe me, i would believe the advice from you two guys, and after finally letting the old rejiggered organ tube amp that jerryj12 loaned me warm up for an hour and using it with a better ss pre, my wife and i were blown away.

This thing looks like it fell off the junk truck up here in the mountains on the way to the dump, its only 3.5 watts, but the sound is totally different from my increasingly acceptable ss stuff.

Definitely a future stop on my audio journey, but we were blown away by some ragged inf. 3008s we heard with blown out woofs.and im jumping at these for now.

But i truly appreciate the info, guys.

scottyboy76

Had it all set up, th guy was also very interested in my marantzsr8000 ht rec, great.

Late last night, got a cryptic email saying no thanks on driving to meet us, too far, too much gas, would ship if we gave address.

talked very pleasantly all day with no mention of problem meeting us, no probs, now, of course, wont return calls or emails about even the shipping option he offered.

Have had many great experiences with folks from classifieds, but just like when i worked at home depot in the 90s, you remember the couple strange ones or jerks from all the good ones, selah.

Still on my search for infinity kappas or crescendos.

Prefer crescendos mainly due to fact i have seen no reports of literally MELTED inferior amps and especially receivers used by unwitting folks who did not know the kappas would dip so low in impedance, have seen quite a few warnings in my readings about kappas.although I think biamped with my two adcom amps, I should be fine with either.

jsours

I have some Infinity RS 5 speakers on CL. A guy emails me about 10 times. He finally sets something up for today, sends me his phone number... never shows. I call... no answer. Oh well, you can't win 'em all I suppose.