Looking to upgrade but in what order?

dkfreebird

I have been listening to my 2.3tl's for sometime now after the upgrades and feel like they deserve more than what I have been giving them.I bought a Carver tfm55x to replace the Adcom 555 to power them but I ended up going back to the Adcom.The bass seemed a little muddy on the Carver and the Adcom seemed to have a little more punch.My gear consists of the Adcom,Nad 7240pe using it as a pre since it has a bad channel on the amp section.I"m using Audioquest Evergreen interconnects,Rotel 855 cd player and a old Entech Number Cruncher 203.2 dac.I figure the preamp and cd are the places to start.The speaker cables are another area I need to upgrade so that is where in what order I was wondering to do them in.

Conradicles

Pre amp.

dkfreebird

I've been looking at the Dared 2000a.I hear they sound good with ss amps.I have about a grand to spend on the upgrades and was hoping to keep it under that for the pre and cd.

hochpt21

Spend a grand on a new pre and amp, and then get a cdp with the money from selling the Adcom.

Parasound P3 is a great pre for the price, and the P5 has a DAC if you can afford it.

The Dared is a very nice unit on a budget, but remember you're going to spend $$ on tubes.

A used Parasound or B&K amp should be an upgrade from the adcom.

You could get either the Parasound P3 or the Dared, and match it with a B&K Reference 200.2 for around $1,000 and be very happy.

Or you could stretch your budget slightly and get into some of Musical Fidelity's integrateds. The a5 doesn't come around much, but it gets great reviews and has balls. 250W I believe.

If you spend a grand on the pre and amp, you could sell the Adcom and get a used Oppo 83, or 83SE.

I'm just telling you about the gear I've had experience with, and that I've been happy with. There are many other options out there.

dkfreebird

I have been pouring over the search on this site and I have seen the parasound is a good match for the sda's.I have been looking for a Parasound 1200 to try.There are two Oppo's on Cl in my area now for 300 and 399.The 93 and 103

hochpt21

The 83, 93, and 103 all retailed for right around $500, I believe.
The 83SE, 95 and 105 all have upgraded audio sections, and retailed for almost double.

The 105 also has digital inputs and can be used as a preamp, but there is some debate as to it's merits as a preamp.

If you listen to SACD's, you cannot output them from the OPPO to an external DAC, you have to use the internal DAC.

dkfreebird

Don't have any sacd's yet,kinda new to this.I have alot of cd's and music on harddrives and in itunes.I usually listen to my cd's or the music on my laptop thru a Dragonfly dac

dkfreebird

How do you get this thread moved to vintage speakers?I believe I put it in the wrong category

F1nut

Get the MF A5 integrated, do it now. After that get the matching A5 CDP.

I"m using Audioquest Evergreen interconnects

They will work for now. What speaker cables are you using?

F1nut

BTW, you're in the right section.

F1nut

Forgot to mention, Matt Polk has the MF A5 CDP.

dkfreebird

Little out of my budget right now but it is something to strive for in the future.My speaker cables are some generic monster wire with nakamichi ends.The reason I thought it was in the wrong section is because I had questions if the dreadnaught should be my first upgrade to open up my options

drumminman

Looks like you have lots of stuff to upgrade. The nice thing is it doesn't have to be done all at once. Never heard any MF pieces, but around here it gets lots of respect. Have you ever had any work done to the Carver TFM55? If not, one of the places that rebuilds them can do a recap and upgrades, which would be cheaper than replacing it and would likely provide significant performance improvement.

As far as order of upgrades, I would look for deals and think about doing the pre and power amp first. But, if I found a cdp on sale I'd pic it up and do the pre and power next.

As far as cables, I'm a fan of DIY and there are lots of very good recipes out there for reasonable $ . Better speaker cables and IC's can dramatically improve sound quality, as can power cords. And don't forget quality connectors - bananas or spades, AC plugs, IEC connectos. I've built several of Chris Venhaus' designs which are excellent.

dkfreebird

Picked up the carver about 2 months ago,don't know if any work has been done on it except the meter lights were changed to blue.I will check into a tuneup for it since it does have a nice sound to it.I know I have a lot to upgrade,I will be keeping the adcom to run my 2b's if If I ever get an area to set them up in.There is a Parasound p3 in my area for 450 so I might try to contact him and see if I can get a listen to it.I think I will contact Doug to see about the speaker cables since it seems to be a popular choice on here.

F1nut

I would suggest that the Carver lacks the current needed and to move on.

headrott

If you are going for a pre, and an amp (seperately, and not an integrated as Jesse suggested). Absolutely buy the BAT VK-30 PFB has in the FM. I haven't checked if it's still there actually, but if it is; you need it.

dkfreebird

That's a little more than I have to spend right now,anyone have any experience with a Classe CP-35?

headrott

No experience with the Classe, but IMO I would save up for the BAT VK-30 and then buy it. You won't feel you need to upgrade your pre-amp until you start getting into rediculously high price ranges/quality. You'll be happy you waited and saved up for the BAT (instead of buying something you may feel you need to upgrade in a year).

Patience is key here....... We all know it's difficult though.

dkfreebird

That's exactly what I don't want to do is throw money at something and then not be happy with it.I have never heard any tube gear in my life so I guess I need to get out to listen to some to get a feel for it.The money is burning a hole in my pocket.(This hobby is a sickness)

mrbiron

A pre/DAC is where I'd start. The parasound p5 , wyred4sound mpre or peachtree nova pre come to mind NEW in your range. Used can save you more. Thats just me.

Blowing your nose while pooping is a sickness, this hobby is a CURSE!

hochpt21

dk...

Part of it depends on HOW you want to do things.

The way I've done things so far is slow, incremental upgrades with used gear. This has allowed me to try a decent amount of quality gear with minimal loss on each purchase while eventually working my way up. This has kept my system at a similar level with each component and each upgrade is only a small financial increase.

But you can do it many different ways.

As suggested above...you could spend your current budget on a very high quality piece that you may never need to upgrade from, and then reload your budget and do the same with other pieces of you system.

Or take out a loan and go balls out right away and enjoy an epic system while you pay it back. (I'm mostly kidding here, but I don't doubt it has been done)

Again, all up to you my friend.

dkfreebird

hochpt21 wrote: »

dk...

Part of it depends on HOW you want to do things.

The way I've done things so far is slow, incremental upgrades with used gear. This has allowed me to try a decent amount of quality gear with minimal loss on each purchase while eventually working my way up. This has kept my system at a similar level with each component and each upgrade is only a small financial increase.

I think this will be the route to take,I would hate to have a great piece of gear and feel like another one is holding it back and have to wait to afford to make it right.My gear now sounds good to me but I know there is room for improvement.I have this budget from items I bought and sold for profit so I probably need to relax,take my time and try to match my gear to my listening area.

dkfreebird

That sounds like an offer I can't refuse.Count me in

dkfreebird

Well the upgrades began a little while back and a lot of the old gear is gone.Where I stand now is the 2.3tl's,Sunfire Signature Architects Choice series 2 amp and the Theater Grand processor2.This will be moved to surround duty when the Dared 2000a arrives.I also have a Parasound 1200ii that I ran for awhile and it is a keeper.I plan to pair it with the Dared and the new to me dac the Ps audio digital link iii.This piece really made a massive improvement in the sound quality of my rotel cd player which will be the last piece I upgrade before moving on to the cables,and to just think 2 years ago I was rocking a Kenwood receiver and Bose acoustimas 7 and thought that was top notch.

dkfreebird

Yes you do and the experience at your place was a gateway drug.