Next move: have my CDP modded or upgrade Lsi x-over?

Norm Apter

I haven't spent anything on my 2 channel since last June, due in part to shrinking funds and in part to a great deal of satisfaction with the sound and synergy of the system I spent the previous 18 months assembling.

I don't really have any interest in/funds to mess with the synergy or try new gear (at this point), but I do have two possible upgrades in mind. Due to funding limitations, I am thinking of doing one this spring (April/May) and then the second one next spring ('011). So, it really comes down to a question of order/priority...if the cost was to be generally in the same ballpark, I would naturally like to do the one that would have the biggest impact first, as I'll have to wait another year for the next one (and be able to enjoy the fruits of the first one in the meantime).

a) have my CDP modded (upgrade caps from Solen to Sonicaps (???) and any other tweaks that are possible for improved sound).

b) upgrade Lsi9 crossovers

I have zero technical knowledge/experience so I'll not only have to pay for parts but also labor, in either case.

Below I've listed my relevant gear and provided a pic of the inside of the CDP. Anybody have a strong feeling about which mod I should go with first and any details of what I ought to consider having done?

Relevant gear:
Parasound Halo A23 Amp
Parasound Halo P3 Preamp
Parasound Halo T3 Tuner
Bada HD22SE tube CD Player
polkaudio Lsi9s
MIT Shotgun S-3 Bi-wire Interface Speaker Cables
MIT Shotgun S-3 Interconnects (3)
IegO L70530 Power cords (for CDP, amp and pre-amp)

Poee7R

As the caps currently in your cdp are of a better quality than the one's in the Lsi's, I would assume upgrading the 9's would yield the largest change.

Also that I believe speakers to be the largest influence in any chain, it would make sense that they would also be the optimal choice to upgrade.

So yeah, the speaker's.

Nice gear you have there, bet it will sound great either way.


Dave

ben62670

Speakers

Face

Solens aren't as bad in electronics as they are in loudspeakers. Mod the LSi9's, then save for something really nice in the CDP.

daboyz

Norm - Crossovers without one single doubt in my pea little brain......

comfortablycurt

Wow...with the exception of a few different things, you have the exact rig that I'm going to be putting together over the next year!!

P3/A23(maybe a T3 eventually) combo with some LSi9's. I've considered the Bada quite a bit too, but I really need something with SACD playback. I'm looking at going with either a Sony XA-5400ES or a Marantz SA-11S1. The source is still up in the air at this point though.


So, how do you like the P3/A23/LSi9's combo?


Sorry, I didn't mean to derail your thread.:)

Norm Apter

comfortablycurt wrote: »

So, how do you like the P3/A23/LSi9's combo?

Curt, I love the combo. I can't explain why exactly, but it just sounds "right" to me, especially glued together with the MIT Shotgun ICs and Speaker cables. I completely understand what you are saying about SACD playback-- and have thought about that more than once over the past 10 months, when I bought the Bada...but I actually have very few SACDs (maybe two hybrids) so I'm just going to ride it out with a redbook player, I think. I've heard great things about the Marantz you are considering, though. So, for the near term future I just want to focus on these upgrades.

One day... in the distant future... when the funding is there and I have a bigger listening area, I think I'll try to move up to the Halo A21 amp, as it is my feeling that these Lsi9s can handle much more octane than what I'm feeding them and produce an even fuller sound.

On the whole, I'm a very happy camper and, given what my previous stereo consisted of, I could go on without any upgrades and be extremely content for a long time.

Norm Apter

It seems a general consensus has formed. Any dissenters from the prevailing opinion?

reeltrouble1

besides your decision about sacd, honestly, that investment would outweigh any cap improvement, but I would do the speaker caps if you must, the thing is I heard Matt Polk's totally stock 9's driven by some quality gear and they sounded quite extraordinary in stock form, even gray beard Ricardo was impressed as well as gray haired Shack Daddy.

in any event doing the caps on the 9's you wont lose as long as you intend to keep them as your speaker.

RT1

comfortablycurt

Norm Apter wrote: »

Curt, I love the combo. I can't explain why exactly, but it just sounds "right" to me, especially glued together with the MIT Shotgun ICs and Speaker cables. I completely understand what you are saying about SACD playback-- and have thought about that more than once over the past 10 months, when I bought the Bada...but I actually have very few SACDs (maybe two hybrids) so I'm just going to ride it out with a redbook player, I think. I've heard great things about the Marantz you are considering, though. So, for the near term future I just want to focus on these upgrades.

One day... in the distant future... when the funding is there and I have a bigger listening area, I think I'll try to move up to the Halo A21 amp, as it is my feeling that these Lsi9s can handle much more octane than what I'm feeding them and produce an even fuller sound.

On the whole, I'm a very happy camper and, given what my previous stereo consisted of, I could go on without any upgrades and be extremely content for a long time.

Thanks for your thoughts. I'm really looking forward to getting this setup together over the next year or so. It's going to be a piece by piece upgrade, but I'll get there.

The source upgrade won't come along until sometime next year though, most likely. Until then, my Denon 2910 is sounding great, especially through my DAC.:) I am really tempted by the Bada though. I suppose I could live without SACD...I really don't have that many SACD's anyway. The few that I do have, just sound sooo good though. The Bada having HDCD decoding is a big plus, since I've got a pretty extensive collection of HDCD's.

Norm Apter

reeltrouble1 wrote: »

besides your decision about sacd, honestly, that investment would outweigh any cap improvement, but I would do the speaker caps if you must, the thing is I heard Matt Polk's totally stock 9's driven by some quality gear and they sounded quite extraordinary in stock form, even gray beard Ricardo was impressed as well as gray haired Shack Daddy.

in any event doing the caps on the 9's you wont lose as long as you intend to keep them as your speaker.

RT1

Cool. Thanks for your input.

Hmmm...I wouldn't have considered (or even thought of) either upgrade if I hadn't read about them here at CP. Unfortunately, one can't go to an audio shop and demo modded gear/speakers vs. stock, so thats why I've relied more heavily on the written word than I'd like to (unless any SoCal polkies have such speaks in their possession that I could listen to...Buehler? Buehler?). I totally get what you are saying about "as long as I intend to keep them," as I know that modding stuff is not good for market resale value, but yes I plan on keeping both the speaks and the CDP for the long haul and wouldn't consider mods otherwise. I feel relatively pleased with the simple synergy I have and would not want to jeopardize that and, if possible, even enhance it.

As for the cap upgrade in the CDP, I would never have thought about it except that I think EarlyB (Brad) mentioned that he had done it with the very same model and it had yielded some impressive results. He hasn't been posting as much lately, but perhaps I can dig up an old thread where he addresses this issue.

The Bada CDP will be one year old in April -- at which time its warranty will expire, which is why I was thinking of putting off any source modifications until at least that point if not later.