Sonus Faber Strads, Im fairly new to this hobby but have assembled what I hope is a good system to start. Mcintosh c2300 Pre amp. Mc501 mono amps Vpi Super Scoutmaster turntable with dinavector 20x High output. And last weekend my Sonus Faber strads arrived. I was using some old linn 5140s I pursched about 10 years ago for my media room. And the linn bi amp speaker wire. Having bought all this equipment since march of this year my wallet needs to rest for a while. However I know I need to work on cables, but which ones and what should come next? I also have a benchmark DAC 1 and a dedicated mac mini with a dedicated 4 terabyte drive. Any advice on my system and what should come next would be welcome.
Very nice indeed. I can see you are using Itunes for your digital music. I would recommend you change to either JRiver (what Mcintosh labs use for testing) or Audirvana (my preferit). They both cost about 80$ but sound improvement is material. Both can be piloted via iPad. I looked at your system primarely for I am considering purchasing a Mc C2300 or a ARC Ref6 (newer, more expensive...). If any comment on tube preamp, don't hesitate contacting me. Thanks
many congratulations on the Strads! i have owned them for 3 years now (and before them the Guarneris). they are a remarkable speaker that will continue to reward you with virtually any upgrades you choose to put to them. As for cables, i have heard the Yters...not my thing. A bit dry when compared to the Transparent REference cables. i have found the s/hand market for these cables to provide very attractive pricing. i do not know your existing loom, but relative to the mid-range Audioquest cables i owned, i immediately found: 1) much, much, much lower noise floor which meant more music flowed through, 2) deeper, tighter bass, 3) a refinement across the entire audio spectrum that really suited a speaker that is known for delivering refinement in its music.
I have owned my Transp Ref cables for years, and have never felt the need to look elsewhere.
Hope that helps. just one person's opinion. Enjoy!!!
What a grand baby you have. Your "starter" system is a home run. Addition to your system. More music and a really comfy chair, as one would be want to spend some quality time with the baby. Happy listening.
Nice Setup. I would look at componet isolation next with a ausio stand by Billy Bags, Steve Bliss etc...And tweak the isolation of each unit with the cone/puck of your choice. Speaker cables- everyone has the latest greatest cable. The ANTI CABLE at $10 a foot is a HiFi bargain and sound great with my Mac/amp/preamp Thiel combo. Other cables I would listen to include Kimber and Analysis
Thanks for the tips. I was thinking of upgrading to the 10.5 tone arm and either the Lyra Skala or the Benz LP. as far as the DAC maybe the something in the wavelength line?
I like to listen to Jazz, mostly purchased from Acoustic Sounds. the 45rpm blue note disk sound wonderful on my system. I also like to listen to classic rock, both from LPs and from CDs imported to Itunes. The classic rock, ( e.g. Eagles Hotel California, Boston, Elton John) vocals sound flat, thin. I dont know if this is a voicing issue or that the Strads just dont like the rock music. However Ray Charles, Diana Krall , Renne Olstead sound excellent.
My thoughts were to improve the speaker wires first. then tone arm and cart.
Richard very nice "starter" system :-) You have a superior speaker to continue to build around. Congrats! When your wallet is amenable my suggestion would be to work on the sources. The VPI Scoutmaster is a great turntable that can accomodate a more refined cartridge, maybe go up in the Dynavector line. The phonostage in the C2300 is reportedly excellent but you can always think about getting a stand-alone phono as well that could improve upon the C2300. Finally, the Benchmark DAC is a great DAC but can certainly be improved upon to catch up with the quality of the rest of your system. Certianly cabling and power conditioning are also good candidates to consider, but I would focus on the sources first (cart and maybe phono and DAC). Congrats again and enjoy your new system. Spend a lot of time with it before you change anything so you get to know its sound cold, so that when you start looking at upgrades (1 at a time please), you can evaluate excatly what that "upgrade" is doing in your system. Enjoy...
