Kind of a scattered system at this point.. renting a place while home is being built. new music room won't be dedicated, but plan on using quite a bit. it will be 16 x 18 approx. size.
For now, just trying to figure out where to go with the system. I like R&R and some blues mostly. (loud most of the time). The system sounds really spacious but kind of seems limited at higher volumes.. I find myself listening to acoustic guitar stuff and Natalie Merchant/Fleetwood Mac type stuff most of the time because it's what sounds best on it...My wife likes the look of the speakers but not sure if they are the weakest link right now or not.. Cables are not that special.. Audioquest and 3M Monster speaker cables..I'm not really a propeller-head at this yet so it's kind of hard to describe any potential limitations accurately (which would help improve the system)..Any Thoughts?
Thanks! It is so awesome, the only problem is that the room is too small.. As soon as our house in completed, I'm sure that the sound will change yet again...
A new source will be nice at some point soon.. Just need some 'healing' time with the wife!
Rhoneycutt, you added Trios allright! Man I didn't think you would upgrade your speakers so fast, I guess your limpressed by the sound! I've been hooked on the Avantegarde LIVE sound for some time now. Someday, when I have the cash. I think vinyl could be in your future.
The bottlenecks IMO are the speakers first, then the CD player. I'm a dynamic speaker guy, so I'd suggest looking at nice sensitive full-range speakers like the Coincident line (or even better, FAB Audio if you can find them). Better speakers driven by those wonderful amps will need a better source, and there's lots of good stuff available. I'm partial to tube-output, non-oversampling, unfiltered DACs like the Audio Notes, but there are lots of excellent DACs out there that would give the old Rega a shot of audio vitamins.
Oh yeah, and some TG Audio cabling to ice the cake.
I think with those amps the duos or trios would be amazing. I have heard the duos with smaller Cary mono's and was truly impressed. I have owned Utopias and ran them with tubes, and they are wonderful, not cheap but you have named some expensive speakers and should give them a listen if you are looking in that league. Can't comment on Wilson.
It doesn't matter, Utopias are lame and way to expensive. I've never liked Focal drivers anyway. Don't get Wilson's. I would stick with Magnepan, the 3.6's are great speakers. However, their is always that sensitivity issue. Allthough Maggie's aren't as power hungry as everyone says they are. They respond well to mods. You could go the German Hornspeaker route, a friend of mine has a pair of Duohorns, also cheaper than the trios. Duo's are 103db he runs a GRAAF GM20 OTL amp made in Italy. This 20 watt amp powered the 3.6's to VERY loud volumes[the Maggie's were modefied with wire from a local stereo shop] I'm sure your Cary's are fine.If you need power you could go with the VAC Renaissance 30/30 300B amp, awesome sound and power. You may want to look into the JD100 tube cd player or the AMC tube out cd player[plays Redbook DVD and MP3] Regardless of what anyone else tells you these are some of the best sounding players in the world, they both respond very well to mods. Both area little over $1,000 or LESS! Yet their are no players that I've heard that sound sweeter or more life like no matter how much you spend! This, along with many speaker cables are the biggest joke in hi end audio. Go and listen for yourself! Here is a quick tweek that really works. Go to the local Wall Mart and get some 13inch bicycle inner tubes and blow them up, than put them under your amps and CD player. Sit back and enjoy
Thanks for all of the replies. The reason for the initial post I made was to try to figure out which 'bottleneck' was screaming the loudest..
By the replies, it sounds like the speakers... I've been looking at new speakers, the avantgarde trios, wilson wp7' or III's,maybe jmlabs uptopia? If I stayed with maggies, I don't think even the 1610's are strong enough to properly power them..What's the best way to match speakers to the 1610 amps?
btw, I don't think that the grills wreak havoc.. the image is in jetted in, not screen printed.. If you hold the material up , you can see through it pretty clear.. The image is not layered on top really.. NCT audio sells it for their inwalls, I had to get them to print the images on larger material so it could be stretched around the SMG's.
Those are terrific amplifiers, but without upgrading your speakers you won't be getting anywhere near their full potential. Also I don't know how well Maggies work with the single ended Cary monoblocks. I know the 1610SEs are extremely powerful by SET standards, but you may want to do some research and make sure the planar designs are a suitable match. If so, you could always move towards the top of Magnepan's line. Either way, to truly complement those amps speaker wise, you're looking at spending some long green. Your source and preamp are probably the less immediate upgrade.
I agree with Nuno, VERY unbalanced system. You have a ways to go to catch up with your amps. I would probably sell them, buy something cheaper and fund the rest of the system upgrades with the balance.
And your coloful grille clothes look nice, but they must wreak havoc with the sound.
The weakest link could either be the $40K amps or the rest of the system at $4K. Do you think it's a good balance? How did you end up with these amps? I think your amps have a lot of unfulfilled potential with the rest of the system. They have a lot more to give but they can't... Before the cables maybe you should really consider listening to speakers and cd players. Digital has come a long away since the rega(it's still a good player but...). my thoughts.
