I can heartily endorse the PS300....one of the best upgrades I ever made! It's $1000 well spent, and it will make all your future upgrades sound better, too. Be sure to get the multiwave option...it makes a significant difference. |
I've not listened to the Odyssey Stratos but they are sonically first rate from all that I've read of them. I am fond of the Dreadnaught and have listened to it. If it were up to me, I would go for a monoblock pair of Stratos for $2k with it's 20 year warranty, saving about $4k over the Theta, and I can only guess, but probably not lose anything from a sonic perspective.
-IMO |
RE CD-R's on 9000. Most Sony's will read CD-R's even if they don't specify that they do. Just use the best media when recording ie Mitsue Gold CDR and use a good recorder. Your player won't even know the diff. |
Stehno, I checked into those amps, they appear to be of high build quality, I will do more reserach on them, how do you think they compare to Theta Dreadnaught,
As far as the Ps300, and the UO, I might get those, I was also considering the power director.
Thanks for the great advice, even Stehno, they where good ideas, just to many at once. HEHE |
Sorry if my suggestions sounded strong, but with selling and buying, it's amazing what one can do with $1000. And you were looking for suggestions on upgrades.
Hopefully, the suggestions I made were sonically legitimate, cost effective, and allowed you to simplify your system configuration in the process.
-John |
Wow, your right Sugarbrie, Stehno really wants me to do some major operations to my system, Actually I do have one dedicated 20amp circuit going to system.
I like the idea of only having one transport for all my media, but the Sony 9000es Does not read CDR, I am waiting for the next generation 9000es to come out, which for sure will read CDR. The have a 900v or something that does read cdr and has everything the 9000es has except build quality.
My major concern was the Monster Power, becuase so many say its current limiting.
The citation amps are Great amps, and Awsome for the money, my next upgrade on those will be a Theta Dreadnaught more likely. |
You can pick up a used tube pre-amp for two channel audio.
I'm assuming you have the Citation 7.1 amps. If so, keep'em. You won't find a better bang for the buck. |
Gee Stehno, you want him to replace his whole system! |
1. Sell the Harmon Kardon amps and purchase an Odyssey Stratos amp for $995. Should be a FANTASTIC improvement. Check out the reviews at odysseyaudio.com for all the reviews.
2. Sell the cd and dvd players and purchase a Sony DVP s9000es dvd/SACD/cd player. Should be a decent improvement here. I just saw where somebody bought one new at J&R (jandr.com) for $899.
3. Get rid of the Monster PC and purchase the PS Audio 300 and a couple of PS Audio Power Port outlets.
4. Install a couple dedicated circuits/lines for your amp and pre. If you choose to install dedicated lines, you could get by with some PS Audio Ultimate outlets instead of the PS Audio 300.
If you sell those things and purchase the others, that should about use up your $1k and you would have done some seriously recognizeable sonic improvements.
-IMO |
I'll second Buckingham's suggestion. Dan Wright of ModWright just got done tweaking my system and the results are amazing! |
Actually Sugarbrie,
I am using the Cal Audio CL-2500 as my dac, As I read, it has some of the best dacs, out there.
Any other comments, on the power conditioning. Thanks for all comments |
I agree with Sugarbie if you are doing more 2 channel listening that surround. If you can get any money for your cd and dvd players, sell them and buy the Sony Dvp S9000-Es here on the gon for around $900 and get it modded to bring it up to the level of the Sony 777. Otherwise, get a nice DAC like the Bel Canto 1 or 1.1 for around 500-700 used on the gon. The P300 is lots of cash, I'm sure the Noisehound at 110 would be much better spent than seven times that on the P300. |
I see you have both a CD and DVD. How about a nice DAC for 2 channel music? To give you more cash for the DAC, you could also sell the CD player and just use the DVD player as a transport, although that Sony CD player does make a good transport. I agree that buying more music (and DVDs) is always a good use of cash as well. Pick up a Blue Circle BC86 Noisehound ($110) and plug it into an open outlet on the monster, or into the extra wall socket. That should take care of the power conditioning. Two BC86 are even better. |
Maybe some better wall outlets - I would buy music - your system looks good. |
