Help/advice with next upgrade


Over the past year,I assembled my 1st audiophile system since prior to raising kids,developing my career,all those standard things!I am enjoying it quite a bit....it consists of :
.Vandersteen 2CE Signature Speakers(mki)
.Vandersteen 2WQ Crossover with X2 Crossovers
.McCormack DNA 0.5 Rev-A Amplifier
.Tom Tutay Modified Eastern Electric Minimax Tube Preamp w/NOS Tubes
.Schiidt Audio Bifrost Multibit DAC
.1990’s Rotel CD player(digital coax out to DAC)
.Rega P3 Turntable w/stock Elys Cartidge and Rega Fono MM Phono Preamp
.Interconnects by Blue Jean Audio(BJA)
.Speaker Cables-Home Made Biwire Runs using Belden 12 gage BJA Bulk Cable
.Power Cords by Cullen Audio
.Inexpensive 4-shelf AV vertical rack with MDF shelves

I have $ 2-3 K to spend on upgrades(cost of purchase minus return from selling existing gear ) .I listen to approximately 10% vinyl,75% steaming(eg Spotify via USB output from my iPad),and 15% CDs.
My musical tastes vary from rock & roll to jazz to classical.I am contemplating purchase of a Bluesound Vault 2,which would replace my CD player,allow me to purchase high-rez digital music online,and manage all my streaming.That would cost me $ 1K.My room is 17’x 17’(square) with a standard 8’ ceiling.wall-to-wall carpeting and few windows.I have little flexibility for rearranging the system.

The system is the best sound I’ve had for years.The subwoofer handles the lows quite well and the highs are clear,satisfying,and nonaggressive.Sonically what I’d like to improve is midrange clarity(more detail without being aggressive) and a sense of spatial dimension/imaging.

I’ve considered upgrading the 2CEsigs to 3Asigs but I am not sure if the DNA 0.5 has enough power to drive the 3aSigs.I have not compared theTutay/Minimax preamp to others,so I don’t know how to rank the other choices.I realize that much of my cable is pretty basic,and my speaker cables are not the same length(8’/20’ to avoid crossing a doorway.)The phono preamp and DAC are pretty basic too.So many choices for upgrades.Looking for recommendations towards my sonic goals,as well as whether it’s worthwhile to get the Blue Vault given my listening preferences,

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Mike S.
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mjschwartzman

Showing 3 responses by willemj

The first thing I would do is to add a DSpeaker Antimode 8033 room equalization unit. I don't think any subwoofer should be used without it. Beyond that, I would say that I am not convinced by the virtues of fancy cables, or of tubes. You may want to have a look at the forthcoming DSpeaker X4 pre amplifier/DAC/crossover/room eq.
These days my Quads are the more modern 2805s. I bought a B&W PV1d sub to extend the bass, but did not like it very much. The bass was woolly/slow or whatever you want to call it. Then I decided I was probably suffering from room modes, and bought an Antimode 8033. This immediately cured the problem, and also improved the integration enormously. The Quads are dipoles and therefore do not suffer from room modes to the same extent as other speakers. Subwoofers do, and that is the problem with the integration of subs and Quad electrostats. The dipoles are so clean that the bad behaviour of the subs is accentuated. Add room eq (and preferably also a second sub) and you have cured the room modes, and also the lingering of the tones that give this impression of a ’slow’ speaker. It is not the speaker that is slow but the room.
The Antimode 8033 needs a line level input. However, since my amplifier did not provide a usable line level output, I took the signal from the speaker outputs on the power amp, and connected to the Antimode with an antenuation cable, as per Antimode instructions. This works fine.