Ideas on how to improve setup please


Hi guys -- it's been awhile since I last checked in here as I've been using the same setup for a few years now and was wondering what suggestions I could get for improving the overall sound quality on my system. I think my best options may be to get the Blue Ortofon and KT88s - but wanted to see if there are any more thoughts on this or my wires and/or anything else. All components of my setup listed below:

Totem Staaf speakers
PrimaLuna ProLogue Classic Integrated (w/EL34s)
Bluesound Node 2
Pro-Ject Carbon Espirit  (with Red Ortofon)
Cambridge Audio Azur 651P Moving Magnet MM Moving Coil MC Phono Preamp
Affinity™ Premium 12AWG Hi-Fi Speaker Cable with Solid Brass Interchangeable Terminals
Premium 2 RCA Plug/2 RCA Plug M/M 22AWG Cable

Any questions/clarifications please let me know -- thanks very much for your time!

Matt
mrmittens

Showing 3 responses by millercarbon

Hard to know without hearing side by side of course but when the price differential is that great you will in general find the more expensive one is indeed quite a bit better. There's an awful lot of nonsense out there about wire, the worst being the stuff that tries to give the impression "its just wire" when in fact it is every bit as much a component as any other. And yes that includes the power cord too! 

Rather than cross your fingers and buy, and instead of asking here which amounts to crossing your fingers hoping the right guy replies, I would go search for already existing comments. That's what I always do. Started off many years ago never buying anything I hadn't compared at home. But that was long ago. Now every single thing in my system was bought purely off on-line research. https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367 Yes every single one of these.  

A good example is Black Cat. New enough I never heard of until this week. Soon as someone halfway credible said something good I went and did a search. In no time flat this turned up threads with solid comments and eventually finding ones directly useful as they compared head to head with stuff I was familiar with.  

This is the way you go about it. If you want to do well, and not just spend money. Everyone here happy to help you spend money. I seem to be the only one saying whoa, slow down hoss, think man think.

The good news is its hard to go wrong. You can do this stuff in just about any order. Its just usually better in the long run to tackle the worst stuff first. In your case wire. All the wire.  

But then where almost everyone messes up is they ignore the advice of guys like me and mahgister and instead of tweaking the most out of what they have immediately start running the upgrade hamster wheel.  

If you think power cords are hard to believe, try a couple of these. https://www.amazon.com/Generator-Schumann-Ultra-low-Frequency-Resonator/dp/B07WWD17FV/ref=sr_1_15?dc...   One worked, two were better, and I kept adding more and now up to 7. Mahgister uses 9. The two most notoriously cheap audiophiles on the site aren't recommending stuff like this just to be spending money. We use it because it works. Another one I learned about not by asking questions but by reading, following up on comments, and doing my own research.
Once you get fairly decent components then its generally better to get the most out of them before upgrading to more expensive components. Right now its almost like you have no wire at all, so that's first on the list. But then before say a new cartridge you should improve what you have with Synergistic PHT, fO.q tape, springs, and a solid shelf or sand box. These will cost about the same or probably much less than a cartridge, but be at least as big an improvement. Unlike the cart that wears out the PHT, Pods, etc are used pretty much forever. 

My standard for years has been Synergistic and I still think they are a safe bet and solid value. But enough guys here who seem reliable have compared directly and prefer Black Cat- even though they are a lot less money, which is a huge plus.

You can't judge quality by price but the gear you have puts you in the $3-500 and up range for speaker cable, power cords, interconnect. Each. Won't believe the difference. Night and day.
Plenty of room for massive improvements with better wire. All of it. Your speaker "cable" is basically fancy hookup wire. Ditto your "interconnects"- yikes! Are you still using freebie rubber power cords?! ANYTHING will be a massive improvement. Over all of it. All that "awg" stuff is a waste. Real quality wire is every bit as important and every bit as worthy of serious investment as any other component in your system.

The latest bargain value may be something like Black Cat, but that's just based on some reliable guys here never tried em myself. But like I said, anything will be massively better. Not baby steps. Like every bit as big as going from some dirt cheap amp to your Prima Luna.  

Another big one, especially high value for money, is to get all your components especially the speakers and integrated on springs. The best are Townshend Pods. https://www.audiogon.com/products/townshend-audio-seismic-isolation-pods  Expensive but worth every penny. Another option still very good, not nearly as good as Pods but crazy good for the money are Nobsound springs. https://www.amazon.com/Nobsound-Aluminum-Speakers-Isolation-Amplifiers/dp/B07K9ZYP84/ref=pd_sim_1?pd... 

I have both in my system, and have tried a lot of other stuff over the years. Townshend is easily the best, while Nobsound is not that level but way better than you would ever expect for the price, and beats a lot of much more expensive footers.

Once you get quality cables then it will be worth using something like Cable Elevators to get them up off the floor. Probably hard to hear the difference now but after doing the stuff above your system will be so much more clear and detailed and natural sounding you won't believe it, and then the difference the Cable Elevators make will be obvious. People are amazed when they hear the difference in my system. Read Deborah's comments on my System page https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367 

There's more great ideas on my system page- Synergistic Research PHT, ECT, HFT, all will make a huge improvement. Outlets, sand box for the turntable, acoustic panels for the room, check it out. Do all this stuff and you will not believe how good your system will sound!