My first question is are you using the EVO 400 as a preamp and the Arcam A49 as the power amp? Your Q Acoustics Concept 500 are an excellent value when regarding price/performance ratio. From what I have read and heard over Youtube the Concept 500 is relaxed/polite with a slightly recessed midrange and toned down tweeter, not the best choice for rock recordings. The first thing you need to do is figure out your weakest link. IMO your sources and cables need to be upgraded. Your strongest components IMO are your Concept 500's and PL EVO 400. Do you want to invest in streaming/dac or upgrade your phono set up? If you feel your system is to soft add some aggressive cables like Nordost ect, Remember everything matters having a balanced system with no obvious weak link should be your goal. Let me know what you think and I can give more specific advice.
Looking to improve my system
I have been a member for a while and check the forum listings daily. My first posting. Looking for some advice on tweaking / improving my system which I started a couple of years ago
Before this I had a Denon amp, CD player and some JBL 4412 speakers inherited from my father-in-law, RIP.
My current system is
Primaluna EVO 400 and Arcam A49
Q-Acoustic Concept 500 speakers
LKS MH-DA004 DAC
Bluesound Node 2i
Pro-ject Carbon Espirt SB turntable
QED XT40 speaker cables.
Blue Jean coax and RCA
Audioquest Yukon XLR
Signal Power Cable on the amp (can't remember which one but cost about $100)
The other components are using original power cables.
Furman PL-Plus-C
GIK acoustic panels (bass traps in back corners. 7 other panels in the room)
The room is 12 X 19. 8 foot high ceilings. I sit on the long wall so I’m about 8 feet from the speakers. The speakers are an equal distance from the side walls. Today they are about 7.5 feet apart and toed in slightly. 15 inches from the wall
Mostly listen to the Bluesound either streaming through Amazon or Neil Young Archives and a hard drive or Network drive which contains my many CDs ripped to FLAC files through EAC. Very little vinyl.
My musical tastes vary
Classic jazz - MIles Davis, Art Blakey, Bill Evans but also Joshua Redman and Diana Krall
Classic and Grunge Rock - Stones, Beatles, Pink FLoyd, Led Zeppelin, Talking Heads, DIre Straits, Pearl Jam, Alixce in Chains
Acoustic music - David Grisman / Jerry Garcia Bob Dylan, Bluegrass, Neil Young.
Indie Music - Ryan Adams, Bon Iver, Lord Huron
So what is the problem? Not really sure. There are moments that are really good, but to be honest it seems never as good as a live performance. (Not sure if you can really reproduce the live experience and I have been to poor sounding live shows ) I would say it does depend on the recording. Talking Heads -Stop Making Sense Psycho KIller and David Grisman / Jerry Garcia The Thrill is gone recordings are great. Miles Davis- Kinda Blue and BIll Evans -Sunday and the VIllage Vanguard are really good. But much of the rock music and indie stuff (except maybe for Bon Iver) can be lacking.
What is the problem? Not always sure but maybe a separation of instruments, or that some instruments get lost and others are too prominent. In the Miles Davis song “So What” I love to listen to the bass, drums and piano in the background while the sax and trumpet are playing. Sometimes, even in that song, those background instruments get lost, especially the drums. Rock music is worse, Seems like no separation. Just generalizing here. I would almost rather listen to this music in my car.
Also some music can sound harsh, at times. What I want is to not be thinking about the system but just enjoy the music and feel like I’m being enveloped by the sound. To not just hear the sound but feel it.
I feel I am set with my amps. I want the Concept 500 speakers to work but also looking at the Klipsch Forte III. (I think the Cornwall IV are too big?) Or maybe something else? Also not sure if I would change the DAC or streamer. Have looked at the Furman Elite15 PC but not sure if I want to go that way. I plan on adding a dedicated 20 amp circuit. Not sure about adding higher end cables. I don’t want to re-ignite a battle. While I can’t wrap my head around some of those cable upgrades it is more from lack of experience. I wish I could compare speaker wire, connectors and power cables, just not sure how. There was a suggestion from GIK to add some additional panels to the ceiling and more bass traps high on the back wall .
Sorry for the long post, I know there are a lot of you out there with so much experience and knowledge and I will take all suggestions openly. If there is anything I have taken from reading the posts in this forum, it's that people are passionate about their music.