2. amps-preamps
  3. 1134339057

New blood needs your Amp/system advice, please.

Greetings, Fellow Enthusiasts. This is my debut post on any sort of hi-fi forum. Excited to begin tapping into some of your knowledge/expertise.

I am slowly trying to piece together a clean, simple and very musical two channel experience. Cut my 'Seperates' teeth on a Rotel system about nine years ago... good entry level gear. My pre-amp recently died and I started a pupae phase of more critical listening and put together a few new pieces.

current system:

power plant: PS Audio PS-600

pre-amp: Audio Research LS3

cd: Naim CD5i

amp: Rotel RB 981 {120 wpc}

speakers: Paradigm Studio 100's V3.

speaker cables: Transparent "The Wave"

interconnects: Interlink "The Link" 200

The system sounds okay with vocals, guitar and horns etc. but is fairly flat and muddy in much of the mid-lower ends. It's seems obvious that these speakers are severely underpowered. Is this likely what I am hearing? What steps should I take to attain more balance in this system? How much power would be enough?

What Amps would you recommend?

Got a great deal on most of this gear and am still auditioning. Am not really married to any of it and am willing to consider replacing to gain a more musical enjoyment.

Thanks in advance for your time on this.

Cheers! Timothy
timtopper

Showing 1 response by auaarons

auaarons
94 posts
 
The interconnects and speaker cables are the weakest components in your system. For interconnects, try the Transparent Music Link Plus, which can be purchased used for about $150 per 1m pair. For speaker cables, try the Transparent Music Wave Plus, which can be purchased used for about $250 per 8ft pair. In both cases, look for the current MM version or one version prior.

The speakers have good sensitivity, so power should not be an issue. Great CD player, good pre and power amps.

Above all, enjoy the music and not the sound.
More to discover