Recommendations for HiFi Listening Room


Newbie here.  Wife and I are looking to turn our Great Room into a listening room.  It’s roughly 21’X’19 and has a cathedral ceiling that is 11’ tall at the wall and 20’ tall at the apex.  Spoke to a good hifi dealer in the area who made the following recommendations/proposal and I’m curious if this group may have any input for getting maximum bang for my buck.  Basically, with a budget around 35k (or thereabouts) would you buy something similar or are there any components you’d add or swap out?

Paradigm Persona 3F

McIntosh MA8950

Pro-Ject Xtension 9 w/ Ortofon Black Cartridge 

Sony ES DSD Music Server (this one concerns me a touch in that it appears to be an 8 yr old product line).

Thanks so much in advance for your collective expertise.  My wife isn’t going to let me drop money into this for another 15 years so I need to get it right the first time. 

If it matters, our musical taste is quite varied: classical, jazz, classic rock, alternative, hip hop.  My mother complained in my youth that if i had 10 bucks I would just buy a CD with it.  She is still right. 

128x128brewerslaw

Showing 2 responses by blisshifi

+1 To everyone stating about investing in room treatments. A $20K system in a mindfully-treated and positioned room will sound exponentially better than a $35K system in an untreated room (even if positioned well) as the room shapes the sound between the speaker and your ear. 

I would also urge not only to listen to speakers first, but if possible with different amps, or ensure the amp can properly control said speakers. I have sound very expensive speakers sound terrible with the wrong application, and I’ve heard very cost effective speakers sound great with high quality amplification. 

@brewerslaw In what city/state are you located?

@brewerslaw I’m both an Aurender and T+A dealer, and my favorite combination in your price range is the Aurender N200 and T+A DAC 200. I’ve written about this pairing a few times on this forum but posted a pic of the two together here: