Rethinking my set-up - Advice Welcome


I need some help.

A few years back I decided to dip my toe into the world of high-end audio. I found some very nice Taylor Audio Taylo speakers. The person I bought the Taylo speakers off suggested any old Rotel amp paired with a Rotel pre-amp would power these speakers nicely. The Taylor Taylo speakers have an impedance of 8 ohms (5 ohms minimum) and a sensitivity of 88d. ***You can probably tell I don’t know much about the technical aspects of these systems.

I ended up going to the Audiogon classifieds and purchased a used Rotel 990BX amp (200Wpc @ 8 ohms, 330 Wpc at 4 ohms) and a Rotel RC-1070 pre-amp.

I also have a pretty basic Sony CD player but will look to upgrade at some stage in the future (probably around Christmas). In recent years I have been buying SACD and FLAC files. I have a 24/98 portable DAC from my PC to my Rotel pre-amp for those saved FLAC files.

I have about $1000 I would be willing to spend on upgrading my system. I was just about to buy a Marantz UD7007 universal player, but figured I would ask the experts here and see if I would be better off investigating money in a new (or used) power amp or pre-amp or integrated. I listen to a lot of jazz and blues and wanted to see if I should upgrade any part of my system to improve my overall sound quality and musicality of my current system.

I have searched a ton of reviews but none can tell me what would best suit my set-up. Any advice, suggestions, abuse would all be welcome and very helpful. Thanks in advance!
edwinohea

Showing 1 response by mesch

If it were me, I would be looking to buy a integrated amp (not much over 5 years old used) and a DAC and use the Sony CDP as a transport. Should not be difficult to sell the Rotel gear. As Czarivey indicated, define what you are hearing for with an upgrade and find an amp speaker combination that provides. A good quality DAC w/USB can be had in the ~$500 range.