Your suggestions would be greatly appreciated


I have not posted anything in many moons so here goes.

My current system consists of a Nuforce Oppo 93 extreme universal player, Pannie VT30 65 Plasma, Reimer speaker systems (2 Tetons, 3 McColloughs and powered Reimer sub), 2 Adcom amps (2 channel and 3 channel) modified by Stan Warren and an Audio Refinement Pre2 DSP. My habits tend to be 75% music and 25% movies. I also frequently use the hi res audio formats of SACD and DVD Audio as well as 2 channel listening (I am in the digital realm - no vinyl).

While I do love my modest little system, I know it is quite outdated along the lines of the amp and processor. I would like to spend around $5000.00 or less here at Audiogon and upgrade.

My only wish is to find a processor that allows me to include the sub when in direct mode for 2 channel listening. My current set up only does so when the Oppo has the speaker configuration set to small for the fronts which is annoying when you have front channels that can reach 14hz by themselves. I just like to have the option of adding the sub as the system is in a rather large room and depending on what I am listening to I might want a little extra push on the low end at times.

The problem is it is hard to know what to buy that would be an upgrade when you can't really audition different pieces in the system too easily. I like having a 2 channel and 3 channel amp rather than a single 5 channel amp as well. I think the system sounds really nice and has a warm analog quality but of course I wonder even how much better it could be. I am a musician and music teacher so I like to think I have good ears musically and can actually tell the difference in semblence of audio quality - depth, holography, placement, etc.

What would you all suggest for me given the parameters I have written? I appreciate your time and expertise. I know there is no better place to ask for suggestions than here at Audiogon where I buy my equipment as well.

Thanking you in advance...
LTheLipper
llippman

Showing 2 responses by zd542

You will probably get 2 types of general answers on this. Some people will recommend 2 channel only gear to be merged into a multi channel setup like you now have, and others will recommend better multi channel gear. I have no idea why, but the debates usually deteriorate into insults back and forth. I'm hoping that dosen't happen here.

Heres my recommendation. I believe that your biggest improvement in SQ will come in the form of a new preamp. Its an incredibly important piece in an audio system and until you get it right, your system will be lacking. I would take your $5000 budget and buy the best 2 channel preamp you can afford. It should have a HT pass through so you can still use your multi channel system for movies and music whenever you want to. Upgrade your amps at a latter date. Some brands I like are Ayre, BAT, Aesthetix and CJ. There are many other great choices as well. Also, I'm not up on every single feature so just make sure any of these preamps have the HT pass through feature you will need.
I agree that the VTL 2.5 that Noble100 recommends and owns is an excellent choice. Its very underrated.