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

and if you want to get rid of room problems get the Townshend podiums, they stop speaker vibrations down to three Hertz and also they get rid of the constant Earth vibration that's there all the time, when your speakers shake it smears the sound they're not cheap but they get rid of almost all room problems.

and for cables get OCC single Crystal wire it has been proven to be the best wire for audio for over 50 years now far superior to anything ofc at any price. but again don't cheapen out.

@brewerslaw 

I hate to say this, but whatever audio equipment you bring into this large room, you will have to make some sizable acoustic treatment investment to get the best sound out of it. Make sure you set aside at least $5,000 to treat your room accordingly. Specially with the 20ft ceiling at apex, wow! Instead of talking to an audio dealer first, I would contact someone like Gik asap, give them a detail drawing of the room and ask for their advice. They will do that at no charge. As you can see in my house of stereo, acoustic treatment is a major part of the listening room.

+ 1 for a lot of what has been said already.

I’d start over.

especially the ProJect TT and Ortofon Cart.

I recently got rid of an RPM 10 Carbon. Build quality is totally unacceptable.

a good MC cart is the way to go. You need to add a good phono stage.

good luck and feel free to ask - my system is about $35 k all in - listed in detail in my profile. 

 

The two biggest factors are 1. The Room (you already have that). 2,. Speakers. Matching speakers to a room is not easy, after 50 years I have determined that the easiest way in a very difficult room, like mine, is to buy speakers you like the sound of either bookshelf or relatively small floor standers. Use 2 separate sub woofers, designs with built in subs may be great but separate give you far more options of placement, it is unlikely that the best location for your main stereo speakers will be exactly the same as for the subs. Then select an amplifier, 2 subs mean you don't need massive power, I use Vincent Pre / Power amps. However as the power amp is class A up to 10 watts I use a MiniDSP to cut base to the Audio Physic main speakers and direct all below 60Hz to the subs. This means my power amp never goes out of class A, and my speakers are extremely low stressed with bass. With room treatment I, in a small room have lots, however it still didn't solve the problems, the MiniDSP did. Cathedral ceilings are probably a bonus, they are far enough away from the source to present no timing issues. If the floor is carpeted then furnishings will deal with the rest. Enjoy.