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So what would you recommend for my next upgrade?

I'd be interested in your thoughtful recommendations for my little system. With some recent help on "tuning" the speakers, it's beginning to sound very nice. But, you know, there's always room to grow . . . or spend money. Equipment list is as follows. So what's my next step . . . uh I mean investment?

Analog Front End:
Rega Planar 3 turntable
Sumiko Blue Point Special cartridge
Connection to phono amp: MIT cables (ancient, no network box)
NAD PP 2i phono preamp
Connectors out: MIT MI-330 Plus interconnects

Digital Front End:
Rega Planet
MIT MI-330 Plus output interconnects

Amp:
Bryston B-60 integrated
Bottlehead Foreplay preamp is available
Zu Julian speaker cables - 12' (can go to 6' now)

Speakers:
Thiel 1.5s

Notes:
Own 4000+ vinyl records and growing continuously
Own 100 CDs and growing slowly
Set up for near field listening
Room under construction - will tune it when that is done

Thanks!
dancub
gslone
274 posts
 
Dancub - just curious, but I'm interested to know if your amp drives your speakers with ease or if the B-60 is being challenged with a little workout by the Thiel's. The Bryston B-60 is a little power house, but the 1.5's (if I'm not mistaken) with sensitivity of 86db, and 4ohms, can be a difficult load with some amps. It does look like a fun little combination though!
dave_72
1,399 posts
 
It can drive them OK. But, if you really wanna knock your socks off, a bigger amp (another Bryston or other make) would be a plus, imo. In the Bryston line up, I would go with a 4B with those Thiels.
dayglow
1,729 posts
 
I would upgrade the speakers. The Thiels need more power/current to perform at there best. IMO the 1.5's don't justify spending more money on an amp/pre or even a larger Bryston intergrated. Since you like the Thiel sound think outside the box(lol)and consider a Martin Logan-ElectroMotion.
ebm
9,311 posts
 
Upgrade everything BIG TIME!!
jperry
2,430 posts
 
I am not sure what your budget is for making changes, but based on my experience I would recommend you make fewer changes and take bigger steps, that is instead of spending on a bunch of tweaks, make significant component changes.

I would start with your analog front end given that you have 4,000 records.

My former turntable was a Rega P-25, which is a good record player. You have a Rega Planar 3 which is worth about $500 on the used market. I would sell it and buy a used Basis 2000 or 2001 with a Basis/Rega arm or if possible a Basis Vector arm. this will cost about $1,300 with the Rega arm or $2,400 with a Basis Vector arm. If you buy the Rega arm TT you can watch for a Basis Vector arm and upgrade later.

You could also upgrade your cartridge and phono pre first. Liberty, Lehman, and many others make a good phono pre in the $1,000 - $2000 range.

Cartridge is a matter of system matching and personal preference, so while suggestions are great you really need to hear it in your system to decide.

So overall I would take the front end of the system to an overall higher performance level, before tweaking the performance. Changing my TT and especially the tonearm made a very significant difference in my system.

Have fun finishing and fine tuning your system
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