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Help with a total system upgrade.

Hello all,

I'm looking to upgrade my system and I need some of your help. I am at the point where I think I need to spend a lot of money to hear a nice improvement over what I have now. But I don't want to go too crazy with the money. I want a warm, clear sound with a nice soundstage. Any advice?

My current amp is a VTL-IT-85 Integrated.

My upgrade ideas are: Graaf GM-50, BAT VK-300x, Unison Sinfonia, Leben CS 600 Audiomat, Jadis? All are integrated amps, but I am open to the idea of separates.

My CD Player is a Cambridge Audio 840c.

Upgrade to? Under $5000? I have no idea here.

My speakers are Proac Signature 2000's

My upgrade ideas are: Harbeth 7 ES-3, Proac D Two, Vienna Mozart Grand, Reference 3A, Sonus Faber, or Opera?

Has anyone listened to any of these or do you have any thoughts about them compared to what I have now?

Thanks very much for your inputs.
mezzanine
jond's avatar
jond
6,084 posts
 
I used to own a Graff GM5050, not the integrated but the straight power amp. It was a nice amp, good sound, great looks, but definitely suffered from reliability issues. I eventually traded it into Deja Vu Audio for my current amp, a Deja Vu stereo EL34 amp that sounded even better and has had zero issues. FWIW the best sounding amp I've ever had in my home integrated or not, was a push-pull Cary 2a3 integrated. They are a very rare model for Cary and are not high powered, perhaps 12-15 watts, but wow! I have since wondered if a pp 2a3 topology might be great from any competent engineer, that'll be my next move, you might consider it as there seem to be some affordable 2a3 amps from China, Melody comes to mind. Happy listening!
celtic66
1,853 posts
 
I've owned the 840C and it's decent. However, my Audio Sector DAC smoked the internal DACs of the unit. I would start there with decent digital cabling and interconnects. The VTL IT-85 is quite good and you will need to step up quite a bit to challenge it overall.
samhar
1,048 posts
 
I would start at the source and upgrade the CDP first. Starting here you would know the quality of sound and could work towards the speakers. There are Audio Research CD 3 MKll's for sale at around $3000 now on Agon, they are a very capable player at a good price. I think spending $5000 on a CD 7 or similarly priced CDP is a waste. Spend the difference on cable improvements CDP > VTL ETC.
mezzanine OP
129 posts
 
Thank you to everyone here for all of your help.
kats
26 posts
 
If you haven't messed around with room treatments yet I would look into that first. As others have said, your gear is pretty good already and you admit it might take quite a bit of $$$ to truly upgrade. Straighten out your room first then look at upgrades. Or, better yet, mess around with treatments while researching upgrades - double your fun!
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