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What should I upgrade first?

Hi Folks,

This is my first post so I’ll try to be brief but also provide enough information for your consideration as well. Any suggestions and guidance you can provide will be appreciated.

My question is what is the weakest link in my system and what should be upgraded first to improve the sound quality? My budget for the upgrade is about $1K.

My passion is two channel as I listen mostly to classical and jazz. My set up consists of a NAD C521BEE CD player, a NAD C162 pre-amp paired with a NAD C272 (150 wpc), Aerial Acoustics Model 7, and Cobalt Cable interconnects and speaker cables. Also, a good portion of my listening takes place at night at low levels and is sourced by my CD collection. I do have a tuner (Denon T-550 I think) but don’t do any serious listening using the tuner. I suppose I should also mention that I have a DirecTV HD receiver that will occasionally be used to play the music channels. This set up is placed in my family room so I understand I’m making acoustic compromises out of practical necessity. The Aerials are spaced about five feet apart and only about a foot away from the wall.

I have a 5.1 set up downstairs which is used mostly for movies…NAD front end (T751 and 550) with 3 M&K S-100Bs, S-85s for the rear and a single M&K KX-12SF sub. My receiver is only 60wpc which is becoming an issue in driving the S-100Bs when I do want to listen to music.

Back to my question, my initial thought was to upgrade my amp for the 2-channel system and move my C272 down stairs to drive the left and right fronts thus getting two upgrades for the price of one. I’ve been thinking about a used Classe CA-101, CJ solid state (Sonographe or MF 2xxx series), Bryston 3B-ST or Vincent SP-331. Then I started thinking that my CD player was perhaps the weakest link and I should replace/upgrade it. The options I’ve been considering for the CD upgrade were the Music Hall CD25.2 or a Jolida JD-100a. The third option which I know very little about is using a DAC. I’m holding out for the Oppo Blu-Ray so I’ve thought about perhaps incorporating a DAC with the Oppo.

Thanks for your time and I look forward to reading your comments.
pgawan2b
elf73
104 posts
 
I ran a my Monarchy M24 into the power section of a NAD 325bee and it worked really well.

It was dead quiet. However, with other power amps (McCormack DNA .05 Rev A and Monarchy Sm-70 pros) there was considerable hissing. Although, once music was playing out of the McCormack it was very very good.

You won't have that problem just using the DAC. FWIW, I now have it paired with the $169 Oppo and a tube integrated and like it quite a bit.

I agree with Sogood51 in that it is very very versatile w/the preamp. You could swap tubes for a change/kicks.

There is an additional analog input in case you want to mess around with vinyl.. the digital side has coaxial and toslink inputs so you could even attach an $90 Airport Express, in addition to your CD player, for wireless internet radio or casual listening.

Just saw one go for about $800 used.
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,838 posts
 
I like the general idea of adding a decent tube driven stage or two, starting with the DAC and/or pre-amp.
mlauner
250 posts
 
source first always.
zenblaster
504 posts
 
There is a good article in the current Absolute Sound #193 on the Logitech Transporter/DAC. This would be a major improvement in your digi front end and could become the hub going forward. Although it retails for $2k it will show you whats to come in the digital realm. Just reading the article I was impressed and looking forward to seeing/trying one in my system/ It's only a matter of time before servers take the place of cd's in digital front end. This is one feature packed unit.
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