To upgrade from simaudio 3.3i to 600i or not?

glad to hear you made the upgrade and am not surprised you have noticed an improvement with your great speakers. You should really consider the 600 as equal in quality and peformance to separates in a great looking package. I really lusted after the red limited edition version in the magazines. I am not sure how high the vol goes but that should not be an issue going to 50-you really can't hurt good gear and as long as it is not clipping no problem to amp or speakers. I really like the power of the 700 and it depends on if you feel your current set up seems strained (which I bet it doesn't). I have large floorstanders as well and I find the same applies and this is more a issue of speakers (db/efficiancy). I love low level listening but you sure notice in rock etc when you give it some juice-the music needs it. Would the store let you try the 700 in your system to see if it really makes any diff.

I wish, but I live in Italy, so No. I will have to wait until i get back to the states. It would be ideal to test the 700 with the Cremonas prior to the upgrade. Hate to dish out another 4000 prior to listening. So, right now I depend people like yourself to stir me in right direction. Speaking of right direction, what interconnects and speaker wire you use?

Volume-wise you won't get much more out of the 700i; the difference is from 125W/channel (600i) to 175W/channel (700i). And of course ecah time you double the watts it produces only a 3db increase. With only a difference of 50 watts/channel between the two models, the volume difference will less than a 1.5db increase.

The difference in sound quality, then, should be the main factor that determines whether you fork out another 4 grand or not. And sorry, although I've heard both the 600i and 700i (with focal 1028 BE / siltec 770 series / moon 750D), I haven't compared the two amps side by side.

I have, however, compared the Moon 330i next to the 700i. I say this only to point out that perhaps you are better off investing in two LessLoss DFPC Signatures to power your source and 600i. Why? Because I found that the performance enhancement offered by the LessLoss DFPC Signatures was clearly greater than the performance enhancement offered from upgrading from the 330i to the 700i. Not to mention, two Signatures would cost around $2100 (shipped from the EU), almost half of what it would cost you to bump up to the 700i. If you don't own LessLoss DFPCs already, I expect you'll be surprised how much just two such power cords will improve your system.

I so agree with the prev message.Unless you can notice an improvement in sound quality its probably not worth the upgrade. Changes in cables/isolation can demonstrate sig improvements. I am running Nordost cables-mostly Valhalla which I love but pricey. I have a couple of Nordost Tyr left to upgrade since I moved from a moon 5.3 phonstage to an Allnic H-3000 tubed phono. I have tried a lot of cables at home in my system (thanks to a few great dealers) and really like the Nordost product. Some great deals on AudiogoN. If you can go for the Tyr but also the Heimdall line is regarded as great peformance to price. Also like the Crystal Cable line, Analysis Plus and Accoustic Zen product. In terms of importance of cabling the power cord is most important followed by interconnect and speaker cable. A friend who distributes the Allnic product gave me a new interconnect cable to try (High Fidelity Cables 1500.00 1 meter). Have not tried as yet because I picked up a used Allnic L-3000 tubed preamp for my system and wanted to get a sense of that prior to playing with a cable change. Reports have been extremely positive and supposedly Harry Pearson of ausio fame has used in his reference system and was blown away. He has been a Nordost Valhalla fan.

Thanks to the both of you. I appreciate the sound advice. So, what i hear from the both of you is to spend my money on cables. This sounds like a great idea. I would like to maximize what i have. I am taking the advice from Robert Harley and not spend more than 15% on cables. I just seeked a consult from usedcables.com and they suggested Audience cables. Not sure if they have an abundance of these cables or they are really that good. In adittion, i did just check out the website on lessloss. Not really sure what to think of it without listening to it. Fossda, i see you switched to a tube phonostage. Perhaps a stupid question, but with getting a tubed phonostage give you that warm tube sound if you are running a solid state amp?