I have some money saved up for gear. Where should I spend it?

You have a fine system already. Is this change for the sake of change? Just because you have extra funds doesn't mean you have to spend it all. Just buy some records, save some and yes, by all means, take that vacation. Life is about experiencing things and going places. That's just as important as a hifi in my opinion.

 

I don't think it's crazy to think about getting a new amp. I wouldn't trade one Bryson for another but I would sell it and get a BAT SS or McIntosh.

I love the "don't spend money" crowd on this forum. If a guy wants to put money in his rig, let him. It generally has very good outcomes from my experience.

 

Did you read the first post? He asked.

 

Go vintage!

 

Nah, I'm an audio dealer. I'm just trying to hustle a sale.

 

It has nothing to do with self-reinforcement. I simply think expensive cables are a poor way to spend one's savings. We can agree to disagree. Honestly, I'm glad you get satisfaction from your cables, more power to ya.

 

Well played.

Hey, at least the OP didn't blow the cash on the Fyre festival.

 

I wish he had. I am sure the eyewitness report would have been entertaining.

 

If you don't know, you don't know.

 

Vacation! No experience sticks with one more than a good vacation, and you'll remember it happily far longer than you'll remember the difference between 7BSST2 and 7B3.

P.S. DO NOT buy wires! No system "improvement" has less payback for the dollar, in my opinion after 50 years of this. Well, an exception might be green pens, weird gongs, CD polish, and shakti stones.

 

Fly to Thailand & party.

 

But first, the question that I would like to ask the OP is; what does the OP opinion of what may be lacking in his system?

I would think the most here would applaud the components in his system.

From the point that the OP is currently, I would think that it would take a lot of $$$ to start getting improvements.

Always use your CD as a transport, feeding the quality DAC of your choice. I'm sure that the OP's DAC is better than my DAC, but then, I am not one of those, who hears the differences in DAC's and will refrain from comments on what is or is not a good DAC.

I was around 8-bit sound, before I was around 16-bit sound, and I have heard some crappy DAC's, which have always been the main issues with digital. The ESS Saber DAC in my iNova, sounds good to me, so expect that I will have it, until it breaks, then I will move on. By that time, even better DAC's will be available, and for less money.

I believe in the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" kind of thinking.

I am fine with the sound in my room, so I won't be doing room treatments.

If I wasn't fine, with the sound in my room, I would be doing treatments, changing gear or doing something.

I'm a basic kind of wire guy, but that's just me.

For most people, just buy good quality wire and good quality connectors, like from Blue Jeans cable, who's owner will tell you, that he doesn't sell "magic wire", just good wire. And, they have lot's to choose from.

Macintosh used to take the same position, but are now quiet about it, due to not wanting to discredit their dealers, who grease the sale by adding expensive cables.

Your a salesman, and you just sold your customer $20K of high end gear, tacking on another $2K for wire, is an easy bump.

After all, you could not possibly be getting the proper sound out your amp and speakers with an ordinary roll of $18 wire, could you?

And then the salesman, goes on to say (if there is some reluctance, on the part of the customer), take these "special" cables (wires) home and listen to your system, for two weeks and if you are not happy with the SQ, bring them back and I will exchange them for the entry level cables, that our $399 AV receiver customer's use.

Does the customer take the cables? Of course they do, after all, they have the advise of an expert, don't they? Better wires are only common sense.

First, I am not taking sides in the cable debate, but I have been in sales. And, the manner in which cables are pawned off on customers is not substantially different than the selling of snake oil.

Notice here, that I am not calling any wire, snake oil, only the way the dealers sell it.

Since I am happy with the way that, all of my amps and all of my speakers sound, using RCA speaker wire, from Amazon, I will continue to use the wire that I am using.

And, I am not saying that there is not better wire and that it may make a difference, it just is not something that is important to me.

When I change amps, cartridges, speakers and such, I do hear significant differences and these matter most to me.

Many audiophile wires have specific characteristics. It is these characteristics that allow one piece of equipment to better match an other piece of equipment. I see this as a legitimate reason to justify the purchase.

But, along the same lines of thinking, I can't go along with blanket statements like "buy better wire".

I would be open to the suggestion that someone bring home and try many different pairs of wires, and see if they make a positive discernible difference. If it does, then go for it. If not, then save your money and put it where you can hear a difference.

I would like to believe that when our experienced members, buy better wire, it is because they do have a noticeable difference in using it. I see absolutely nothing wrong with that. There may come a time, when I might further explore these avenues or not.

If the OP is happy with his Maggie's, then perhaps a different type of amplifier, may result in a noticeable improvement.

There are a nice pair of Rogue M-180 tube amps on eBay, right now with a Buy-It-Now price of $3,200, with the retail being $6,000.

I would be willing to venture a guess, that that might be an improvement. These are powerful 180-watt monoblock amps, based on KT-120 tubes and can run into 4-ohm loads.

I had Maggies, many years ago, and I think that they sound best with a lot of clean power.

 

hmm, making a difference.

perhaps donate some of your extra cash to a charity that helps people who cant afford food or medical care, let alone a pair of interconnects...

 

Save another grand and hike the Appalachian trail south

 

Hey thanks a lot for all the replies guys.
I guess I will not rush into things and not get worked up about the SST2 to the SST3 upgrade.

Some people metioned a few things:
I do have an RCM (VPI Cyclone).
I don't really have any major complaints with what I have now. I mean I don't feel I am lacking anything signifcantly.
I mostly listen to Jazz and Classical and also listen to Classic Rock (for sure the Beatles, Zeppelin, Stones etc).
Although some may find my setup to not be the best for Classic Rock, I find it quite satisfactory.

I have a decent sized room: 16' in the front for the first 13' and then 18' wide for the remainder of the 9' I think it is. 8 1/2' ceiling.
Cork flooring with a carpet in front of the home theater seating etc.

I have previously thought about room acoustics and have talked to my dealer about it. But it's hard to get good local advice and find expertise and know where to begin and with what.
But I think I will research some more into it. I did get a calibrated mic to use with that free mesaurement software (I forget what it's called just now).
Just have been lazy to do the measurements.

But I did use the ARC software that came with my Anthem MRX-510 and looking at the graphs before and after maybe there is something to be gained with looking at room acoustics.

-- Sanjay

 

If you are interested in room acoustics, you could contact one of the well-known acoustics companies, such as GIK and ASC. Those two, at least, will draft a plan for room acoustics for you for very little money (under $100, last time I looked). Of course, you need to take those plans with a grain of salt -- they may not be prepared by their most senior staff, and the firms' business is to sell you treatments. Still, they can provide some information about where you might start first. (Often good places to start are by trapping first reflections at the sidewalls, ensuring there is no slap echo in the room, and adding bass trapping to reduce boominess and bass reverberation time.)

 

Just realized your from Edmonton so you really only have $2900US saved up. All my recommendations are out to lunch.