Upgrade Suggestions Please

[JohnNB]

Hi Everyone,

It's been a while since I posted as I've been enjoying my music system rather than thinking of changing anything. But I am now ready to consider upgrading and would like to hear your suggestions as to what I should be looking to improve. Some parts of my system are very old (tt and speakers) - but not necessarily the weak points I suspect, though I do wonder if recent technological advancements means these parts of the system are lagging behind in sound quality. I have up to £2k to spend, but any suggestions for improvements with a more modest outlay would also be appreciated. My initial thoughts are to change the speakers, and the ATC SM19s are beginning to tempt me! My local dealer has suggested the Roksan Blak amp, which is a little above my budget, and another dealer suggested upgrading the interconnects. I listen mainly to vinyl and cds, and occasionally to HD downloads played on a laptop through the rDAC.

My current systems consists of:

Turntable Thorens TD160 with Linn Basik arm and Nagaoka MP200 Cartridge
Phono Stage Trichord Dino Mk3 (2016)
CD Marantz CD6003
DAC Arcam rDAC (2011)
DAB Tuner Cambridge Audio Azur 650T
Amp Roksan K2 (2015)
Speakers Spendor SP1 (006230/1 1988)
Speaker Cable Atlas Equator 2.0
Inter-connects Atlas Element Integra

Thanks,

John

[Scooby]

Have you considered buying used? You will inevitably get more for your money.

[Macca]

My thoughts for what they are worth

If you were going to upgrade the TT side then I'd get a better phono stage. It is shocking how much improvement that can make, more than changing the cartridge

Spendor to ATC will be a fairly big change in presentation, I would guess.

Avoid the dealer who suggested 'upgrading' the interconnects.

[Arkless Electronics]

The speakers would be the last thing I would change! Still one of my favourite speakers at any price after all these years...
Arm and cartridge would be my suggestion, especially the cart. Many will I know disagree with me on this but IMHO MM carts are only suitable for mid fi and should be replaced by a decent MC if serious about vinyl. Some upgrades to the TT could be effective as well (new belt, internal damping etc).
Good though the Dino is there are better phono stages available... such as the ones I make

[agk]

Fwiw the cdp looks the weak point from here.

[farflungstar]

My two penneth... Crap in - crap out. Start at the front end - moving from a mid price cart to a truly high end one brought about a greater evolution than going high end phono or arm for me, although I did upgrade the TT/Phonostage/Arm/Cart in that order.

Changing speakers has a big effect - but it depends what you're looking for - the cart and speakers are the only true transducers in a system - they both need to be right.

And sorry, but different cables can easily have as much of an affect on sound as changing amplifier - but get the rest of the equipment in the chain 98% right first.

Adey

Sent from my Aquaris E4.5 using Tapatalk

[Arkless Electronics]

To confuse the op further I say cables have zero effect....

[farflungstar]

Ok I'm not getting into this one. To the OP - upgrade your system to a point where inductance, capacitance, resistance, insulation of cables makes a clearly audible difference then experiment with cables.
Adey

Sent from my Aquaris E4.5 using Tapatalk

[Yomanze]

To confuse the op further I say cables have zero effect....

...unless the cables are engineered to have super high capacitance, and the amp can't handle it.

IMHO I would just go for some Van Damme HiFi UP-LCOFC, 2.5mm, and be done with it. This cable just disappears with no LCR weirdness and has super low grain boundaries, something a bit more esoteric, but worthwhile to look into. There is no current scientific reason as to why this impacts sound, but then I think our current knowledge in general scratches the surface of what is out there.

Don't worry though dark matter cables are forthcoming.

[Yomanze]

Ok I'm not getting into this one. To the OP - upgrade your system to a point where inductance, capacitance, resistance, insulation of cables makes a clearly audible difference then experiment with cables.
Adey

Sent from my Aquaris E4.5 using Tapatalk

In principle I agree. Cables are just the icing on the cake and not a means to significantly change the sound unless deliberately engineered to.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk