Suggested upgrade path?

[CageyH]

Gents,

My Technics SL1200 upgrade is almost complete.

The rest of my system comprises of:

CD Player - Pioneer PD-S703 or Arcam Alpha 7SE
Amplification - Arcam Alpha 8 and 8P (I also have a Kenwood KA3020SE)
Speakers - Cyrus CLS70
Phono Stage - Graham Slee Reflex M
Headphone Amp - Graham Slee Solo Ultra Linear

Cables
Interconnects - A mixture of Van Den Hul D102 MkIII, Mark Grant and Cambridge Audio. These are being dealt with now.
Speaker cable - Mark Grant manufactured Van Damme Tour grade 4 x 2.5mm

The system is currently set up Bi-Amping the speakers. I am generally happy with the sound of the system at the moment, but if I wanted to extract more from what I have (after the interconnect changes), which component(s) do you think are yep the weakest link, or what should I add?
I am thinking of a DAC for the PD-S703, or is there something else I should look at first.

[Macca]

Bigger speakers. Much bigger speakers...

[agk]

Yup, speakers might be worth looking at and the dac for your cdp also would be an area of significant improvement I reckon.

[kininigin]

Before i joined this forum,i had the Arcam Alpha 9 amp/9p and Alpha 8 cd player into kef Q60 speakers! I had this system for about 10years! Sounded pretty good to me! So i would suggest you try some modern Kef's as i think they will be a good match with the Arcam's! The modern Q series is meant to be well regarded,although i've not heard any!

[Reffc]

Good TT, good phono stage, good headamp, adequate amplification, speakers are the bottleneck to bigger scale and dynamics. Nicely designed but ultimately limited being a small stand mount using a single 6.5 inch for bass duties. Think flat to around 80 to 100 Hz before gentle roll off to 50 Hz (-3dB point) then nose dives so you're probably missing things like low notes on bass guitars etc as well as moving too little air for good dynamic scale. One small set that I have been very impressed with that are cheaper than the Cyrus have been the Q Acoustics speakers. Their 2050 floor stander might give you a little extra scale but keep a similar presentation with good detail for a modest outlay.

Best going used for speakers if on a budget.There's so many around, you could have fun buying and selling for say a 12 month period, lose nothing if you buy carefully and get to hear a wide variety. You'd soon settle on a preference. Hard to make a recommendation without knowing your musical tastes and room layout.

[CageyH]

Thanks gents. I think I will look at a DAC.
I am limited to using the speakers when the mrs is out, otherwise I can't play them loud enough!

Do you think it would be worth adding a small sub?
(I have one in my home cinema system that I could add to see what affect it has, but I guess it won't be able to match some proper floor standing speakers).

The home cinema consists of a KEF set up, so I am familiar with the sound, although it's only a Coda system (why spends more on whizz and bang effects?).

Any suggestion on some decent speakers?
I'm prepared to spend time saving for them, so anything around £1.5k worth looking at, that will give me better scale?

[MikeMusic]

One of the nice Mr Beresfords DACS would suit
My Pioneer PD-S703 likes it a lot, so does the second one :)

Work your way towards Isobariks I love them

[kininigin]

Thanks gents. I think I will look at a DAC.
I am limited to using the speakers when the mrs is out, otherwise I can't play them loud enough!

Do you think it would be worth adding a small sub?
(I have one in my home cinema system that I could add to see what affect it has, but I guess it won't be able to match some proper floor standing speakers).

The home cinema consists of a KEF set up, so I am familiar with the sound, although it's only a Coda system (why spends more on whizz and bang effects?).

Any suggestion on some decent speakers?
I'm prepared to spend time saving for them, so anything around £1.5k worth looking at, that will give me better scale?

With that sort of budget and going secondhand,i would change the amps and speakers personally! You would be able to get some serious euipment that will blow the arcams and your current speakers away! I would take your time with this one and do proper justice to the rest of your system! I got my Croft pre and paradigm speakers including sub for about £1500 give or take and it left my privious system for dead!!! As good as i thought it was at the time!