Possible Upgrades Advice

[mrkip]

Hi all
Was wondering if i could pick all your brains over the possible upgrades that im planning to perform to my setup over the next few months.
Heres the info.

Current setup consists of;-
Technics 1210
Audio Technica AT440MLa
Sumiko Headshell
KAB technics fluid arm mod
Sorbothane feet
Homemade Turntable Isolation box (TNT Sandblaster, type)
Cambridge Audio 640P Pre Amp
Moth homemade RCM
Knotsi RCM

Speakers wise this goes through my MAudio Profire soundcard which feeds it to my Genelec 8040a active studio monitors.

So the upgrades im considering of purchasing are as follows (in order);-

1. Timestep PSU upgrade + Copper Mat from Sound HiFi (thinking of ordering this next week.
2. Was thinking of upgrading my pre-amp to a Project Tube Box SE II. Was thinking of upgrading the tubes to some of these as ive heard they work quite well;-
http//www.hotroxuk.com/12ax7-tungsol-12074-0.html (http://www.hotroxuk.com/12ax7-tungsol-12074-0.html)
3. Jelco SA-750D
4. Timestep Bearing upgrade
5. New cart and stylus for around 500 quid mark. Any recommendations?

Music wise i listen mainly to a lot of early 90's house/dance stuff. I do listen to old hip hop, funk, dub and other electronic stuff but i would say most of the time its early 90's dance stuff 80% of the time.
Any thoughts/changes/advice would greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance ;)

[Tarzan]

If l were you, go for a PSU upgrade first, then bearing, then cartridge upgrade- enjoy the tweaking,one step at a time:cool:.

[John]

From what I read the better PSU the better the performance so I would suggest go for the best PSU first Marco or Martin should be able to add further thoughts as they have tried most of this stuff

[mrkip]

Thanks guys its just the sort of help and advice im looking for, its very much appreciated.
Ive seen the Paul Hynes PSU mentioned on here a few times but at £510 :eek: a pop it seems fairly steep. Im just thinking that the Mike Hynes might be an upgrade to perform at a later date after i've got all the other stuff done.:scratch:

[Spectral Morn]

Hi James


Ummmm frankly I think your phonostage suggestion is the weak link in your upgrade suggestions and while the Project is a good phonostage it seems to me that it would make more sense to spend more there and perhaps forgo the Copper Mat till later. The thing is no matter how good the front end is if you can't reveal that....well its a bit of a missed opportunity.



Do you need MM and MC or just MM ?


Regards D S D L

[DSJR]

I know this is over thirty years since Linn put this idea forward, but seriously, deck first, then tonearm, then cartridge, then phono stage then preamp etc etc. In your case, I'd probably check out one of these to properly drive the Genelecs -

http://www.spl.info/index.php?id=184&L=1

Just my thoughts. If you want a good valve phono stage to replace the Cambridge with (no mean performer by any standards as an MM stage), then look at the Croft one, which isn't cheap, but it's so capable. I hesitate to recommend the complete Croft Series 25 preamp as I'm not sure how it copes with many metres of interconnect cables to your monitors (it may be fine, but my oldie isn't). The Volume 2 is a very simple line buffer with volume control specifically designed to drive active monitors and, I think, with a balanced feed as well, which should absolutely minimise cable differences.

[Sketchy]

I use mine for mostly 80's 90's dance music and can say the best upgrade i have made so far is the audio technica AT-OC9 III cartridge

but bear in mind thats a MC cart so you will need a phono stage that works with low output MC carts.

[mrkip]

thanks for the input fellas;)
I should have probably said this early but this setup i mainly use for ripping vinyl. Thats why its fed into the Profire and the Genelecs. I do occasionally take my deck/setup downstairs and run it through my Roksan Kandy but those occasions are rare. 99% of the time its used for vinyl ripping.
Cabling i keep everything to a minimum and there really isnt that much for a home studio. The preamp is probably only about a foot away from the soundcard and its fed with some fairly decent RCA cables. Im not to concerned about the sound quality/volume coming out of the genelecs. The profire does have an internal monitor amp which bypasses the ADC's so i can achieve a nice volume for monitoring. Priority for me with this setup is getting as good recording as i can from the deck. Im sorry i should probably mentioned all this this earlier.
:scratch:

[mrkip]

So far im going forgo the copper mat i think. Another thing i failed to mention was that i that i do have a 'sound hi fi' audiofile mat on the deck:doh:
Im a bit confused by croft amps as there is an RIAA version for around £300 and then a £700 version and then a £1400 version (which is well out of my budget range ATM). I could stretch to the £700 at a push if its worth it. Also is the Croft a dual MM/MC preamp because that would be ideal if it is? From the pics ive seen it does look like a nice bit of kit.

[mrkip]

Just a quick update as ive had a really nice development. After some consideration and a night of googling the various bit of advice on here i've decided to go with the upgrading phono amp to a Croft Micro 25 full pre. I've just had a phone call with a nice bloke from audioclassics.co.uk who stock the full range of the Crofts. Best thing is they do a home loan service so hopefully getting a Croft to try out over the weekend and possibly longer:).
Took me a while to figure our the that 25 full pre is a multi device pre amp and not just dedicated phono pre amp. Those extra line inputs channel are going to be really handy. Im looking forward to trying my cd player and a few other things things through them.