Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

Ok guys , some advice if you will.

Roast my system... wait, wrong thread.

Ok seriously, I'm mostly happy with my system and am not necessarily looking to upgrade everything and start over. Its more fomo of what i dont know I need. If that sounds right.

My setup is in my sig so I wont type it all out again unless someone needs more detail. I'm wondering what are the weak links in my system and where I can get the most bang for my buck in upgrading. I had an epiphany over the weekend that my cart upgrade (from 2M Red to 2M Blue) amplified the quality and separation of my sound but also amplified bad records and hiss and pops.

Anyway, i use my system for a mix of music and movies. Sometimes using multi-channel stereo on my Denon to drive all seven speakers for music.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
 
Ethos99 said:
Ok guys , some advice if you will.

Roast my system... wait, wrong thread.

Ok seriously, I'm mostly happy with my system and am not necessarily looking to upgrade everything and start over. Its more fomo of what i dont know I need. If that sounds right.

My setup is in my sig so I wont type it all out again unless someone needs more detail. I'm wondering what are the weak links in my system and where I can get the most bang for my buck in upgrading. I had an epiphany over the weekend that my cart upgrade (from 2M Red to 2M Blue) amplified the quality and separation of my sound but also amplified bad records and hiss and pops.

Anyway, i use my system for a mix of music and movies. Sometimes using multi-channel stereo on my Denon to drive all seven speakers for music.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
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Do you have a record cleaning setup?
 
Yes a spin clean, a rolling lint catcher and brush my stylus as needed.

I clean everything before i spin it, even new stuff. I have 3 cats and two dogs so I'm a little OCD about it.
 
Ethos99 said:
Yes a spin clean, a rolling lint catcher and brush my stylus as needed.

I clean everything before i spin it, even new stuff. I have 3 cats and two dogs so I'm a little OCD about it.
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Just checking!

And yeah, the 2Ms are nice detailed carts, but they can also tend to make surface noise particularly noticeable. I guarantee @HiFi Guy will have some good cart recommendations to lessen this - maybe a Grado something something.
 
Ethos99 said:
Ok guys , some advice if you will.

Roast my system... wait, wrong thread.

Ok seriously, I'm mostly happy with my system and am not necessarily looking to upgrade everything and start over. Its more fomo of what i dont know I need. If that sounds right.

My setup is in my sig so I wont type it all out again unless someone needs more detail. I'm wondering what are the weak links in my system and where I can get the most bang for my buck in upgrading. I had an epiphany over the weekend that my cart upgrade (from 2M Red to 2M Blue) amplified the quality and separation of my sound but also amplified bad records and hiss and pops.

Anyway, i use my system for a mix of music and movies. Sometimes using multi-channel stereo on my Denon to drive all seven speakers for music.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Yeah the 2M Blue Definitely has a lot of strengths and is a big step up from the Red but it definitely does pick up surface noise too. I recently switched over to the Grado Prestige Gold2. I prefer the tone of it (others will prefer the more detailed 2M sound) but it most definitely is ahead of the blue in terms of picking up less surface noise!
 
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Ethos99 said:
Ok guys , some advice if you will.

Roast my system... wait, wrong thread.

Ok seriously, I'm mostly happy with my system and am not necessarily looking to upgrade everything and start over. Its more fomo of what i dont know I need. If that sounds right.

My setup is in my sig so I wont type it all out again unless someone needs more detail. I'm wondering what are the weak links in my system and where I can get the most bang for my buck in upgrading. I had an epiphany over the weekend that my cart upgrade (from 2M Red to 2M Blue) amplified the quality and separation of my sound but also amplified bad records and hiss and pops.

Anyway, i use my system for a mix of music and movies. Sometimes using multi-channel stereo on my Denon to drive all seven speakers for music.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Forgot to mention; I have removed, not bypassed, the phono stage on my LP-120.
 
Ethos99 said:
Ok guys , some advice if you will.

Roast my system... wait, wrong thread.

Ok seriously, I'm mostly happy with my system and am not necessarily looking to upgrade everything and start over. Its more fomo of what i dont know I need. If that sounds right.

My setup is in my sig so I wont type it all out again unless someone needs more detail. I'm wondering what are the weak links in my system and where I can get the most bang for my buck in upgrading. I had an epiphany over the weekend that my cart upgrade (from 2M Red to 2M Blue) amplified the quality and separation of my sound but also amplified bad records and hiss and pops.

Anyway, i use my system for a mix of music and movies. Sometimes using multi-channel stereo on my Denon to drive all seven speakers for music.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Also I didn’t notice an external phono stage in there. Are you using one in the receiver? A good external phono stage is a massively underrated piece of kit that can make a huge difference in terms of detail, soundstage and separation!
 
Joe Mac said:
Also I didn’t notice an external phono stage in there. Are you using one in the receiver? A good external phono stage is a massively underrated piece of kit that can make a huge difference in terms of detail, soundstage and separation!
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I am, using the Denon. Figured it was relatively new and expensive so it probably had a good one? :unsure:

I can tell you it's way better than the LP-120's.
 
Ethos99 said:
I am, using the Denon. Figured it was relatively new and expensive so it probably had a good one? :unsure:

I can tell you it's way better than the LP-120's.
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Oh yeah it will be better than the LP120s, that has an, erm, reputation...

I don’t know what the stage in that Denon is like but as a rule AV receivers tend to have a stage for convenience and as such they are not the main focus and tend to be pretty cheap parts. I’d say that it is likely that it could be improved with a good stand alone.
 
Joe Mac said:
Oh yeah it will be better than the LP120s, that has an, erm, reputation...

I don’t know what the stage in that Denon is like but as a rule AV receivers tend to have a stage for convenience and as such they are not the main focus and tend to be pretty cheap parts. I’d say that it is likely that it could be improved with a good stand alone.
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I was afraid someone would mention that. I'm really torn on that because I've seen them for as low as $20 and as high as $2k.
 
Ethos99 said:
I was afraid someone would mention that. I'm really torn on that because I've seen them for as low as $20 and as high as $2k.
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$2k is only scratching the surface, they go waaaaaaay past that...

You should see a decent step up from one of the forum’s perennial recommendations in the $300 ball park and if you can go higher then great. Set your budget first and then get the best you can within it!
 
Joe Mac said:
$2k is only scratching the surface, they go waaaaaaay past that...

You should see a decent step up from one of the forum’s perennial recommendations in the $300 ball park and if you can go higher then great. Set your budget first and then get the best you can within it!
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Or just buy my Rogue Sphinx v2. :D

(yes I'm trying to avoid putting it on Audiogon)
 
Ethos99 said:
Wow! what are you trying to upgrade to?

And for that price i would hope its pretty damn good. What don't you like about it?
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I actually like the Rogue very much and have no real complaints. It’s extremely well built and sounds great. It’s just quite overpowered for the speakers I’ve got, and I’m caught up in the allure of a tube amp.
 
kvetcha said:
I actually like the Rogue very much and have no real complaints. It’s extremely well built and sounds great. It’s just quite overpowered for the speakers I’ve got, and I’m caught up in the allure of a tube amp.
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DM me what you want for it. No promises but it may be worth it to upgrade.
 
Not sure if anyone here is overly familiar with PSB speakers. I've been planning on picking up a pair of X2 T's for like $1500 in the future but nust found a pair locally of PSB 800's for $250. These are from 1992 i believe. If they work like they should, would I be better off saving a buttload of money?
 
4634pieces said:
Not sure if anyone here is overly familiar with PSB speakers. I've been planning on picking up a pair of X2 T's for like $1500 in the future but nust found a pair locally of PSB 800's for $250. These are from 1992 i believe. If they work like they should, would I be better off saving a buttload of money?
Click to expand...
Take a listen, they may be just what you're looking for.
 
brownsugah said:
Previously, I was experiencing a hum when connecting the power cord on my turntable to a power strip/extension chord. And then I plugged it directly to the wall outlet and the hum sound was eliminated. However, the power cord for my turntable is a bit short and was wondering if there was a longer power cord or maybe a better power strip out there that would also help in eliminating the hum? My family room is small and I don’t have a lot of space to work with in terms of moving my set up around.
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I know that music direct sells power cords but will that eliminate the hum? I’m not so sure. From what I understand from the Hum issue is that usually it means there’s some other appliance on the same circuit causing a feedback loop. With that said when I first got my Plx-1000 and connected it through a BBE Preamp and that to a flash Cube I got this ungodly hum no matter what volume my receiver was at. When I finally got a receiver the Hum remained until I got a better speaker set. I ended up getting a used Marantz SR 6008 that didn’t come with a power cord and I found a 3 prong one that fit at goodwill for 3 dollars and I’ve used that with zero issues ever since. Like I said try Music Direct for the cord which last I checked were on sale in their clearance section or try your luck at goodwill.
 
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