"Thanks for being totally honest. My audio experience started as a child 66 years ago as a 2 year old child. The classical music radio station was playing all the time. Audio was my first understood language, since I said my first English words at age 3. I started the violin in school at age 9, although as an amateur I didn't make my debut until age 40, playing solo in the Mendelssohn violin concerto. My audiophile life started when I was 25, so my audio qualifications are based on many years of familiarity with live sound. I dabbled in recording, experimenting with various top condenser mikes. Like you, I learn much from random audio experiences anywhere. Although my expertise is classical music, one of the best live experiences I had was in the summer of 2005 in New Orleans just before Katrina at the Preservation Hall. A small unamped jazz band with piano played in a small cave of a room with 3 rows of audience benches. The sound cracked and snapped excitement. On vacations, I enjoy street performers and the bells of street cars. Anyone who says that they want to smooth out the sharp, brilliant natural sounds of reality is missing the boat and defiling the concept of high fidelity.
You are smart to enjoy your stock Legacy IV as it is. It is possible it is better than the stock Rouge Audio Studio N-10DM because of more refined parts, etc. Possibly the most important mod that Ric does is increase the input impedance from 38K ohms to 150K ohms. I am not a circuit engineer, but I would make an analogy that just as with moving coil cartridges, 47K ohms reveals more HF than loading down a cartridge way below at 100-1000 ohms. Advocates of loading down the cartridge say that many MC cartridges have HF ringing, so the ringing is reduced by loading down. All I know is that in my experience using various MC cartridges with various phono preamps, I hate the rolled off duller sound when the loading down is used. Ric specifically states that increasing the input impedance to 150K ohms sounds "way better."
Agree--don't break your back and bank account by trying to find a heavy expensive amp that is better than the Legacy IV."
@viber6 Great post,...thanks. Based on actual facts and experiences too,...somewhat of a rarity at times here on the 'gon I note. It's amazing to me that some are entirely comfortable to draw conclusions based upon conjecture, not actually putting their hands on an item and checking it out first hand but that's nothing new here.
When time and finances allow again (just did a number of power cord, digital cable and one pair of analog XLR upgrades in the last few months so laying low and enjoying what I've got) I might actually pick up a couple other amps and given them a shot. The problem is that until you live with amps (or anything else) long enough to break them in thoroughly and really put them through their paces, I believe that you cannot make a qualified judgement on any piece of gear, cable or speaker.
As an aside, I also grew up surrounded by music; big band, the jazz greats, classical etc,...in an environment with a father, aunt and grandparents that loved listening to recorded music and playing music with a father who loved to play live music immensely so grew up playing trumpet and piano just like he did (and loving every minute of it), big band, jazz ensemble, wind ensemble, orchestra some a lot of drum corp, and also played guitar.