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Seeking ideas about how to improve my system

Hi all.  I recently purchased a pair of Hifiman Susvara headphones, and the experience of listening to them is absolutely sublime.  I particularly enjoyed the clarity of detail and the very realistic timbre of the instruments.  Tone, timing, and spatial representation were wonderful.   I listen primarily to jazz, classical, bluegrass, and, though much less than in the past, rock.  Favorite musicians include Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer, Brad Mehldau, Mark Knopfler, Mark O’Connor, Joshua Bell, and many cellists.  
BUT, I would like my full system to produce that kind of experience too!  I’m looking for any and all feedback as to how to tweak or upgrade my system so that I can moved towards this type of experience.  I would expect to spend up to $20K, possibly more, over the long run (meaning years), so I am expecting a process and would also like feedback as to what to do first.  My room is about 20’ x 20’ x 9’ as a very rough estimate.

my components:
Sonus Faber Sonetto V’s
2 REL Ti7’s
Lyngdorf TDAI 2170
Manley Chinook phono amp
VPI Prime Scout with upgraded platter and tonearm, on a Townshend seismic platform
Ortofon Quintet black mc cart
Modwrighted Marantz SACD player and power source
Chord DAVE DAC/amp/preamp
Aurender N100C network streamer using Qobuz
Audioquest Rocket 88 speaker cables
Shunyata power cables (a mix)with Shunyata power distributor 
Shunyata, Nordost blue heaven, and Cardas clear interconnects

My analog end became downright unimpressive after I added the DAVE and the Aurender to my digital end, but the Susvara bests it all (in SQ, I realize it is just a headphone and not a full system).

Looking forward to responses.

  • — akajek






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fuzztone's avatar
fuzztone
5,629 posts
 
Speaking of confused.....
Give it a rest.
Good luck to you OP.
Can & speakers ARE different animals.
jeankunin's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
jeankunin OP
17 posts
 
I truly appreciate the constructive responses.  I was wondering most myself about the quality of my speakers, as well as my speaker cables.  As for room treatment, I completely forgot about the ceiling.  Thank you! I will definitely  work on adding more dampening,  and on speaker placement further into the room.  Thanks tablejockey for the link.  MC I have learned tons from your many posts, look forward to them, and was hoping you’d have something valuable to say to me.  Too bad you had to sling crap at me instead, guess you still have something to prove.  I took you seriously about the Townshend podiums.  Wish you’d taken me seriously as having an important, to me, question that I apparently could have been clearer about.  GHDprentice, so many parallels between my gear and your previous gear and where we started with headphones,  thanks for spelling out where that took you in the development of your current system!  That was the process I was trying to understand, and was valuable to hear.  I’ll look those pieces up. Oldhvymec, I don’t think I got the points you were making, a bit more stream of consciousness than I could sort out, so an clarification is welcome.  Will also fiddle with my interconnects.  As for better speakers,  I’m thinking about higher end SF’s, Harbeths, maybe Focal high end some day.
oregonpapa's avatar
oregonpapa
4,867 posts
 
Buy this, then remove the plug and attach the wires to your circuit breaker box and your problem on how to improve your audio system will be behind you:

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisa9cji-perfect-path-technologies-the-gate-ac-conditioners

There's a lengthy thread on this device here on A'gon.

Frank
eziggy
137 posts
 
@jeankunin, I know what you are experiencing.  At one point I heard a $2K tube system that I found more listenable and accurate that the much higher priced system I had at home.  I had long list of different components I kept switching out until I found an integrated with a built-in DAC/streamer having a sound signature I liked and I couldn't be happier.  I will end up going back to separates at some point again but at least I know that the sound I am looking for exists and which brands of amplifiers and cables it took to get there.

While room treatment should make a good impact on sound, I have found that you can at least tell if you like the overall instrument realism, timbre, etc. straight out the speakers.  You can then use the room treatments to fine tune the sound to balance highs, mids, and bass if there are issues.  Of course this could be just me. :)
nighthawk
259 posts
 
I think you could gain a lot by better speaker placement. A 20'x20' room is quite susceptible to standing waves.  The best speaker and listening position placement will avoid the positions where there are peaks and nulls of the standing waves. This will keep the speakers from unnecessarily exciting the room modes. Assuming your room is indeed 20' deep exactly, the major positions to avoid are 20'/2, 20'/3, and 20'/4, i.e. 10', 6'8", and 5' from the walls. A good place to begin would be to place the front of your speakers at the midpoint between 5' and 6'8" from the wall behind them, i.e. 5'10", and at the same distance from the side walls. This will make them 8'4" apart on centers. The listening position can be placed similarly from the wall behind it.  If your room is not exactly 20'x20' adjust the numbers appropriately. Fine tuning must be done by ear but this will give you a starting point. You might find moving the listening position a little farther from the speakers helps them blend a little better.
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