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To upgrade cd player?? The slippery slope?

Hi, I got sucked in to this audio game quite by mistake while looking through the public library for info on setting up a car stereo. Sidetracked by "Good Sound" by Dearborn?.
Bought some components over E-bay, and had a pre-amp given to me, and my music listening is changed dramatically. I think the real culpret is the Magnum-dynalab ft-11 tuner. Whereas I used to listen mostly to tapes and a few cd's, now its all about the radio. My limited taste in music has been stretched. I'm listening to a jazz, blues, classical, rock-- virtually anything played on the 3 good non-comercial stations in my area. Even the musical interludes on "All Things Considered" on NPR is fun for the ears, wheras it used to just make me mad and impatient. I've had the system about a year, and I've started to collect a few more cds.

But to get to the point.

This is a budjet system to be sure, and some will want me to upgrade in more directions, but I'd like my cd's to sound at least as good as the radio, and that is not the case. At least, not as engaging and fun. To spend $800 on a Jolida jd100 (for instance) would be more than twice what I have invested in my costliest component.

So here is the list:

pre= dyna pas 3
amp= carver tfm-6cb (65w@8ohms, 100w@4ohms)
speakers= spica tc-50
tuner= magnum-dynalab ft-11
**cdp= onkyo integra dx-7500 (1989, 18-bit, 8xsample)
**tape= nakamichi cr2a
interconnects= kimber pbj w/radio-shack gold plate term.
sp cables= kimber 4tcx5'

** components left over from previous system

So ??? buy the Jolida? Or a used dac? Or live with what I have? Or other sugestions?

Thanks, Aloha

Miser lee
windsup03a8
windsup03a8 OP
2 posts
 
Thanks again for the responses.

Ok, so my Onkyo built in 1989, though perhaps their best machine at the time, will sound similar to a decent machine built today? Or going with a second hand dac is a much better upgrade? Then, does anyone have experience as to how the onkyo fares as a transport?

To update on my Dyna, I swapped the tubes in the line section for the ones in the phono stage, and they were good. At the same time cleaned my (I'm embarrassed to say rather tarnished) copper power cord plug and expanded it for a tighter fit, and the results were definitely noticeable and positive. Could it be that the signal from the cd player is more vulnerable to uneven power due to the greater frequency range? I'm starting to think an upgrade from Curcio Audio on the preamp may be a step in the right direction.

As for the amp, the friend who gave me the Dyna Pas also gave me a couple of non-working Dynaco st-70s and I was thinking at some point of repairing one of those, and possibly modifying, perhaps with Curcio's drop in assemblies.

Mahalo,

Miser lee
muralman1
1,527 posts
 
Hey Miser, Phasecorrect overstated the similarity between CDPs. I happen to own an Onkyo of similar vintage. I also own the Jolida. While the Jolida was on loan, starving for music, I plugged the old Onkyo in, and immediately unplugged it. I'd rather starve.

What ever you do, don't let any cable freak talk you into upgrading your wires. Your Kimbers will travel well through your audio journey.
miser_lee
7 posts
 
Hi all.

Just an update on how all the advice was utilized.

Digital: I ended up with the Audio Note dac kit 1.1, used, and keeping the Onkyo as the transport. Result? Much better. I can say it acclomplished my stated goal of bringing the digital up to speed with the tuner- and then some, maybe.(Though the Jolida player may have given similar results, I'll probably never know)

Amp: repaired on of the Dynaco st-70s, and that was another huge improvement.

Cables: Added some 12-guage twisted power cords (improvement) and tried some diy interconnects (so far the kimber pbj remains on top).

A few tweaky tweaks: The music just keeps getting better.

Cheers.
dandreescu
12 posts
 
I'll try the Philips 963SA. Has excellent cd sound with upsample, multichannel SACD and top DVD performance for just $360. Look for reviews at Head-fi, Audio-asylum, as are plenty of folks beliveing its the best deal in digital now.
steuspeed's avatar
steuspeed
501 posts
 
Great move on the Audio Note Dac! How would you discribe the improvement over the Onkyo DA?

I am sure the Dynaco is a big change from the Carver.

It's pretty tough to beat Kimber pbj for budget cables. I finally moved mine out for some TMC Yellow's on my pre-amp to Amp. They are made out of a copper tube, so they essentially need to be bent into shape. They gave me a blacker back ground so more detail can be heard everywhere. Bass weight and ease was also improved.
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