Many of us in this goofy obsessive hobby understand your frustration. The variables in equipment, your room, and the flavor of sound you're looking for make it almost impossible to come up with the perfect system for you.
If you look at this little thread as a whole you'll see that choosing a another speaker system rates high with the majority. On the other hand you seem to want to upgrade to another preamp, and that's OK. Personally, I experienced that the preamplifier is the second most important component in my system. Those are two fine choices which will undoubtedly out preform your current unit. Unfortunately you may not hear the full measure of improvement another preamp or even your current electronics (which aren't that bad) for that matter, with those Studio 60's choking the output.
When you see a speaker manufacturer building the same basic design year after year and still in business you need to take a hard look at those products. Besides Avalon Acoustics, Vandersteen came to mind. Both designers seem to put allot of effort into phase and time response. Both have had many of their design cues copied by other manufactures. C. Hansen, who designed the original Avalon and who designs Ayre electronics uses Vadersteen's 3A for voicing. He admits his favorite is Avalon's Diamond. I trust his ears.
Avalon Studio Monitors were designed for nearfield monitoring of every little inflection of miking, and gain setting, in the recording process. I have recently had lengthy experience with these in a control room monitor and post production environment and they are a huge leap forward in what you'll find in many studios today. They might also work well in a home theater. However, they are not the Avalon sound you get with Avalon home/Hi-Fi systems.
Keep in mind there are many of us who are satisfied with what we've finally ended up with. We're probably spending money on albums and live performances and not the next 2% increase in fidelity. Could we spend more? Sure, who couldn't? At some point you start listening to music and not your system. For me it was when the Eidolon's arrived.
Happy shopping.
Vic
If you look at this little thread as a whole you'll see that choosing a another speaker system rates high with the majority. On the other hand you seem to want to upgrade to another preamp, and that's OK. Personally, I experienced that the preamplifier is the second most important component in my system. Those are two fine choices which will undoubtedly out preform your current unit. Unfortunately you may not hear the full measure of improvement another preamp or even your current electronics (which aren't that bad) for that matter, with those Studio 60's choking the output.
When you see a speaker manufacturer building the same basic design year after year and still in business you need to take a hard look at those products. Besides Avalon Acoustics, Vandersteen came to mind. Both designers seem to put allot of effort into phase and time response. Both have had many of their design cues copied by other manufactures. C. Hansen, who designed the original Avalon and who designs Ayre electronics uses Vadersteen's 3A for voicing. He admits his favorite is Avalon's Diamond. I trust his ears.
Avalon Studio Monitors were designed for nearfield monitoring of every little inflection of miking, and gain setting, in the recording process. I have recently had lengthy experience with these in a control room monitor and post production environment and they are a huge leap forward in what you'll find in many studios today. They might also work well in a home theater. However, they are not the Avalon sound you get with Avalon home/Hi-Fi systems.
Keep in mind there are many of us who are satisfied with what we've finally ended up with. We're probably spending money on albums and live performances and not the next 2% increase in fidelity. Could we spend more? Sure, who couldn't? At some point you start listening to music and not your system. For me it was when the Eidolon's arrived.
Happy shopping.
Vic