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Want to enhance my Audio system, need suggestions

I am a budget audio guy and currently have following two systems. My room size is 17ft x 14 ft x 8ft and I sit roughly ten feet from speakers.

System1: Harbeth P3ESR + Exposure 2010S2 + Oppo dvd player (this system is used for good quality recorded material)

System2: Tekton 4.5single driver monitors + Dayens Ampino/Miniwatt N3 + DacMagic + Oppo dvd player (mostly used for poorly recorded material and movies)

And I am planning to change the above to either of the following combinations.

Combination1:
System1: Harbeth P3ESR/Usher Be-718 monitors + Exposure 2010S2 + Oppo dvd player (placing the speakers on TV table, roughly 4 ft apart. If this sounds too bad then I don’t mind leaving them on stands)
System2: Omega Super6 XRS/Hoyt-Bedford Type2 floor standers + Dayens Ampino/Miniwatt N3 + DacMagic + Oppo dvd player

Combination2:
System1: Omega Super6/Hoyt-Bedford Type1 monitors + Dayens Ampino/Miniwatt N3 + DacMagic + Oppo (placing the speakers on to TV table, roughly 4 ft apart)
System2: Usher Dancer Mini 1/V 602/ProAc D-18 floor standers + Exposure 2010S2 + Oppo player

Which of the above combinations you guys would recommend. Ideally I want to have one of my systems with good midrange and other system with big and punchy sound.

I mostly listen to Rock, blues, East Asian (Indian) instrumental and East Asian (Indian) songs from 50s, 60s and 70s. All the East Asian material is very poorly recorded and I can’t change that fact nor I can change my music tastes just because of the recording quality!

I know that I should audition myself to see which one suits my requirements. But for above combinations, there is little scope for auditioning where I live.
Any suggestions and comments are highly welcome!
rktxyz
inna
7,296 posts
 
I cannot advise but one thought did come to mind. You might want to upgrade your cd player for the best system. Even poorly recorded music will sound better though you will hear more garbadge in the recordings too. I would play with cables as well.
I bet older East Indian material would sound much better on vinyl, but this is off the topic.
kbarkamian
647 posts
 
Leave your speakers on the stands. Make sure they're placed properly/optimally. If you haven't researched speaker placement, google search "Audio Physic speaker placement" and Master Set speaker placement." Both are excellent ways to get started. Different in approach, but the end result is what matters. I've used both, and the room usually dictated which sounded better. Can't say why.
kbarkamian
647 posts
 
Sorry...

"Can't say why" in my last post should have been "Don't know why."

A great resource for system setup and squeezing every last bit of performance out of it is Jim Smith's "Get Better Sound" book. It's far cheaper than any component you're contemplating buying, and I'm pretty sure you'll easily get an improvement that's far more than worth the cost of the book.

If you really, really need to buy something new, I agree with the previous poster - new source.
kevvwill
70 posts
 
If it's a dedicated room, treat it. That will be LOT cheaper than any component (Audio Advisor has Sonex on sale right now), and will make an immense difference. Back in the day, I had LEDE (live end/dead end) setup, and the difference was immense, particularly with dynamic (rather than planar) speakers.

The Jim Smith book is a good suggestion. I also like "Good Sound," the Laura Dearborn book. Some parts are vexing for the in-the-know audio hobbyist, but there's good information in there as well.

Start with the small things, before investing in new equipment. If it's the Oppo 95, that's a very well-regarded music player, so you should be in good shape there. Good luck.
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