Weak link


Overall, I am happy with my system. Have a minor case of upgradeitis. Wondering where you would upgrade. Speakers KEF reference 3 non meta. Continuum 8 amplifier. T+A dac 8dsd dac/preamp. Innuos pulsar streamer. Wireworld interconnects and speaker wires not sure of model.  Room is non treated 15x18. There is carpeting and window treatments. 

crwindy

I would do in order:

(1) dedicated lines

(2) Audiophile receptacles (Furutech GTX-D (Gold or Rhodium to your taste), Oyaide R-1, or for the budget minded Acme Audio Labs cryo silver

(3) Acoustic treatment, GIK Acoustics is an affordable place to start with free advice

(4) Better interconnects and speaker cables

I am not surprised that you are happy with your system!

Your KEFs are brilliant speakers, in part because they try to emulate a point source of sound by having the tweeter and midrange concentric. This means they throw a very wide soundstage, are much less critical of positioning than ’conventional’ dynamic speakers, and do not exhibit the severe comb-filtering that others correct with room treatments. For those who are new to these speakers, KEF has a truly excellent 40-page white paper which explores their design decisions.

There are a couple of upgrade options for the speakers. The obvious one is to replace them with the latest meta incarnation. In principle, meta is a small plastic tuned absorber disk that sits at the back of the tweeter. A myriad other changes were needed to accommodate the meta disk. While meta technology is very successful in KEFs smaller speakers, I think the Reference Series is so good that the benefits from meta are marginal.

The other option I’d suggest will be counter intuitive to most people on this site. It is to consider moving to the smaller Reference 1 speakers. All the Reference Series use the same concentric tweeter / midrange. The difference is in the number of bass drivers (which are all identical as well!). The Reference 1 has a single bass driver, the Reference 3 has two in a d’Apolito array, and the Reference 5 has four. The more bass drivers, the more likelihood there is for comb filtering, where the time delay in the different signal paths causes cancellation and reinforcement.

I have used Quad electrostatic speakers for about four decades so I am used to accurate sound. I recently added a pair of Reference 1 speakers (not meta) and I prefer them. They produce a staggering amount of quality volume and credible detail.

Your DAC has separate paths for Direct Stream Digital so one upgrade might be to buy a Super Audio Compact Disk transport, which I would recommend if you play much classical music.

@crwindy 

Yes if you like classical and jazz.  Not so many for other genres.

Presto Classical in the UK has over 6,000 SACDs listed for about the same price as CDs. The also have a streaming service so you can see if you like the music.

Some rock is being re-released on SACD, such as Dire Straits.  Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon in Dolby Atmos is awesome on Blu Ray audio.  Have a look at shop.2l.no for some real state-of-the-art recordings.

A system as good as yours deserves some DSD!