upgrade or all new?


Maybe I'm out of my "wallet league" here, but was hoping for advice on upgrade possibilities. I like good separation in instruments and voice, not bright, but not a muddy low-end either; 50 to 60w max (condo living), two channels. I'm learning more and more about classical, prefer strings over brass and piano. Love jazz vocals like sarah vaughan, ella, carmen mcrae etc. At 50 yrs old I can't seem to enjoy Rock music anymore, it's all too similar, and trendy, although I do like electronica like crystal method, ladytron, etc.
Here's what I have so far:
Office
NAD 3150
Yamaha yp211
AR 25s
monster cable

Living Room
Marantz 2230
Dual 1226
H/K FL 8350 CD 5disc changer(too bright)
Athena BS-1 on stands
monster cable
Please offer advise on anything here, even cartridges that may make for better sound (AT 70Lcarts mm), connects, etc.
Budget maybe $500 to 1000.

Hope I wasn't too long.
Don in Tennessee
donntn
You have really opened up the door to any and all possibilities, huh...

To get the most help out of this place, try to figure out what it is you really want or need...then focus on getting it..

Is your system too bright? warm? bass heavy? Boonmy?

What do you like about it? What do you not like about it?

If you can pin-point a little better for us what information you really want or need we can be more helpful....

But, considering the options you offered, I would start all over..find a pair of speakers you love and can afford, then build the rest of your system around them over the next XX years. Or, find the amp you love and can afford, and do the same...or the CDP....

But, just find one piece you absolutely beleive in and go from there...That is what I would do if I had to start all over. Doing it my way over the last 20 years was fun, but much too expensive.

John
Don in Tennessee,

Jb8312 has some good advice. I would improve your system one piece at a time, listening to and enjoying the new piece until you yearn for something new. I tend to think you want to start with the source first for two reasons:

1. you can't add information back that didn't get off the record or CD to start with, and

2. Technology has improved the most in CD players and turn tables over the last 20-30 years compared with amplifiers and speakers.

Your current receiver and speakers will do more with a better signal than a better amp and speakers will do with the HK and Dual IMO. So I would decide which you prefer to listen to the most, vinyl or CDs, and make a major investment there to start.

For a CD player, there are sort of three tiers in the sub $1000 range for new players: $300-$500, $500-$750, and $750-$1000.

In the $300-$500 range, I would look at the NAD 525BEE and 542C, the Cambridge Azur 340C and 540C Version 2, and the Music Hall C-25. These will all provide noticeable improvements over the HK multidisk changer. The Music Hall is probably the best bang for buck even if it is at the higher end of this range.

Moving up to the $500-$750 range, I would listen to the Cambridge Azur 640C Version 2, the Rotel RCD-1072, and the Arcam CD73. These players are a step up from the other batch in terms of resolution and timing, and start to take you into the edge of real hifi. Significant improvements generally cost a lot more...

Which takes us to the $750-$1000 range, where I recommend the Marantz SA8001 and the Rega Apollo. These are fairly sophisticated players that are probably starting to get to a point where their potential wont be fully appreciated with the amplification and speakers you currently have, but they will provide building blocks to carry you to the next level.

You will probably be able to find almost all of these players used on here or on ebay (at a steep discount) at some point in the near future, and that may be the best way to go, particularly if you live in an area where they are difficult to audition in a store.

No matter which unit you go with, I would invest in decent interconnects to hook it up to the Marantz, spending 10% to 20% of the value of the players on good wires - so, between about $50 and $150. people may tell you that you need an after market power cable too, but I would cross that bridge later.

For turntables there are great tables available new starting at about $350 and going up in basically continuous fashion to the price of a small house or tournament fishing boat (hey, its analog right?).

At the lower end (about $350-$450) for a table that will provide a significant step up in sound from the Dual, I would suggest a Pro-Ject basic or Debut III, a Rega P1 or Thorens TD158 or Music Hall MMF 2.2. These will probably come fitted for the asking price with an Ortofon or Goldring cartridge that will work very well.

The next jump up is to tables costing about $600 to $700 with cartridge mounted. Recommended models include the Rega P2 with a Rega cartidge, the Thorens TD190 with an Ortofon cartridge, and a Pro-Ject Expression III with a Sumiko cartridge. These will provide more of everything and cleaarly eclipse the Dual you are currently running in terms of quietness, timing and insight into the music.

The sub $1000 category is full of great tables that start to hint at everything the truly great audiophile tables can provide, but just giving you a little less of it in every area. As with the higher end budget CD players, these tables and cartridges will be overkill with the Marantz Receiver and the little Athenas, but they will make your current system sound much better, and hang in there as you upgrade other components over time around it.

-Music Hall MMF-5.1 w/ Goldring cartridge
-Rega P3-24 w/ Rega or Ortofon cartridge
-Project RM5 w/ Sumiko cartridge (HO MC cartridge, may not work well with Marantz)

Good luck.
You guys are so helpful and forthcoming with great information, thanks so much!John, you're right, and I've been asking myself do I spend first on new speakers or the amp. The Athenas seem to have a detailed presentation, minus some better low-end. Good speakers for $160 I think. But an upgrade to Rotel, Adcom, NAD etc would probably necessitate new speakers, so there you go with money, money money. And then there's the wife, but that's for another forum.
The idea of auditioning units is something I want to do. Here in Nashville there are just 2 higher end dealers, not sure of their brand offerings, but I'm afraid I might find the prices of NEW items, diconcerting, so I would probably have to go with used. Right now I'm watching a couple of items on ebay; Rotel RA971 60w Integrated Amplifier and Matching Rotel RT-935AX AM/FM Tuner; and anOther auction for NAD PRE AMPLIFIER 1130, POWER AMPLIFIER 2200, TUNER 4130(the uppercase letters are not mine; i pasted from the listing) Not really interested in the turners in either one of these offerings, but i'm happy to see from knownothing that the rotel or nad could be good considerations, but are these that i watching too old or lacking in some way that i should really take into account? BTW i'm not asking anyone here to be the salespeson for any brand or to make my decisions for me, just your opinions as you guys have listened to alot more different components and configurations than I have.
thanx
Don in Tennessee