Upgrade Amp or CD/Sacd...Help Needed


I have 3-grand burning a hole in my wallet.....My system consists of Mark Levinson 38S preamp....Nakamichi PA-7 200watt power amp...Sony SCD-XA777ES CD/SACD player....Jbl L300 speakers...All Acoustic Zen cables/interconnects.

My system sounds very good, but......I am looking to get that extra bit in dynamics. Would it make more sense to upgrade the CD/SACD to maybe an Ayre C-5XE or Upgrade the Amp to a Mcintosh MC252? My current setup is all RCA....the jump to either of the 2-choices would be balanced through the Levinson 38S.

I have narrowed my choice to the 2-mentioned, (no need to recommend other brands). I will die before I give up the L300's (there's probably enough wood from the Jbl's to make a nice casket) and am a Levinson Preamp advocate.

The Mcintosh has only 50-more watts than the Nak but the jump to a balanced run to the preamp may make a difference. The Ayre is highly regarded and sounds fantastic while allowing SACD playback which I have found addictive.

any advice welcomed,

Thanks
troodon
No, I am on the same page on the big JBL's. Listened to L300's a lot back in the day. Owned four L200's in a 4 channel setup. Almost put a pair of JBL 4350's on layaway at the old Audio Club for around 1,100 a pair. Missed a pair of L300's for a grand back before internet markets. Stories, I got a few.

I will politely disagree on the sound as I know the "New England" polite refined AR, KLH type and the "West Coast" JBL, Altec with the poster boy being JBL's. I know some of the sins of the big JBL's and the 300 can be a little forward and bright. Not too knock em as I love big JBL's and miss them and can certainly understand you never wanting to sell them. You would have to spend stupid money in today's dollars to come even close to the efficiency and dynamics of the big JBL's and for rock music I would argue you almost cannot find a more "accurate" reproducer.

In any event I am not the best poster for you in that I do not and have never run balanced. I think your Nak amps were designed by Nelson Pass and not sure how much it would help to go Mac. I really really enjoy some SACD's and have never heard an Ayre spinner. I know the rep of the Ayre and enjoy sacd and think it might give you a cleaner and nicer presentation hence my two cents with the post.

In any event, good luck and I hope you find what your after with your system.
I know this doesn't answer your question, but every time I've added a subwoofer to a system, dynamics seemed much more pronounced. Food for thought. Regarding L300 and dynamics, I remember back in the day listening to these hitched up to a Mac 2105 and they were the REAL posterboy for the picture of the guy sitting down and getting blown away by the speakers.
Steelhead,

Thanks for the feedback...nice to see passion for the classic JBL's still abound.

regards,

Tom