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improving my system, please help

I have just got a system together recently after a period of no system at all (wife factor). I currently have a CJ PV-7 pre-amp, Oddessy Stratus amp (120,000 uf upgrade), Adcom GCD-750 CD player, Martin Logan SL-3, Gronberg interconnects, Tara Labs (not sure the model) bi-wire speaker cables, isolation cones on the pre and cd player. I have no sound treatments, nor do I understand anything about them. I am on a more restrictive budget than most here on Audiogon. I am considering going to Stratus monos, upgrading to a CJ PV-5/BAT 3i or 5i/Rogue 66 or 99 and perhaps swapping out the GCD-750 for a transport/DAC setup. I am also planning on bringing in 2 dedicated lines and purchasing a HT-2000 for use with all but the amps. If I were to use the HT-2000, would I still benefit by using a dedicated line? any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
pmwoodward
blueswan
211 posts
 
I bought my Room Tunes years ago from www.audioadvisor.com but I think they sell other types now. Definitely proceed cautiously when treating a room or you may deaden it to the point of lifelessness... a dry and technical sound, not musical at all. You can probably find good discussions on bi-amping versus dual-mono by searchning the Forum, but the best systems I have heard were all dual-mono. If your budget is limited, consider a high quality stand alone CD player instead of separates. Good Luck
sedond
1,391 posts
 
blueswan & pmwoodward - vertical bi-amping *is* dual mono - one amp for each channel. ewe give up a tad power compared to bridging the amps, but bridging causes the amp to see a speaker af half its ohm-rating, ie: it's like a 4-ohm speaker is really putting a 2-ohm load on the amp. also, wertically bi-amping is better than two mono-amps, because ewe can only bi-wire, not bi-amp w/monoblocs.

regarding upgrading yer cd-player, i'd upgrade the preamp 1st - my experience has been that a killer toobed preamp makes differences between $500 cd players & $3k cd players disappear.

ymmv, doug s.

blueswan
211 posts
 
I agree with Sedond, I would be hard pressed to give up my Air Tight tube preamp. My bad... I missed the keyword 'vertical' in the previous thread.
dmk
16 posts
 
I'm with Aragain. What's the problem? You don't say that you're unhappy with the sound and you just got the system. Get to know it a little better before you worry about upgrades. You might try some acoustical treatments first. Or play with speaker positioning. Your stuff is very good, live with it for awhile and learn its sonic signature, both piece by piece and as a whole. Enjoy it, I'm betting it's a very enjoyable system!
bluefin
111 posts
 
Agree totally, play acoustic treatment first. Until you realize how your existing system sounds, then decide to stay or upgrade. Med-Fi in a good room sounds better than Hi-Fi in a bad room. People spending hunreds on a power cable but zero on their walls are not very wise. Treatment is a must for high revealing system, like yours.
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