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Sound is too thin. What to upgrade, add or remove?

Need your advise - please have a look at my system below (click on the system link). Just in the past couple of months or so it seems, my setup started to sound way too thin in my ears. It feels as though the bottom-end is just not enough anymore. But I as you can see from the pictures, I try to stay on the minimulist side of things. The aesthetics are very important as well (WAF). I can't really have too much exposed gear (WAF). What can I do to boost the overall sonics of this system without adding a sub? How much more can a power conditioner add? What about replacing the power tubes, IC's and adding a DAC? or should I switch to a different amp - like a Gamut (SS) 200/wcp? What other push-pull (100 wpc or more) quality tube amps are out there? My budget is $2K - $3K plus the value of current amp if I were to swap it out.

I really appreciate your comments. Thank you.

Jewel
128x128jewel_hasan
thorman
1,262 posts
 
Owning 1.0 Kharmas myself and all the juggling I have done,I must agree with the suggestions already mentioned.Kharmas need room to breath! You have the room ,you just need to bring them out into the room and also your equipment furniture is cramping the speakers from the inside center section also.Bring the speakers out and leave the equipment cabinet up against the wall and create some room . I have my Kharmas spread apart about the same as mentioned. About 75" woofer to woofer center.About the same as mention.Try to create a listening triangle if you can and keep the dimensions as close to the same as possible. If you move your speakers 6 feet apart, try putting you listening chair about the same distance away ( just for starters ) and adjust as needed. You may need to bring in some softer material ,rug,curtains etc, but try the positioning first.....Goog Luck
ipy
113 posts
 
I agree with some of the responses above that you might want to try to fix the "basics" 1st before spending big $$$ on component upgrades. I will also start with simple tweaks (if you have not done this already) for eg: clean all cable contacts with a good contact cleaner (Caig ProGold and DeOxit or Kontak) and then enhance it with Walker SST. My experience is after doing this, it is equal to a component upgrade. The music just opens up and became fuller minus the glare associated with digital playback. For approx. $100 it was money very well spend IMO.
Good luck.
ozfly
887 posts
 
Ipy, what is Walker SST? Thanks
jond's avatar
jond
5,841 posts
 
I agree with everything above with one thing to add. Get your preamp off your cd player!! You have a potentially microphonic preamp with exposed tubes and handling low level signals and you have it sitting on a component that has moving parts and thus vibrates and also outputs digital hash and noise. I think you'll see an immdediate improvement by getting a real rack to keep your components seperate and isolated and also take care of speaker placement. Good luck you have great stuff, let it sing!
dirtyragamuffin
213 posts
 
I agree, it looks like some room treatments would benefit you, as without them you are not hearing your rig's full potential. With parallel surfaces you have issues with phase cancellations and standing waves; corners are breeding grounds for bass buildup. Some absorptive material and bass trapping will give you more flexibility in speaker placement, cculd help with the WAF. Especially with your budget, you could look into some treatment solutions that are functional but aesthetically pleasing--WAF.

Have you experimented with differnt types of isolation platforms for your components?

Nice system BTW!
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