upgrade path from Dynaudio 52SE

It is a toss-up between the Rotel amps and the Dynaudio speakers.

07-03-09: Miner42
After a lengthy listen last night I really don't kow what I could do to improve - I was very pleased with results.

If that is the case I would suggest that you stay put and don't do anything. It is a vicious cycle as once you start to change one component in your system you would start looking at the next. Having said that, if you really have the urge of improving your system and want to get a little bit more out of it, I would suggest to go with your initial plan that is to go with a speaker upgrade. Although the Rotel amps may be mid-fi, a different speaker will yield a more significant impact in sound improvement compared to a change in amps. If looking at a different speaker, I would suggest getting one that has bigger drivers in comparison to your existing Dynaudio 52SE that your room can accomodate. Speakers with bigger drivers will always sound more full and coherent compared to equivalent speakers with smaller drivers. You only need to decide whether you would still want to stick back to the Dynaudio line or consider other brand of speakers.

My solution to compromised listening room design is to sell my house and build another one!

While tuning your room, speaker and listening positions are very cost effective (and just plain effective) tweaks, you can probably get greater subtlety, detail and PRAT out of your Dynaudios with the integrated amps you suggest. In the range from $3000 to $5000 new you would have to pay for reasonably powerful Classe, McIntosh or Krell amps (although see the new Krell s-300i at $2500), I might suggest looking at these other amps too/first:

-LSA Standard
-Naim Supernait (don't be fooled by the lower power ratings)
-Pathos Logos
-Plinius 9200

If you could stretch to the $7K range new - look at these:

LSA Signature
Pass INT-150
Simaudio Moon i-7

Good Luck!

You should try and pull the Dynaudio 52SE further away from the back and side walls as noted above. Listen to this for at least 2-3 weeks and see if this improves.

Keep a log any time you walk your Dynaudio 52SE around the room.

If you have tried everything, apparently the weakest link here is your Dynaudio 52SE.

Your Rotel amp and preamp are good but they probably have better chemistry with B & W speakers than with Dynaudio speakers.

They were owned by the same investor (B & W, Rotel, and Classe) I heard that B & W used Classe and Rotel amps to test their B & W 805 series.

I talked to 2 local Rotel dealers and they both suggested me B & W speakers if I currently own a Rotel amp and that Dynaudio may not be a good match up for Rotel.

I have listened to B & W stand mount monitors before and they match very, very, very well with Rotel gears, especially the B & W 602S3 series and the B & W 805 series. They simply sing well together.

But I find that Dynaudio sounds better to my personal taste and I built my GF's setup around her Dynaudio speakers.