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Best Way to Spend ~ $2000 for System Improvement

Hi fellow music lovers! I have about $2000 right now to improve my system. It can be for any component, but I'm thinking amplification first, power, pre, or integrated. SS or tube.

To begin, right now I have a Mccormack 0.5 Deluxe power amp with "A" revisions, an Eva 2 passive preamp, Metrum Octave v1 DAC, Dell laptop for music files. Sometimes I use a Teac H750 as a transport and GMA Pico Executive speakers. The room is small, about 14x18x10ft. I listen to about 50/50 rock and classical, mostly full orchestral. As far as just sound goes, I would like the bass to be "fast". No delay or overhang, not exaggerated, but detailed. Detail is important at any frequency, the more the better, but not at the expense of musicality. I realize at this price point, compromise is necessary, and treble would be the best place for that. No harshness allowed, but I'm in my later 50s now and don't hear treble like I once did.

I hope I've given enough info to get some good suggestions. I like the sound now, but think it could be better, maybe a slightly lower noise floor and a little more pace and rhythm while retaining it's sweetness and smoothness. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. BTW, if any existing question answers any part of this question, feel free to link it.
xrayz
asp307
159 posts
 
It’s been mentioned already but address your power situation. I just did this and while the wall receptacles are still burning-in, I have noticed dramatic differences already most notably a lowered noise floor, clear and dynamic sound, more air around the instruments, deeper and more detailed bass, etc.

My electrician added a dedicated 20A breaker to the circuit box and ran Southwire (Romex) 10-2AWG wire (keeping the run as isolated as possible) to a junction box and into two Furutech GTX-D (Rhodium) outlets.

Got the outlets on Ebay by way of Hifi Heaven in Wisconsin for $180 each. Electrician’s time at $395.

Big improvements for under $800.

You will not know the full capabilities of what you have until you address your power.
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mattmiller's avatar
mattmiller
1,564 posts
 
I agree with smrex13, jafant! A proper pre amp for the McCormack amp is exactly where I would start...good call you guys.

Matt M
almarg's avatar
almarg
9,670 posts
 
Good comments by the others. But a note of caution about the suitability of CJ line stage preamps for use in your system. Many of them have unusually high gain (e.g. 25 db), and your McCormack power amp also has higher than average gain (30 db). Coupled with the moderate sensitivity of your speakers, the fact that you are using digital sources, and your not very large room dimensions, that combination of gains would be likely to cause you to have to utilize the preamp’s volume control VERY close to the bottom of its range. Which in turn would considerably limit your ability to adjust volume in small increments, and depending on the design of the volume control mechanism may also result in channel imbalances.

Regards,
-- Al

srosenberg's avatar
srosenberg
209 posts
 
Some great advice has already been given - an active preamp or cabling are great ways to inject a little 'caffeine' into your system.  For the former, Atma-Sphere and Modwright are tops on my list.  For the later, perhaps some nice silver IC's might push you in the right direction - I have replaced cables costing multiples of their price with ClearDay.

Read Al's cautionary note on system gain twice (his posts are always worth reading a few times).  He makes a very good point - something I recently had to work through!
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