2. amps-preamps
  3. 131326-101940

System Upgrade Recommendations

Hello Everyone,

I'm looking for feedback for upgrading my system.  I'm just getting into HiFi and wanted to get some feedback from audio enthusiasts.  I think I'm basically done with my Home Theater setup, but would like to improve my 2 Channel listening experience.  I listen to music about 50% of the time, watch 2-Channel TV 30% of the time, and watch 5.1 movies, TV about 20% of the time.

I have the following set-up and about $2k to update the system and will have another $2k in 6 months:
  • Magnepan 1.7i Speakers
  • Marantz SR6010 Receiver
  • Rel T-7 Sub
  • MartinLogan Motion 4 Surrounds
Per the Maggie Dealer, I need to properly amp my maggies and the SR6010 doesn't fully cut it and I agree.  His setup sounds better on 1.7i's than mine does (He is using a $20k+ setup from source to speaker).

I'm debating on putting all $2k into a stereo amp, then $2k into a pre-amp with HT Bypass and music source in 6 months or splitting the $2k into an integrated amp with HT Bypass and a music source now.

I currently play my music via Spotify Connect through my receiver and don't have a music collection at all.  If I move away from Spotify (which I want to) I need to re-allocate some of my equipment funds towards purchasing a music collection (CD, Vinyl, or Digital) or reallocate $250/year of my equipment funds to a Tidal Premium subscription.  I plan on putting a Vinyl collection in the future (1+ years from now) but I don't feel that my current setup will benefit from Vinyl.

How would you spend $2k to improve my 2-Channel listening experience?  Any recommendations on specific equipment that I should listen to?
rjb1101
mesch
3,427 posts
 
Given that you have the pre outs on the Marantz, I would purchase an amplifier that better drives the Maggies, and as you plan, purchase the preamp at a later date. I believe it would need to have the HT bypass to use the Marantz for HT processing. 
soix
9,023 posts
 
Im going to disagree a bit with your Maggie dealer, although technically speaking he may have a point. I highly doubt running the preamp outs from your Marantz to a high quality stereo preamp is going to degrade the sound meaningfully if at all, especially since this will be in HT mode where purity of the signal is relatively less critical. Plus, the lion’s share of any signal degradation is coming from the preamp section of a $1000 audio/video receiver, not a good stereo pre. Suffice it to say, from my perspective the flexibility and increase in the number of options open to you for a good stereo pre without HT bypass far outweigh any signal degradation you’re likely to experience in HT operation. And more options also means you’re more likely to get a better deal. All else being equal I’d prefer having an HT bypass for the convenience of it more than anything else, but in audio all else never seems to be equal.

BTW, there is a nice McCormack DNA1 amp with Steve’s silver level mods available here now for about $1300 that should drive your Maggies nicely and sound great. Might be worth a look along with Bryston.  I'd look at the SSTsquared Brystons as I found them to be more refined sounding than the original SST.  A tubed pre with a solid state amp can be a great combo (I'm going this direction myself), but keep in mind in most instances you'll be burning through your tubes while watching TV since you'll likely need to have your stereo preamp turned on in this configuration. 

Anyway, that’s my $0.02. Hope it helps and best of luck.



2psyop's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
2psyop
1,515 posts
 
If your end goal is to have both a 2 channel High fidelity system and a Home Theater system than you should seperate them to get the best out of each system. You have a pair of great speakers, but you will not hear what they can do through the preamp section of a HT receiver! And we you combine hi-fi speakers with home theater speakers when listening to your home theater (movie) you will not have matched speakers (tonally).
Build your 2 channel listening system with the best components you can (Bryston, Parasound or another brand) and the Maggies. Keep the Marantz for HT, that is what it is designed to do! The Rel might be used for 2 channel if you blend the low freq correctly to the Maggies....
auxinput
2,920 posts
 

@rjb1101 - your dealer's statement that a "home theater bypass" in a preamp will completely bypass the 2x preamp stages in a particular preamp is not entirely correct.  A lot of preamps will just act as a "unity gain stage".  This means that the signal will still go through the one or two analog stages (which are usually configured to be unity gain anyways -- the definition of unity gain being that a signal exits the analog circuit at the same voltage level as input).  In a lot of cases, the "home theater bypass" will just bypass the volume attenuation and balance controls (which are usually just volume potentiometers or resistor-ladder arrays).

It's not always clear what a preamp will actually do.  For example, looking at any Krell preamp documentation, their documentation specifically states that the unit will act as a "unity gain stage" and the volume/balance controls are disabled for "ease of use" -- so that you can use the volume & speaker calibration from the HT receiver.

Sometimes a unit documentation will not specifically say what exacty it does (whether it is truly bypassing the analog circuits or just bypassing/disabling any volume/balance/tone adjustors). 

In any event, I would not call this a degradation of sound quality.  Running the sound through a very nice preamp analog stages can help shape the sound better.  This may, at a minimum, give you better sonic quality when music plays during a movie (primarily output on left/right channels). 

Also, you don't necessarily have to have a "home theater bypass",  per say.  If you don't, you will just have to set the preamp/integrated volume setting at exactly the same place you did when you calibrated the left/right channels on the HT Receiver.

spinaker01
491 posts
 
Why not sit tight, you will have a $4k budget in six months. Why not use that to buy a better integrated amp. At this price range you might do better than you could with separates
More to discover