2. tech-talk
  3. 152563-119652

Which to Upgrade first? My Amplifier or Speakers

I have owned a nice system for years, but I am hardly an audiophile.  You people impress me with your depth of knowledge of audio.  I've been following this site for some time.  This is my first post. 
From time to time I replace or upgrade components.  I've got a tricked out Linn Sondek LP 12 turntable.  I recently acquired a McIntosh MP 100 phono amp and am hearing LP's now that exceed anything I've heard on CD's and equal if not exceed the output of my SACD's.  I bring this up only to give a flavor of what I listen to.
The issue is as follows:  I have a McIntosh MC 206 Amp that I bought in 2003 that puts out 200 watts per channel.  I have no issues with it, although I've never had anything to compare it with.  I've read some impressive reviews of how much of a difference an amplifier can make to the quality of sound output.  For speakers I have Magnepan 3.6R's that I also bought in 2003.  I love them.  I can only afford to upgrade one at a time - let's say in the neighborhood of 10 - 12K.  So,  I'd like to hear what this august body has to say about which I should upgrade first and why?  The amp or the speakers?  Thank you. 
normantaylor
mozartfan
2,143 posts
 
You can have the  finest musical amp ever made, cost no factor, say $1,000000000000000, and if you have 2 cent speakers,,the $1M amp will sound like a  ,..,,,~~~2 cent amp~~~, go figure
The Honest Review Guy
 has
 spoken.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Norman, I sounds to me like you qualify as being an Audiophile. Anyway,
I think you need to set yourself a target system then go for the pieces of the puzzle when appropriate deals arise.
The 20.7s with the Parasound JC-1 is a killer system but the JC-1 is no longer available new. I think something like this is an ideal target. You can afford the 20.7s if you sell or trade in the 3.6's to a dealer that is willing to deal and they will especially if they know you will be spending like money on an amp down the line. Macs are great amps but IMHO not the best for Maggies. Now JC-1s were extremely popular and with good reason. They do come up on the used market frequently or you could wait untl Parasound comes up with a replacement. John Curl says they absolutely will. 20.7 come up but not that frequently. You will have to spend a lot more on an amp to get one as good or better like a Pass XA200.8 for $42K! 

Good Luck!
Mike
rauliruegas
13,129 posts
 
Dear @normantaylor: I have first hand experiences with the JC-1s amps and agree that are great amps that could make those 20.7s really shines.

As the 20.7 second hand link I posted here a second hand Parasound amps:

https://www.ebay.es/itm/293336965255

R.
rikkipuu's avatar
rikkipuu
292 posts
 
A bad speaker can sound Ok with great equiptment.  A great speaker will not sound great with inferior equiptment.  Give the speaker the best signal you can and then upgrade the speaker.  

Start farthest away from the speaker.   Dedicated power lines.  One for the amplifier and one for the rest.  Power conditioning.  Really good power cords and interconnects.  Then the amplifier first.

I have Pass XA60.8's on my 3.7i's and they sound wonderful, bought them both used.  I was worried about not having enough power but I am over ear splitting volumes.  My room is over 20 x 20 and I dont appreciate any clipping or unpleasantness at the highest volume I am comfortable listening to.  I had a Class D with over 1000 watts at 4 ohms, it made the walls shake but the musicality falls apart at loud volumes.  I have a dedicated power line for each monoblock.  Purchases used Wywire Platinum power cords for the amps and pre-amp another nice bump in Sound Quality.  As Ivor at Linn would say "garbage in equals garbage out"
spinaker01
491 posts
 
I’m with Mozartfan...speakers make the system. Easily proven. A great set of speakers (and a good room) fed from a ok mid fi CD player will still sound very good. You can’t fix crap speakers with a great front end. All of this of course in my opinion only.
More to discover