Thoughts on a system upgrade.


I have been following and enjoying the posts on Audiogon for about six months now and am posting for the first time looking for advise and ideas on what to do next with my system. I would consider myself a budget Audiophile although some of you may have a different opinion of my self assigned classification. 

I am looking for ideas on improving the weak link(s) in my system possibly with replacing one component and am looking to invest approximately another $2500. I also understand that I could use many smaller improvement tweaks and welcome all comments. 

My system is in a 14’ x 14’ room with a 12’ ceiling. My speakers are about 12’ apart and my primary listening position is centered at the 12’ point of the triangle from the speakers and consists of the following.

PS Audio Stellar Gain Cell Preamplifier/DAC

Music Hall MMF-5 Turntable with Hana EL MC Low Output Cartridge

Clearaudio Smart Phonostage V2

Bluesound Node 2i 

Nakamichi MB-10 CD Player

The Power Cables on the electronics above are a combination of Shunyata Yenom 3 and V14, and Audioquest NRG-Y2. Interconnect Cables are a combination of Pangea Premier and Premier SE. 

The electronics are housed on the wall to the right of the speaker wall on the top half of a very heavy two piece wall unit. I have no options to move them anywhere else.

The electrical outlets are on a dedicated line to the breaker box with standard household wiring. 

PS Audio Stellar S300 Power Amp positioned to the center of Vandersteen Treo speakers and connected with Bluejeans-Belden 12 AWG speaker cables. The Amp is connected to the Preamplifier with 22’ Bluejeans-Belden XLR Balanced Interconnects. The Amp is positioned on the bottom shelf of an end table with a Butcher Block Acoustics platform. I don’t have an option for a dedicated Amp Stand.

The Amp is connected to the wall outlet and a Furman 215A Conditioner with Audioquest NRG-4 Power Cables.

I listen to Classic Rock, Progressive Rock, and Americana for the most part and occasionally Jazz and Classical. Vinyl when in a serious listening mood and CD’s and Streaming for exploring and convenience.

I have been considering upgrading my TT to a Clearaudio Concept w/Satisfy Tonearm and a Hana Shibata MC Cartridge. I’m not actually sure if the TT is the weak link in my system so welcome comments. 

 I’ve read many times on this forum that your ears are the best test of what sounds good and mine are quite happy but I have the bug to keep improving and as a friend of mine says it’s a slippery slope.

With that said I welcome comments and I hope I have given enough detail as I will not be available real time to answer any question. Thanks to everyone.



128x128relayer101
Since you don't seem to really be displeased with anything then you get my standard recommendation, which is to elevate the whole system with tweaks. Since so many short sell tweaks you might want to take a look at my system and read the comments from those who have heard it. https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367 This system far outperforms anything anyone would expect given the component list. Its the BDR Cones and springs, Synergistic HFT, PHT, ECT, and Fuses, PPT TC and Mats. That's the difference. The beauty of these over buying another component is these are forever upgrades. These will benefit you now and forever. Long after whatever component you might otherwise have bought has come and gone.  

Some of the least likely ones turn out to be the most cost-effective. Cable Elevators, for example. Read my Moab thread, the last ones here heard the improvement easily. 

Another recommendation, also for the long term, is a DBA. Don't buy "a" sub, buy 4 of them. In your room especially, the smaller and worse the room the bigger and better the improvement from using a DBA. 

The bass you get from a DBA is so good you will probably be set for life. Depending on how you decide to go it could run you $2k to maybe close to $4k. If you're willing to do a little DIY then Audiokinesis has a kit you screw and glue together that is hard to beat. Or you could buy four used subs, of just about any type. It really doesn't matter, as you will see looking at my system there are 2 ported subs, 2 sealed, and one powered. So don't worry about which sub to buy. Stay focused on getting four and you will be fine.

If you do the tweaks your soundstage will open up, your speakers will disappear, clarity of detail and dynamics will massively improve. If you go the DBA route then soundstage detail won't improve as much, but you will feel a much greater sense of envelopment, of no longer being in your room but being in the recording hall instead. You can get more bass with one or two subs. With four you get this awesome feeling of envelopment.

So there you go. Take your pick. 
what do you wish were improved about how your system sounds?

your system is pretty nice and seems reasonably well balanced in terms of components 
Thank you to millercarbon for the response and advice. For a start I am going to look into adding the BDR Cones and Discs and Ceramic Cable Elevators in addition to some of the other tweaks that you have mentioned. Adding the sub-woofers is something that hadn't crossed my mind and I will be looking into that in the future. Thanks.
jjss49, Thanks for the response. I guess since I don't have anything to compare to on what could be improved in the sound of my system I am just searching for ideas from looking just at the hardware alone. 
I appreciate your comment and may just look to the tweaks mentioned above for now and see where it takes me.