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Seeking advice what to upgrade

I am a newbie at this hobby and am respectfully seeking recommendations on what component in my system would be best to consider for a next upgrade. My humble and cobbled together system currently consists of:

 

10 Octave LP1 tube preamp – two gentlemen out of GA who used to do special effects electronics for movies

Carver M-1.0t mkII opt002 amp upgraded by Nelion Audio

Cambridge Audio Dacmagic Plus used as a DAC

SOtM SMS 200 Neo streamer w Sbooster power supply running Roon

Rega Planar 3 (vintage) with Blue Point MC cartridge and Schiit Mani pre – sounds as good as streaming to me

Klipsch Forte 1 w Crites crossover and tweeter upgrade

Blue Jean speaker cables – actually made a noticeable difference over Home Depot

Lots of room treatment which made a huge improvement in sound stage definition

 

Some previous components:

Ohm Walsh 3xo speakers – nice but blurred soundstage compared to the Forte’s

Jadis Orchestra Reference integrated – very nice, articulate, but weak base compared to current components

 

Overall, I am pretty happy with how it sounds – very nice sound stage and definition, plenty of bass for my ears, great for Jazz and vocals, and generally very clean. I probably stream more than play records as my LP collection is pretty limited at this point. That said, listening fatigue sets in after 30-45 minutes at higher volumes (which the wife likes) and my gut says the overall sound may be a bit bright though I don’t feel the Forte’s are shouty as some have described horn loaded speakers (but I don’t have years of trying different components to compare to).

 

I don’t have a huge budget, maybe 2-3K, which is problematic for this hobby, but you have to start somewhere.

 

Anyway, you all are the experts and have been down this road already. Looking for some navigation guidance on my next move. Thanks much.




dmartens
audition__audio
1,498 posts
 
I think that the speakers are the greatest contributor to your fatigue. If you have loading settings on your phono preamp you can mess with these. 
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
Before reading I pretty much assumed MC’s solution was going to be "sell all your gear and buy Raven and Tekton." That’s the answer to all things audio guys. I suppose incessant posting of the same recommendations for the same gear day after day is cheap marketing for someone.
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
That’s an insult not an argument. I don’t always assume the answer is going to be to insult me while ignoring the OP and providing zero useful information. But if I did, boy would I be right a lot. At least when it comes to certain posters.  

Congratulations EZ, you made the list. Had to review to make sure you weren’t already on there. Gives me great pleasure to report the majority on the list are no longer on the site. Progress!

Cartridge loading will help but only with records which dmartens said he has few, its mostly streaming. Double Impacts will totally answer his question. Also they are one of the few that will do it while being as efficient as his current Klipsch. This matters a lot because the next big step up in components is indeed a Raven. Or Decware. Something like that- American made tube amp, just like he was looking for last summer. Only better.
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
sounds good Einstein.  lol
fuzztone's avatar
fuzztone
5,629 posts
 
I saw an observation. If it’s taken as a insult all I see is thin skin.
I’d get a Puffin for the Blue Point and a better DAC for digital. I don’t care for Klipsche but if you do better initial source processing will make a bigger difference at the stated budget.
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