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Want to enhance my Audio system, need suggestions

I am a budget audio guy and currently have following two systems. My room size is 17ft x 14 ft x 8ft and I sit roughly ten feet from speakers.

System1: Harbeth P3ESR + Exposure 2010S2 + Oppo dvd player (this system is used for good quality recorded material)

System2: Tekton 4.5single driver monitors + Dayens Ampino/Miniwatt N3 + DacMagic + Oppo dvd player (mostly used for poorly recorded material and movies)

And I am planning to change the above to either of the following combinations.

Combination1:
System1: Harbeth P3ESR/Usher Be-718 monitors + Exposure 2010S2 + Oppo dvd player (placing the speakers on TV table, roughly 4 ft apart. If this sounds too bad then I don’t mind leaving them on stands)
System2: Omega Super6 XRS/Hoyt-Bedford Type2 floor standers + Dayens Ampino/Miniwatt N3 + DacMagic + Oppo dvd player

Combination2:
System1: Omega Super6/Hoyt-Bedford Type1 monitors + Dayens Ampino/Miniwatt N3 + DacMagic + Oppo (placing the speakers on to TV table, roughly 4 ft apart)
System2: Usher Dancer Mini 1/V 602/ProAc D-18 floor standers + Exposure 2010S2 + Oppo player

Which of the above combinations you guys would recommend. Ideally I want to have one of my systems with good midrange and other system with big and punchy sound.

I mostly listen to Rock, blues, East Asian (Indian) instrumental and East Asian (Indian) songs from 50s, 60s and 70s. All the East Asian material is very poorly recorded and I can’t change that fact nor I can change my music tastes just because of the recording quality!

I know that I should audition myself to see which one suits my requirements. But for above combinations, there is little scope for auditioning where I live.
Any suggestions and comments are highly welcome!
rktxyz
kbarkamian
647 posts
 
The Rega Apollo may be available for your price or less. I think they're being sold new for about $650 now, as they're going to be replaced by the Apollo-R soon. If they're $650ish new, the used prices should drop. Although, I'm not a fan of buying used CDPs. People buy them all the time, I'm just a bit weary of buying them due to transport/laser life.

The NAD and Cambridge CDPs also get great reviews. If you were underwhelmed by the DAC Magic, I'd probably rule out the Cambridge CDPs.
inna
7,296 posts
 
Rktxyz, as important as DAC is, transport is no less important, at least. I don't follow digital devices closely and their current prices and don't really know what $500 buy these days. But, I think, you should be able to get something pretty good that retailed for, say, $1200 or so.
extravaganza
373 posts
 
you can try some older high quality cd players,let say from marantz to pioneer ...or some others which were expensive 10-20 years ago
steady339's avatar
steady339
6 posts
 
Hello Rktxyz, Like I posted in a previous response, I feel that an outstanding external DAC would be a good way to upgrade your system and support future system upgrades. I am running a Eastern Electric MiniMax Plus which is giving me excellent results. The Eastern Electric DAC has received many excellent reviews and placed high(2nd place) in a Stereomojo DAC shootout against other well regarded DACs. Here is the link:
http://www.stereomojo.com/Stereomojo%20Six%20DAC%20Shootout.htm/StereomojoSixDACShootout.htm
The EE MiniMax Plus is the latest upgraded model with dual transformers in the power supply--one each for digital and analog to give improved dynamics over the original MiniMax.
Also, if you plan to play FLAC files from a computer the EE MiniMax Plus has multiple bit-rates USB support. I am getting outstanding results with the MiniMax Plus driven by the program Amarra/iTunes combo running FLAC files on my iMac. Hope this info helps.
rktxyz OP
23 posts
 
@Steady339: Thanks a lot for the info on EE MiniMax. I will check that Dac. Currently i dont have any FLAC files. All my audio collection is only in CD format. Also i need to do a little bit more reasearch on DACs to understand sonic virtues of different DACs and technical features.
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