Forum admiration and requested guidance

What are your room treatments like so far?

I have built my own acoustic wall panels (24”x36”) on three walls and add curtains for the windows on fourth wall. I have also added an area rug for the hardwood floor.

Congratulations for getting to this point in life. Honestly, great time to splurge on something you love. I’m a bit older… but I upgraded a few years before retiring so I could really enjoy it. I did! Then I was really lucky to be able to make a couple big jumps after I retirement.



Looking at your system. The strong points are your TT, cartridge and amp.

I think, given your budget. I would blow this years budget on speakers… all of it. The $10K budget puts you into a whole new category. Look at slightly used. That will be a huge jump. I remember I went from $5K speakers to Sonus Faber Olympica 3 ($12K)… wow.

Then year two a used preamp and Phonostage ~$5K each, Audio Research, CJ… an audiophile unit. Will make a huge improvement. This could net you a preamp and phono stage of original cost of $7,500 to $10K each.

These changes would move you many steps up the ladder.

You could reverse the years. I think your amp is good.

I have been slowly upgrading my system since 1973. Things really started to get good when I purchased a VPI Aries, and various Audio Research Phono Stages and preamps. My current systems are shown under my UserID. Now retired I have a wonderful system to spend three or four hours a day. 

@vette5451 have you considered getting into streaming via a good all in one unit? I'm big into vinyl but over the last few years have gone this route and have discovered a lot of wonderful new music.

@ghdprentice 

Thank you for your suggestion on the speakers. I’ve known for a while, the Q Acoustics would be a constraint on my evolution for improvement.