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Upgrade path direction

Due to a unfortunate situation with the plumbing in my finished basement (all of my gear was away and safe from damage) where my main listening system usually resides as I am working to replace drywall and carpeting I am also contemplating a gear upgrade for when I reassemble the room and my main 2 channel system rig.

 

Currently my setup is as follows:

Digital front end - Roon -> Node 2i -> Chord 2Qute

Analog front end - Pro-Ject Debut -> Schiit Mani

Linear Tube Audio Microzotl MZ2 -> First Watt Aleph J -> Klipsch RP-600M

 

While I would love to upgrade my speakers to something like a used pair of Zu Omen / Dirty Weekends or Wharfdale Linton Heritages Im not sure that is something I can convince my wife that we need.

 

So I have turned my attention to the Phono Preamp and the Preamp. Would an upgrade to a my phono preamp to something like a Sutherland or Musical Surroundings Phonomena II+ be a better option, or upgrading my preamp to an a used Audio Research LS25 or Cary SLP-98?

 

I'm thinking I would realize a bigger difference with the phono upgrade, but figured I would poke for opinions on here. As always, thank you for your time and comments!

 

 

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henry53's avatar
henry53
280 posts
 

I believe you will find Lintons (very) boring after Klipsch, PS I really don't like horn speakers especially Klipsch, the Omen Dirty Weekends are really not bad, I have heard them with PrimaLuna valves perform well, still a little bright for me, but if you like Klipsch you should be fine.

headphonedreams
527 posts
 

I don't have any turntable but I recently updated my integrated amp and my speakers. Both went from pretty cheap ($700 or so) to around $2k parts. The amp upgrade improved the sound the most so an amp or pre-amp can be very important for the sound quality.

yeti42's avatar
yeti42
287 posts
 

A project debut is a pretty low rent turntable to be upping the phono stage on, which would indicate you’re intent on  taking vinyl seriously. Suggest you hear a few alternative decks. A bit hard to hide from the wife though.

inscrutable
313 posts
 

Not a big Klipsch fan, so I would have pointed to speakers, BUT the FW limits your choices to high efficiency. So I’d think a good quality integrated, that then opens the door wider for a future speaker upgrade.

IF most of your listening is vinyl, AND this one upgrade is the last one for quite a while, I’d lean to replace the Pro-Ject deck with a better table/cartridge.

retiredfarmer's avatar
retiredfarmer
346 posts
 

Well if you buy something  like  the Cary 98 it might  likely  sound worse as ot will not be a bottle neck and you will get to hear the horns in all there bright glory. A high end preamp is the heart of a high-end hi-fi. But remember  the problem with it is you are likely  not done spending  money.  Nothing more exciting  than lifting the value off a system that a mid or low level preamp puts on. The resolution will increase  big time. I auditioned that Cary years ago and it is a beauty.  

 

Regards

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