Next upgrade options

@saurabhgarg Class A amps have warmer sound, in general. However, keep in mind each brand will have its own house sound. In example, Pass Labs amps are on the warmer side of neutral. Their Class A/B amps like the X250.8 are biased into Class A for the first 20-25w then transitions into Class A/B with tons of headroom. Pass Class A amps are even warmer. While they’re primarily biased into Class A, they still have some headroom in Class A/B. But the sound is unmistakably Pass Labs - warm, laid back with big bass. To me, Pass X series sound more dynamic and open than their XA series but what works for you in your system is impossible to predict.

Luxman Class A/B or Class A will also have their house sound and even the Class A Luxman will probably retain some of the top end qualities and may be only slightly warmer. It won’t be a full 180 from the sound you’re getting now.

If you can swing the Diablo 300, that would be my choice if I were you. With that amp you can experiment with pretty much any speaker down the road.

Good luck!

@fthompson251 a big +1

I have been demo'd the 804 D4 Diamond Speakers in a system where a selection of Digital Sources were used with Devialet 1000 Amp's.

The Amp's are able to be configured in many different ways, very user tweakable.

It was noted these Speakers can Bloom with certain Amp' settings, and the owners settings were tweaked by the attendees to create a much more honest coherence across the frequency ranges.

The Speakers come into their own following attendees chosen settings, and were substantially impressive with a Valve Based Circuitry for a DAC used on the Digital Source.

Hence, my earlier suggestion to investigate a alternate Source.

I am impressed by 804 D4 Diamond Speakers as a result of the demo's had using different Digital Sources. I have even made it known, I would be happy to have these used for a Demo' in my own system, and not many Audio Devices experienced get put onto that list. 

I would not be hasty to consider suggestions to change Speakers.

My experience does leave me to strongly suggest Careful Valve Amp' matching would be advised if a Amp' of this Circuit Type were to be introduced.

The following is an attendees emailed comments following the HiFi Groups Meet Up at a Group Members Home to be demo'd their System:

" I can now see why the B&W's have such a reputation. Lovely clarity in the mid and treble and fantastic articulation in the bass. That they also look like modern sculptures is the icing on the cake.

Like John, my personal preference was that the speakers sounded better with the flat eq.  I would even try pointing them straight down the room as from memory I think they have a lift in the treble and so may sound flatter when you listen slightly off axis. Having said that I am quite sensitive to treble so that might just be me ".

I touched on this earlier, but I have a pair of the same subwoofers. My son has an excellent ear for music and his hearing is better than mine. He talked me into increasing the gain on the subs tonight and it definitely helped add some fullness to songs that had sounded thin.  The gain is set really low and even one click makes a difference. I don't like boomy bass.  We left the crossover frequency really low. 

The tweaking all started when I did an a/b comparison between my dac/streamer and my sacd player.  The sacd player initially sounded better until I realized that my dac had somehow had the filter changed from fast to slow. The slow definitely has a warmer sound, but I wasn't looking for warmth.  If your dac has filter settings, you might try changing those. 

I've also been able to add warmth with certain copper cables. 

Anyway, this is probably all stuff you know, but I thought I'd share my experience. 

I've liked the B&W speakers that I've heard. The brightness that I mentioned was just from comments that I had read. 

I personally prefer separates, but definitely a tube preamp.

Sell the Luxman and get a tube preamp (Aric Audio Motherlode $5,500, Don Sachs/Lynn Olson Raven $5,500 (sold by Spatial Audio), Backert Labs Rhumba Extreme 1.4 $8,500, Supratek Cabernet $4,000 to $6,500.

Add the amplifier of your choice (Audio Research, CODA, Audio Research, Gryphon, etc), and you will be on your way. For disclosure, I own the Aric Audio Motherlode XL (with XLR connections), with CODA S5.5 class A SS amplifier and an Aric Audio Transcend EL34 "Push Pull" amp