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Speakers or Turntable upgrade

I've been bitten by the upgrade bug.  It's amazing how a small initial thought can snowball.  I found a Clearaudio MM cartridge I forgot I had.  It's been sitting in a drawer for 10 years due to upgrading the cartridge out of the box on my Clearaudio Concept TT.  My thought was to get a cheap TT to mount the cartridge for my office system.

That turned into finding a good deal on a Rega Planar 2 with an ND cartridge.  My other Turntable is a Rega Planar 3 with 2M Bronze.  The Planar 2 got sold which led me to a Planar 3 with an Exact 2, but I didn't want the same TT.  That led to looking at the Planar 6 and 8.  I came to the conclusion that the 6 wouldn't be a big enough jump so I'm looking at a Planar 8 with ND7.  Planar 8 would be my main rig and the Planar 3 would go to the office system.

I'm now looking at $3500 and started thinking if my money would be served better by upgrading my speakers instead.  Sorry for the meandering post.

My system:

Rega Planar 3, Rotel RC 150, Rotel RB-1080, HTPC with DAC.

Speakers: Paradigm Studio 100 v2.  and SVS SB3000 subwoofer

I listen to classic rock, new rock, 80's rock, and metal.  I listen at fairly robust volumes.

Am I better off sticking that money into speakers than upgrading my TT? 

 

 

mustangjeff
sokogear
1,100 posts
 

Rega's best value is in its tonearms. The P8 comes with the RB880, which is fantastic. I had a P5 and upgraded the arm from the RB700 to the RB880 and was blown away. So much so that I then upgraded the table to the P8, which didn't have nearly the stunning impact and cost about double after trade ins if I recall). But it does look pretty cool.

Can't comment on the speakers, but the source is the most important component and it actually decreases as you go down the signal path, contrary to what 90% or the posters here claim. If the signal is distorted to begin with, no preamp, amp or speakers can correct it.

kennyc
1,619 posts
 

+1 GoldenEar Triton Reference or 1R. Clear and musical top to bottom with clear highs down to deep strong bass seemingly ideal for rock and metal energy music.

+1 MoFi Ultradeck with Mastertracker

mesch
3,527 posts
 

Given that you are not 'in love' with the Paradigms, I would look for speakers that suit you better. Then you are better positioned to consider upgrading the source.

Ag insider logo xs@2x
lonemountain
461 posts
 

Im impressed that you. focused on the single two most important aspects of the system: the transducers.  This is where the energy changes from one form to another and therefore is the single most important process.   A phono cartridge changes mechanical to electrical, the speaker the other way around.   Spending money here pays off BIG.  You have a massive changes between cartridges (which of course requires a a great turntable and tonearm). Massive difference between speakers- and the room plays a big influence on how those speakers sound.  (the way to avoid so much room influence is to use a bigger room and get the speakers away from the walls, or get the listening triangle very small (also moving the speakers away from the side walls)..   Investment in these two areas can improve your system drastically.  

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