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SME Model 10 How much should I spend on speakers?

I know this sounds like a speaker question but I wanted the Analog types to answer it.

Background:
Currently I have Revel M20s and a Revel B15 sub for speakers. I just got a new PS Audio phono preamp GCPH, this is to hold me back from trying to get a Manley Steelhead phono preamp for a year or so. AMP is a Sony N90ES which is a SS MOSFET amp, with XLR inputs and build quality is amazing. Turntable is pro-ject debut III which was bought to allow me to listen to my records while I search for a great turntable.

Question:
I think my speakers are pretty nice considering I use a pro-ject debut III as a source. I guess I am wondering if I do spring for a SME Model 10 should I be using a 10-15,000 dollar speaker? Would it be odd to see a SME Model 10 with Revel M20s and a B15 as speakers? I'm still pretty young and move apartments approx every year and I don't know if I should get floor standing speakers yet.

Tastes:
I pretty much listen to vinyl only now if I have the choice. Right now I listen to a lot of stuff from www.insound.com indie stuff. Sufjan Stevens, Clap Your Hands Say Year, The Postal Service, Her Space Holiday, Sleater-Kinney. I also love Bob Dylan and my favorite is female vocalists. So I want everything to sound amazing I would pick female vocalists or vocalists in general to sound the best.

Ok I've written too much. So should I keep my turntable and get some floor standing Revels Studios or Marten Design Miles III or Sonus Faber Cremona or Von Schweikert VR 5.

Or Keep my Revel M20/B15 combo and get a SME Model 10 or VPI super scoutmaster or Nordic Concept Reference.

Thanks for reading if you got this far.
rhohense
raquel
841 posts
 
I think that as long as you have the patience to dial in your monitors and the sub, your speakers are not holding you back. The other speakers you mentioned would merely be a different flavor, and it is only for you to determine whether you would like something else better. Especially if you move around a lot and live in apartments, the adaptability of monitors/sub and ability to turn down / turn off the sub if you have bass-sensitive neighbors makes this approach compelling.

So in response to your specific question, "[W]ould it be odd to see a SME Model 10 with Revel M20s and a B15 as speakers? ", the answer is no, not at all. Looking at your system, I am inclined to suggest that, in addition to improving your analog rig, you look at a good used integrated tube amp, as it would work particularly well with monitors, a sub and analog front end.

PS - My speakers: Salons and Mahlers.
jfrech's avatar
jfrech
1,816 posts
 
That SME 10 is a killer turnable. You can build amazing systems around that. If you plan to upgrade your speakers and amps, then you might as well start at the source.

That said, there is nothing wrong with using a SME 10, a killer cartridge and the amp speakers you already have.

SME turntables are a pleasure to use. I have a SME 20. It's one of those lifetime purchases. You can easily put 15-20k speakers, 50K of pre and amps stages, and a pile of money into cables...it wont' be the weak link for quite a while...

Good luck, enjoy your vinyl and hopefully your SME 10 !
ejlif's avatar
ejlif
1,377 posts
 
Personally after having just jumped way up in turntable and cartridge I would say that getting a world class amp/speaker combo is going to give you the most improvment. I don't know to much about your amp, but it seems suspect to be upgraded first. I think you would love the new table, but I think you'll get the most sonic upgrade by dialing in your amp and speakers. 10-15K will get you a long way to a great combo.
mapleleafs3
190 posts
 
The Sony amp is definatly what you should look to replace.
pbb
1,140 posts
 
The source thing always amazes me since the only way it makes any kind of sense is to assume that every link in the audio chain is as simple to design and build as any other. If you accept this premise, which is wrong in my opinion, you would match some pretty outlandish sources to some pretty mediocre amplification and speakers.

Linn really did a number on folks decades ago...

Buy what you can afford at first and try for a home audition of whatever upgrade you are contemplating. Go for some kind of balance in your system, bearing in mind that despite what you hear and read some components will make more of a difference than others. I think both ends of the chain are of great importance. Finding differences in amplification of comparable capabilities is something best left to folks with a lot of time and money to waste and who don't necessarily listen to music but to sound per se. My one reserve: the phono section can almost be considered as part of the analog source and, consequently, given a little more scrutiny.

Oh, and if you think of it good and hard you will realize that the source is actually beyond your own system and starts with the microphones used in recording. Once you realize that, audiophilia really seems to be a flawed process no?
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