Upgrade bug has hit, interested in Pass Labs Amps

MrTennis, I have all the recorded music I had 10 years ago. The sound the recordings produce have been evolving with my system. Everything has been changed out over those years including speakers. The speakers made the most difference in sound. After that, the amps, preamps, and source. They are all important, but the same system on another pair of speakers would go wasted in my opinion.

Helllo Tmesselt.

Speakers are highly dependent on room acoustics, placement AND amplification.
Speakers demand proper matching to an amplifier, due to widely varying driver impedance curves, sensitivity, reactance and bass damping.
E.g, planar speakers need lots of current; horns like low power AND low noise amps; low efficiency speakers need very high power amps (both voltage and current).
Most ported speakers require an amplifier with a high damping factor, however sealed speakers actually sound worse with a highly damped amp.
Room size is also an important factor when selecting the speaker/amp combo.

In summary, my "methodology" is as follows:
-Choose a speaker that matches your taste, room size, acoustics and your loudness preference.
-Then buy an amp that drives that speaker REALLY well.

If you upgrade the amp first you may be forced to change the amp when you decide to upgrade the speakers.
Of course the source and preamp are extremely important.

I agree with Soix and Audiofeil, dollar-for-dollar you get the greatest improvement by upgrading the speakers, however, "garbage in, garbage out", the source is very important, though one needs to spend mucho dinero to hear a small improvement in digital playback.

IMHO the weak links in your system are the USB connection to the DAC (lots of jitter) and the speakers, because Paradigm speakers are voiced for home-theater use. HT requires powerful bass and dialog intelligibility, therefore most HT-oriented speakers have underdamped bass and a peak in the voice range. I hear that in my friend's Paradigm speakers. They are excellent for movies, so-so for music.

If I were in your shoes, I would use an SPDIF digital input to the DAC (to reduce jitter) and install two dedicated AC lines, one for AC-polluting digital server + DAC, another one for the amps. This will clean your digital signal and pollute less the AC feed to the amps.

Then I would start looking for better speakers.

I have owned a Mc402 amp and an Mc275 MKV, I have also auditioned Pass amps several times. I am sure that Mac and Pass amps wil give you the fullness and correct timbre that you are looking for, but not with an USB-connected digital source or with your present speakers.
I hope this helps and is not taken as criticism.
Good luck

>>I agree with Soix and Audiofeil, dollar-for-dollar you get the greatest improvement by upgrading the speakers<<

Whoa, Nellie.

I never said that. My contention is every system should be built around speakers that knock your socks out. After that, choose an amp to match.

Your assertion is system dependent. I've seen and heard many many systems whose greatest improvement would not have been a change in speakers.

Big difference.

>>IMHO the weak links in your system are the USB connection to the DAC (lots of jitter) and the speakers, because Paradigm speakers are voiced for home-theater use

>>If I were in your shoes, I would use an SPDIF digital input to the DAC (to reduce jitter)

Yes I agree about the usb link being weak. Although I just purchased this mac mini which I would like to use as my transport, but the only options are a mini optical and the usb for audio.
I have heard that a nice glass optical cable like the wireworld supernova can be a good option, as there is no spdif output.
(Since I dont have the funds for a mac pro with a lynx soundcard ouputing via the AES)

Thanks to all for your input, I actually have heard the Focal's paired with the ref1000s and they sounded great.

Another issue I could be having is room size, the room is 11'x17' The spearkers are on the smaller wall. 16" from the side walls and 25" from the rear wall.
I know that this is not ideal but unfortunately what I have to deal with.
tmesselt

Messelt, I agree that your Kimber USB cable could be part of the issue. . . my experiences with listening Kimber wiring is that they tend to be a bit on the tippy side. Not sure that going to a glass connection would improve things though. . . a glass fiber connection means that the electrical signal is converted to light pulses at one end, then back to electrical signals at the other end of the wire run. . . that introduces additional potential for timing inaccuracies or jitter. . . which we perceive as edginess in the sound. What power cords are you using on your Ref 1000? I am having excewllent results with Cardas Golden Ref on the Mk.2s. G.