How much difference in sound?

hi, after working at some of the best dealers is my state, and counting 20 years in the hobby at 37 years of age, I have heard some of the most expensive gear out there, no I have not heard it all, but I can tell you there are some amazing sounding stuff out there, that does not cost an arm or a leg. you will have to spend some money, in the long run maybe even ten grand or so, this could be out of your buget, maybe not , but this would get you a system that is as good or better than most systems I have heard in the fifty or sixty grand range. you will have to buy most gear used, which sucks for the local dealers, inless
they have used gear. your room is going to play a huge role in the overall sound, good rooom treatment is money well spent ! now to put the above comments into perspective, I have friends that have over three hundred thousand dollar systems, and some that have three thousand dollar systems, both can sound great. a good friend of mine has one of the best systems I have ever heard, regardless of cost, belcanto dac3 [used 1200-1500$ ] rogue audio m150 tube mono blocks [used 2200$ ] and revel gem speakers [used 3200$ ] with a revel b15 sub [used 1500$ ] this sytem sounds better than most sytems I have ever heard, including some very expensive ones ! simply amazing sound. last friday i brought over some other audio buds, one who owns maggies, most maggie owners think their speakers sound better than anything, especialy any box speaker, and he was blown away by how open the sound was, he said it was the best he had ever heard. the best really cheap sytem I have heard is a theta miles cd player, fed directly into a threshold sa 3 amp into a pair of revel f30 speakers, simply awesome for the money, less dough than the powercords now in my system ! just remember that no system is perfect, no matter how much it costs. life is about compromise. my short list of stuff to check out , revel anything, magnapans, vandersteen, threshold , pass labs, [ older aleph series ] rogue audio , conrad johnson,
theta, cal labs, belcanto , oh and forte amps, also a nelson pass design . good luck , chrissain

I would keep the amps, even after you upgrade to something better. There is quite a bit of enjoyment to be had from those amps... perhaps for a second system.

I like your speakers too... Your present setup should be pretty good as they are... Good mid-fi system.

Seems like you caught the upgrade bug - please don't go ever upgrading like some audiophiles, and dig deep into your bank account.

See if you can live with the present system, before upgrading - should be enjoyable system - what CD player are you using at the moment ?

Gary

No one is going to be able to give you a real true life value in regards to your question…. There are too many variables. Even if you said which amp, it would be awfully hard to give your question any certainty

I’ll assume you mean to spend the $$ on a 2 ch amp.

At $1000 to $1500 into a used 2 ch amp…. I’d say you should hear some improvement depending upon the amp you select. But not as much as if that money was spent somewhere else in your system… like with a source.

I feel the threshold for the point of diminishing returns is at the $5.5 > $6K MSRP for amps, by and large.

With many preowned amps of this ilk finding themselves nearing 50% of the original MSRP now, the used amp market of between $2500 - $3000 should put you pretty square into it.

How much? Ok… 20%. To 25%.. perhaps more, maybe less.

However, as was said, the better the associated components the better wil be the results of such a step up. The room too is another matter entirely and it does matter as well.

Naturally the synergy between the amp and speakers is pretty important… and if all else in your rig is to encounter upscaling at some point you may wish to begin elsewhere… like at the speakers or at the source itself. I’d go with upgrading the source first, if it was me.

I feel the two places that the biggest change in sound can come from, is either from upgrating the source or upgrading the speakers.

Looking to swap out an amp without knowing how the ‘future’ source sounds, or what demands the upcoming speakers may have, seems counter productive to me.

If you already know which way lays your goals, low power amp + high eff spekrs, high power amps + moderate eff spkrs, All tubes, all SS, a mix of both, etc. then I guess changing out the amp first is as good a place to start as any.

The amp is just one piece of the puzzle. As with any puzzle the rest of the pieces must fit together. I’ve used the scissors and tape approach in the past to put my puzzles together and wasn’t keen on the outcome… even though the pieces were all there… more or less… it did fit though!

Front to back or back to front seems the two more popular approaches for system building. To start in the middle I’d need to run across a real gem or a deal I simply could not pass up.

It’ll sure sound a lot different… the margin of betterment however might not gbe as great. Upping the amplifier ante as was said will increase the odds in your favor.

Prior to settling on an amp, do consider the speaker amp match first or have some outline in mind for prospective ‘down the road’ speakers… 2 ways, flr stands, panels, horns, omni, etc. That will aid you in selecting your amp.

Good luck.

Thanks for all the input,
I guess I have the upgrade bug, wanting a full brillant sound on the least amount of $'s needed to have that sound. I am willing to preceed piece by piece to reach that rainbow sound in the sky.
I believe that I will shy away from tubes, and look for SS amp and pre.
I am using an onkyo cdp that is about 14 yrs. old, would like to upgrade the cdp too.
I guess I should start with the amp,then pre, then speakers?
Gary