Upgrade question - speakers or integrated?


Hey all -

I'm on the audio merry-go-round again and would like some thoughts. I'm running Focal 807v monitors through a YBA 201 integrated. My budget is ~$1500. Which of the two is a better candidate for upgrading? I listen to mostly jazz, folk, and other nuanced music. I save the rock and hard stuff for my car.

Would it be sonically better to replace the YBA with another integrated - like an Exposure 3010? Or the Focals with another monitor - say a Reference de Capo?

There's really nothing wrong with what I have. But you know how it is.
simao
I had the Triangle Titus 202 ES; had them for about ten years. It was time for a change, though.

So it appears as if the consensus is to keep the YBA and upgrade the speakers?
I have Titus XS for about 15 years among other speakers (Dynaudio, OHM).

Have also owned Magnepan and B&W.

Have heard various Focals on several good dealer systems.

In order of inherent "warmness" of sound, from most to least:

1) B&W
2)Dynaudio
3) OHM
4) Triangle
5) Focal
6) Magnepan

Focal Triangle and Magnepan are all well towards the neutral to less warm side of things.

Have not heard Ref 3A, but I would expect similarities but a noticably different kind of sound there from Focal.

A tube amp with current Focals might be an option to get to a less "dry" sound than with a typical good SS amp with small Focal monitors.

Focal, Triangle and Magnepan all might tends towards the dry side of things running off good SS amp rather than tube amp.

Also often a good tube pre-amp matched well to SS amp can be the ticket to a less "dry" sound.

Many NAD amplifiers also tend to lean towards the warmer side of things, as SS amps go.
Great post, Mapman - thanks for the analysis. Truthfully, I guess I'm trying to recapture the sound of my original system:

Maggie 3.6R's
ARC VS-110
Blue Circle 2.1 pre
Musical Fidelity cd

However, that was many years and a divorce ago and a financial road I'll probably never walk down again. I could go back to tubes, I guess - I parted ways with a nice little Sophia Baby Electric a few months ago that was sweet, but underpowered.

I've auditioned but never tried B&W; the Ohms look fascinating, though. Would you recommend them?

s
What are you using for a source? If the system is fine but you're not getting the enjoyment you want, maybe you need a higher resolution source. YMMV, but for me I got the uptick I needed by getting a turntable. This may not be your case, but in mine, the analog source had so much more musical information it became apparent that no downstream component could have fixed what I needed.

Maybe you're committed to digital but need to consider moving to a computer-based system that buffers the data stream, upconverts to 24/96 or 24/192 and outputs to an asynchronous USB DAC.