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New to the Hobby what would you do next?

I have spent six to eight months trying to stretch my very Modest sub $1000 budget on my first audio system. It started when I was looking to upgrade my HT system from a cheap Onkyo reciever and Cd changer to an older Carver amp/preamp combo. I had $600 and a few parts to sell to get the starting budget to about $1000.
Long story short I spent months buying "value used components" but never getting the last piece to be able to listen to music.
I went from Adcom, to JBL Synthesis, to NAD and ended up finding an Odyssey amp that has made me very happy. The Adcom processor, JBL processor, led to a Passive Odyssey preamp. And my Polk audio LS 50 were sold to make room for Vandersteen 1B, sold to make room for DCM TF400, that are going to be leaving soon to make room for Chapman T-7 speakers.
I have a cheap Pioneer DV-578A SACD/DVD player model and a Denon DCD 3250 cd player and some garbage ICs. I have Impact Accoustics sonic wave speaker wire and ICs.

The question is: What would you do next?

I know that there are tons of "tweaks" that can make this sound better for a few bucks. I have read about small little boxes that help the cd sound. I wanted a tuved cd, but could never find one in my range.

At this point I will keep looking for the "right speaker" and a Odyssey Stratos Extreem Amp and eventually a better preamp. But I would like to tinker with what I have without making any huge changes.

Any and all help welcomed.
brownsanandy
bignerd100
515 posts
 
1)Find speakers you want to keep for a long time (they dictate everything else).
2)Find pre/power amp (integrated) that compliments the speakers.
3)Find source that works well with 1&2.
4)Buy some new CD's.
5)Move speakers all around creation to find where they sound the best in your home.
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72)Visit Europe.
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152)Retire.
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397)Buy really expensive wire to connect your 1/4 million dollar system together.

Good luck!
qualia8
49 posts
 
Best bang-for-buck investment I ever made... if you haven't already done so...

$3 at Home Depot for sand to fill your stands. Also mount speakers on stands with spikes and stand-to-floor with spikes also. Whoa! These things, all done at once, made a *major* improvement in bass. It got much tighter and a little louder. Made more of a difference than adding a 1K+ DAC setup to my multiplayer. In fact, made as much difference as going from a cheap Yamaha receiver to a Classe integrated (or more).
hpims
129 posts
 
Buy used, old, McIntosh tube components and Vandersteen 3a Signatures and be done with it.

I now sit back and simply enjoy the music.....
maineiac
649 posts
 
If I read this right, you've gone through 4 amps, 3 pre-amps, and 3 sets of speakers in 8 months. When do you have time to listen and figure out what you like and don't like?
warnerwh
539 posts
 
The first thing to do is to learn the most important tweak of all: Speaker Position. This is free and can make a very large difference in the sound of your system, more than an amp, preamp or cd player usually. Try different distances from sidewalls and the rear wall. Also try toeing in to the point of crossfiring in front of you a couple of feet. Find the best compromise.

Read up on room acoustics. This will affect the quality of the sound more than different electronics and can make a very large improvement in your sound. The cost per quality of sound unit is excellent.

Most of us here did it backwards in my opinion. We should have concentrated on knowing how to get the most out of our systems as they were before buying better gear. This will get you the best sound on the least amount of money. After thirty plus years in this hobby I feel that this is the most intelligent path and if I were to do it again I'd learn about room acoustics first, not after 20+ years.
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