emaidel
09-16-2008, 04:27 AM
I just realized that I spent more money upgrading my system over this past year than I did over the last eight! About three years ago, I sent off my DQ-10 woofers to Simply Speakers in Florida for a refoam job. Eight weeks later and $80 later, they were returned, and seemed to sound fine - until I noticed severe distortion at certain low frequencies (the "heartbeat" from DSOM, for example). Simply Speakers merely accused me of "exceeding the speaker's capacity."
I took the plunge and sent the woofers off to Regnar in New York for a complete rebuild at the cost of $139.50 each. It took Regnar less than a week to repair and return my woofers, and I've been delighted with them ever since. They also called me to inform me of all the errors made in the "botch job" refoam.
Then, my trusty Denon DP-62 failed. I bought a used Dual 721 on ebay for $150, and found it quite satisfactory, though I often lost the right channel, and had to reset the speed each and every time I turned it on - a bit of a nuisance.
I moved from Colorado to South Carolina, and installed my system in a much smaller room which greatly improved the sound and imaging characteristics of my system. Then I started spending the bucks....
First was to replace the troublesome 721. I "won" a Dual CS-5000 on ebay for $299.95 which blew me away with how much better it sounds than any turntable I've ever owned. While it's not the best turntable out there, it's the best I've ever owned ( and, I've owned quite a few!) and I'm delighted with it. Inner groove distortion on many an LP is gone, and what I considered overmodulation by the recording engineers on other recordings has also evaporated. A few months later, I purchased an "Achromat" turntable mat for it, and was quite surprised at how much the mat further improved the sound.
Realizing that many improvements had been made in CD players since my purchase of an Adcom GCD-600 and an Adcom GDA-600 DAC, I convinced my wife that we "had" to have the Marantz SA-8001 SACD player. To this day, it's the single component that's made the biggest difference in my system, and I find it a joy to listen to. And, as many who've read my posts here know, I'm a staunch supporter of the SACD medium as "the best there is."
My last system upgrade was modest, but noticeable: the installation of the "Hi-Fi Tuning" fuses in my DQ-10's - a main fuse, and a separate tweeter fuse. I found it remarkable that something as relatively minor as a fuse could have made such a difference.
So now I wonder what's next, or will I ever be satisfied?
I took the plunge and sent the woofers off to Regnar in New York for a complete rebuild at the cost of $139.50 each. It took Regnar less than a week to repair and return my woofers, and I've been delighted with them ever since. They also called me to inform me of all the errors made in the "botch job" refoam.
Then, my trusty Denon DP-62 failed. I bought a used Dual 721 on ebay for $150, and found it quite satisfactory, though I often lost the right channel, and had to reset the speed each and every time I turned it on - a bit of a nuisance.
I moved from Colorado to South Carolina, and installed my system in a much smaller room which greatly improved the sound and imaging characteristics of my system. Then I started spending the bucks....
First was to replace the troublesome 721. I "won" a Dual CS-5000 on ebay for $299.95 which blew me away with how much better it sounds than any turntable I've ever owned. While it's not the best turntable out there, it's the best I've ever owned ( and, I've owned quite a few!) and I'm delighted with it. Inner groove distortion on many an LP is gone, and what I considered overmodulation by the recording engineers on other recordings has also evaporated. A few months later, I purchased an "Achromat" turntable mat for it, and was quite surprised at how much the mat further improved the sound.
Realizing that many improvements had been made in CD players since my purchase of an Adcom GCD-600 and an Adcom GDA-600 DAC, I convinced my wife that we "had" to have the Marantz SA-8001 SACD player. To this day, it's the single component that's made the biggest difference in my system, and I find it a joy to listen to. And, as many who've read my posts here know, I'm a staunch supporter of the SACD medium as "the best there is."
My last system upgrade was modest, but noticeable: the installation of the "Hi-Fi Tuning" fuses in my DQ-10's - a main fuse, and a separate tweeter fuse. I found it remarkable that something as relatively minor as a fuse could have made such a difference.
So now I wonder what's next, or will I ever be satisfied?