Upgrades, upgrades, upgrades.

[emaidel]

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?

[Worf101]

As a lover of vintage speakers I feel your pain with refoams and repairs. I finally relegated my turntable to the basement. My vinyl will follow soon. Sigh.... these are the conditions that pervail.

Da Worfster

[Auricauricle]

(...) So now I wonder what's next, or will I ever be satisfied?

No. You have been bit by the Upgrade Bug (Audiophilius highfielitis) and are hopelessly and intractibly infected!

If you come to Charleston, there's a local high-fi nook where a friend o' mine can supply you with the necessary fix should you get t' jonesin'....

[emaidel]

No. You have been bit by the Upgrade Bug (Audiophilius highfielitis) and are hopelessly and intractibly infected!

If you come to Charleston, there's a local high-fi nook where a friend o' mine can supply you with the necessary fix should you get t' jonesin'....

I've posted before that we still own an unsold home in Colorado. If, and when, it finally does sell, we should have a bit of expendable cash, and at that time, I'll start to look around for another "fix." Until then, I'll just have to make do. Things could be a lot worse though...

[hifitommy]

was going form my gfp565 to an audio research sp3a1 preamp. i know the review in stereophile glorifies the 565 but the reviewer was WRONG. in no way is the 565 as good as ANY arc preamp!

an sp9 would be a god move or an sp6c. the are available now and again on agon for affordable money. i assure you, you wont be sorry. the arc LOVES my adcom amp, and i see you have a 5800. that should be a good match. all the attributes of the arc come straight through my 555II!

you always wonder what the big deal is about equipment like arc until you hear it in your own system. THEN you know.

[hermanv]

The damned thing is the close correlation between cost and quality. Sure there must be exceptions, but for me an upgrade always means MoreBuck$. It sure seems you get what you pay for in this hobby. Drat!

[hifitommy]

the satisfaction..........

[pixelthis]

People arent built for endurance, but short bursts.
A teen might grow several inches in a few weeks, then nothing for a long time.
And people tend to get interested in a certain area and concentrate on it for awhile.
I didnt buy anything major for thre years, now its a blu player, a new monitor, etc, and I still want more!
If you like sacd (and I do) you need to try BLU, the lossless sound is quite amazing.
Willl probably put the struggling format in its grave, sadly.

[hifitommy]

it didnt even last as long as dvda. dvda has a chance for a comeback, sacd is still going strong as a niche market. we have to stop funding the manufacturers whims.