Where's the bottleneck in my system?

[J Larsen]

Despite what I said about not wanting to sink too much into my audio system on my CD player thread, hearing my new NAD cd player has me wondering where I would get my best bang for the buck were I to go back on my word and do one more upgrade this year.

Here is my audio system as presently configured:

HK 3380 Receiver

NAD C542 CD Player (thanks for the advice on this one)

Technics SL1200 Turntable (mainly a remnant of my DJ days, but I think it is a pretty good sounding table)

Standard cheap-o RCA interconnects that came with the components

10-year old Infinity Stirling Series floorstanding speakers

Monster Cable speaker cables

My bet is that the speakers are the weak link. They aren't terrible speakers, but they are very Circuit City. If I upgrade the speakers, I would like to get a pair that have a less obtrusive physical presence, as I have a downtown Manhattan sized 1BR apartment.

I need to keep any upgrades under $750. I would rather upgrade a single component to something really good than upgrade two components to moderately better units. I can always do another upgrade next year.

Thanks in advance for your input.

Edited October 30, 2004 by J Larsen

[Jim Alfredson]

Ya want my B&W CDM-SE1's?

[J Larsen]

I don't know... do I? Sorry, I'm not too fluent in this language. I know B&W make speakers, but can you give me some details?

[Jim Alfredson]

I've always liked B&W. I love my speakers and don't really want to sell them because I won't replace them with anything, but at the same time, I don't have time to listen to music anymore nor a good space and they're just sitting here gathering dust.

Here's some reviews:

http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/archive/perl/444_printreview.htm

http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/archive/perl/444_printreview.htm

[frank m]

I have been out of the speaker market for so long I wouldn't attempt to recommend a particular brand of speaker. I do however, given the fact that you live in Manhattan, advise that you go to upper end hifi shops with a CD of your own, one with which you are already familiar. Make it one that covers the entire audio spectrum and which is one of your best hifi cd's. I don't mean by that one of the loudest. Have them run it through their best systems with different speakers on A=B tests and let your ears be the judge.

I'd also recommend you take a look at the website of CAMBRIDGE SOUNDWORKS. They have occasional sales and free shippings. Just a thought. I've had good stuff from them for secondary speakers.

[wolff]

The weak link is probably a tie between amp and speakers. Hard to say for sure without hearing/knowing your components. No need to upgrade anything else until those two are handled. A low end tube integrated amp with phono stage(how many LP's do you have?) would be an excellent place to get rid of $750. And some quality stand mounted speakers like b3-er's, or some small floorstanders would be another. If you need a great 70 wpc amp, LMK.

Are you comfortable buying used?

I like the way you are doing it one component at a time. It will work great financially and when you add a component you'll be able to hear the difference and return it if it does not work for you.

BTW...the CDP's sound may improve over the next few weeks.

Edited October 31, 2004 by wolff

[jim anderson]

I'd like to see you change your cheapo rca interconnects with some good MIT (or equivalent) cables.

I had the experience of when I was moving into my new house and was setting up my system while unpacking. I just grabbed some rca's, hooked up the cd player to the Levinson Pre and played a cd that was handy (I had already taken the Wilsons out of the crates and my back was hurting a little).

The system and the cd sounded fine.

When I found the MIT interconnects and hooked them up, a cd turned from sounding ok to very interesting.

It was beyond being just a technical issue, the cables made the music sound better!

JA

[DrJ]

I was going to say change both your interconnects and your speaker cables to higher end stuff first. The rest of your gear doesn't sound terrible - yeah Infinity's aren't trendy and all but I had a nice pair of Crescendo Infinity's for many years and got tremendous enjoyment out of them with a very workmanlike, Denon AVR3300 home theater amp-based system - probably not much different than your Harman Kardon in terms of quality level. I'm not sure how your Infinity's compare but my guess is they aren't that bad and your interconnects (especially) and speaker cables (maybe less so) may be the problem.

It seems kind of painful to go and spend a ton first on that stuff but as others have pointed out you may find your decent sounding system begins sounding great. If not, it's not like you won't need this stuff when you go to better components, you'll DEFINITELY want to have the best quality interconnects and speaker cables if/when you do that.

One last thing - for better quality amps (including of course tube stuff) it's good to go with high quality RCA-type interconnects with your CD player for sure. However for more middling quality amps, especially the multipurpose solid state home theater variety, my ears have told me that going with a good quality digital interconnect (if your CD player has a digital output and I'm pretty sure an NAD should) is a better option - you get more detail and, although there's going to be a little digital harshness, things sound much more lively and "present." Once you get into upper middle range gear though, go with a top quality RCA type interconnect for sure.