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Help a Newbie. Considering Usher Be 718's

I'm a newbie who finds it hard to justify spending a ton of money on hifi audio, so i'm trying to follow the adage, put most of your money into your speakers.

I started from near zilch (a Harman Kardon AVR 230 from 2004) and now have:

Panasonic 46PZ85 Viera
Harman Kardon AVR 230
Speaker cables, audio interconnects of decent quality (spent $70 for speaker cables and $35 for the interconnects)

and one pair of Ascend Sierra 1's ($760, got free shipping) just received last Tuesday (still within the 30 day trial period. I went to a local audio dealer who has offered me 30% off a pair of Usher Be 718 tiny dancers, so about 2K + state tax). These were my favorites that i auditioned.

There is a caveat. They are dealer demos and thus he can only really "reserve" them for me for about 10 days.

If i buy the Ushers, the MOST amount of money i will spend is about $400-$750 for an amp to hook up to my HK AVR 230 (about 60 watts per channel).

A few things about me:

1. Looking for 2 channel only, cannot afford to buy 5 speakers
2. Love audio quality
3. Live in an apartment, cannot play speakers too loud, nor use a subwoofer.
4. Own exactly 1 DVD, about 100 CD's, mostly alternative rock, some jazz, acoustic rock.
5. will likely purchase a DVD player (looking into a Denon 2910 about $200 used), a blu ray player (probably the Panny BD35 or possibly the upcoming Oppo), may look into buying a CD player (possibly Cambridge Audio around $200 used), all used (except blu ray) and will not spend more than $500 on any of the three.
6. Need to decide before the 30 day trial period ends (about 2-3 weeks from now) and would like to make a purchas eby then, if i don't keep the Sierras.

I've always heard the adage, put most of your money into your speakers, so that's what i'm trying to do, put all my money into my speakers while being very budget consious elsewhere.

Is it worth it to buy the Ushers considering the equipment i will have? To me the Sierras are great, but the Ushers are like WOW! However, they were playing on $15,000 worth of equipment.

In other words, will the Ushers be a justifiable upgrade/ sound like a great improvement over the Sierras given my low end equipment?

Also can someone reccomend a good amp for $400-$750 used here on Audiogon?

Finally, do my choices sound good? what would you do differently if you were me?

Am also considering Salk Songtowers (about same price as the Ushers), maybe Totem, but few are on sale on Audiogon.
indiesound
johsti's avatar
johsti
102 posts
 
Goatwuss is right. See if you can bring them home so you can compare them to the Sierras and see how they sound in your room. If the Ushers sound better with your current equipment, then they can only get better as you upgrade your other components. I think it would be fine to use your HK as a preamp paired with a good power amp for now. It isn't ideal, but it is much cheaper than getting a new preamp and DAC.
indiesound OP
24 posts
 
Can someone explain amps to me?

There are pre-amps, pre/pro's which i think are basically like receivers without an amp? and amplifiers.

There's also integrated, solid state and tube amps. And there are tremendous price differences.

Which upgrades will offer the best bang for the buck in terms of audio quality? And which will be best matched with the Usher?

Maybe someone can explain in similar comparisons as going from a cassette tape to a CD, VHS to DVD, standard def to HD, HD cable to Blu ray, etc or Honda Accords vs BMW vs. Ferrari sound?

BTW, how much of an audio improvement is there with TrueHD with Bluray. Can i even take advantage of this with only two channel, and if so, how with a non-HDMI receiver?

If my current Sierra-1's w/HK receiver are like Honda Accord sound, will using my HK receiver with a NAD amp, with this be like Nissan Maxima, or Acura TL sound? And i'm guessing that with the dealer's equipment, i'd be getting BMW M3 sound?

Sorry for the crazy analogies, but i am complete newbie to amps, preamps, etc!! Thanks for the help!!
indiesound OP
24 posts
 
BTW what is a monoblock? Are they better to use? And i'm guessing i should buy a 2channel or stereo amp?

It sounds like Musical fidelity is the most musical, high quality audiophile amp for the money and i can get one used for around $750. But which one????

I looked on audiogon and i'm just confused.

What is Int-Tran as a subcategory? There are also listings for seemingly similar products for $800 and then for $2400.

I'm guessing i'll just need to google them for reviews??

Finally, how will i be limited by my HK receiver? Will this really limit the "potential" sound? Can one recommend a huge upgrade in sound for $600 used?

And is it better to buy an older pre/pro without stuff like HDMI with better sound, than a newer model with the ability to do TrueHD, room correction, video upconversion, etc?

My priority is audio quality, although i'd like to hear the true studio soundtracks when i watch blu rays.

Again thanks for your help.
indiesound OP
24 posts
 
Finally, ok the musical fidelity a3.5 seems to fit the bill.

Where else will there be the "weak link" in the system?

I will need to replace the HK receiver, anything from $500-$800 that is very musical and bring out the potential of the system? And how much improvement will this bring? I have no idea what to get.

Someone mentioned that the Panasonic BD-35 will be fine as a CD player. So what kind of improvement will there be in investing in say a musical fidelity cd player or a $199 Cambridge Audio CD Player or NAD CD player? And what improvement would an NAD be over the Panny?

And finally i hope that my cables aren't weak link. Mine are from Best deal cables and they seem pretty decent. The speaker pair retails for $160, got them for $64 for the pair. I'm not so concerned that i can get such a big improvement as much as i don't want to destroy the capabilities of a toptier system.

Thanks again!!!
kcgumbohead
28 posts
 
The best way to realize an improvement vs. what you have now is to identify what you don't have in your current system. Start with 5-6 songs that you know well and switch it up with a mix of styles and male/female vocals within that 5-6. Listen to he Ushers, ya likes em ya buys em, then take a breath and let them settle in with your current system. Get used to haow those 5-6 (your mix) tracks sound at home then travel around and A/B with systems in various shops and see if you like things about those systems vs. yours. You will find numerous presentations of "your mix" that will allow you to establish a reference for how YOU like to hear your mix. In time you will find certain brands and types of gear are more appealing to you than others, you own mental M3 will begin taking shape, at that point you should start aquiring 1 piece at a time as you move toward a system that presents "your mix" in a way that is most appealing to you. Thats it at that point mission accomplished. Throwing a collection of gear together based on nameplates and price points DOES NOT assure you of any staisfaction, in fact you can go backwards!! Define a mix of you own a test disc, get used to it and use it to demo the crap out of all kinds of gear. The same gear will sound different in different rooms so be aware of that as well but gear that I like has more ofetn than not appealed to me regardless of where I auditioned it, the gears DNA shown through in most cases. FYI the initial buget system I had, I loved, traded it for a significantly more expensive collection of gear and hated it. I took my disk out until I found gear that gave me what I was missing in my home system and started rebuliding yet again. Today I have a system that I enjoy a great deal and that same disc I began with has helped get me to this point. I still go out on rare occasionsand listen to a different system or two at the local shops, there is gear that I think is great and I hear different presentations of my music but nothing yet has bettered it for me and I am very happy with what I have. Thats the goal get to a point where you can maximize the enjoymant of the music YOU enjoy, regardless of who makes it or what it costs. I hope that helps you, best of luck.
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