looking for upgrade suggestions - 12,000 to spend

Whatever you do, don't sell the Synergy Preamp. For a reasonable price, you can have it upgrade to II status and maybe even to i status. I had mine upgraded from I to II and it was well worth it. Also, don't let anyone try to talk you into selling the Model 10. I have 12 monoblocks in a bigger room, but used the 10 for a long time and it is great.

If you don't already have the FIM replacement umbilical cords for the Synergy and Model 10, try them out. Big improvement on my system.

Look for a used Audiologic 2400 DAC for 2k to 2.5k on Audiogon and use the Levinson as a tranport. You'll love it.

I'll leave speaker recommendations to others, as I am an unbending Vandersteen fan and don't want to become a broken record. However, the Vandersteen 3A Sig with Purenote Epsilon interconects and speaker wire would sure be a sweet match in your room for the Model 10.

If you go the analog upgrade route, the Rowland Cadence is wonderful and will run off the Synergy power supply. If you buy a table I highly recommend any Basis, because you can always upgrade with full credit for your old table and they are incredibly easy to set up and sound glorious. Graham 2.2 is the perfect match for Basis, but the RB-250 is also quite good, especially with the mod from that British company (name escapes me even though I had one - the mind is always the second thing to go).

Happy Listening

One more thing I forgot to mention. The PS Audio high power Ultimate Outlet really does great things for my Rowland Twelves (I actually use one for each amp as well as one each for the subwoofer amps on my Vandersteen Fives). You'll need to replace the stock power cord that comes with the UO, preferably the same kind you will use to run from the UO to the amp.

The talons go great with rowland stuff. I hear that Rowland voices his stuff using talon speakers. Not just Talon speakers but they are one of his reference speakers. The new version of the Khorus Xs that should be coming out just around now are amazing and are much much better than the original ones reviewed in stereo times etc. Its a night and day difference. I am not familiar at all with Dunalvy so i cant help you with that. If i were you i would talk to wkendenvir@aol.com like Jadem6 said. He knows what he is doing and is presently selling new equipment for used prices. The best of both worlds !!!! Whatever you do i suggest you listen to what you buy first as what you have is already so good things you buy may not prove be an upgrade.

Ehider, has anyone you know of had any success changing the wire in their Dunlavy speakers? I've wondered if conecting my ultra expensive speaker cables to a five way binding post that then uses cheap wire inside the speaker is logical. Wouldn't I expect a huge improvement if I was using the same wiring inside the speaker?

Jadem6. I am not going to quantify this particular type of mod as a "success", because NOW WE ARE talking about potentially changing the "voicing" of John's original design intentions. Therefore "success" regarding this particular mod is "in the eyes of the beholder".

The only mods that I unequivocally support are mods that improve on Dunlavy's original design intentions, without any detrimental sonic aberrations. After all, I do think Dunlavy is one of the best speaker designers out there (are you hearing me Audioguy?).

I know of NO other speaker designer that has assembled such worthy sounding speakers from average low cost midrange and tweeter drivers. Every other highly regarded speaker manufacturer has to use much better drivers just in order to sonically surpass Dunlavy's speakers. Dulavy's design facilities are some of the best in the business, and so are his measurement techniques and quality sorting conventions.

Now if we could just convince Dunlavy to use really excellent drivers, coils, caps, etc.. I've always said to many of my friends: "If I ever win the lottery, I'm going to pay Dunlavy a ridiculous amount of money to build a pair of SC-VI's with top of the line drivers and crossover components". (I'd probably also have the cabinet made from something much more dense and inert, than the cabinets that he currently uses).

Note: If you look at Montana's line of speakers (which have received many glowing reviews), you'll see something very similar to what I would have Dunlavy build. If I didn't know better, I'd swear that they just copied Dunlavy's original design parameters and used much better drivers, cabinets and crossover parts.

Sorry I couldn't answer your question with a definite "yes" or "no", but I DO NOT want to be part of the "potential mis-information, based on a subjective opinion" crowd. There's enough of that already!