Classic Rock Listener - Help me build my system

Hi Sean,

I am also a frequent rock listener- but have an appetite for high-end electronics. It is not easy to find a full range high-end speaker that can play rock. The Legacys have high power handling capability (high temp voice coils) And they can rock out very well. But as noted, the frequency response is nearly impossible to overcome. I have just now gone thru a pair of Snell xa-90's. These have a flat response but did not work out for me for other reasons. I now have a pair of Maggie 2.7qr- nice speaker-wrong room (for sale by the way) I'm thinking about a pair of von Schweikert VR4se's to try next. Already been thru the b+w's.

Oh by the way, the Classe Amp I was suggesting was the model 15. Very lively and alive sounding, with soundstaging/imaging that are excellent. Works very well with Legacy.

Bob

Daveheine, It sounds like you were happy before the Legacy and the Levinson came into the picture. The Levinson does have a reputation as sounding, well, polite. So it's probably not a rocking amp. I'm not familiar with the Sunfire gear, so I cannot comment. I do find that Krell KAV series to be quite fatiguing. This is what happens by the way, when you make too many changes at once. I've been guilty of the same thing. I then go back and try to undo things, until I find the problem.

I'm just curious as to why you're stuck on the Legacy speakers. If you liked the sound better through the Pinnacle speakers and Sunfire amp, what makes you think it's not the new speakers you don't like? Is it that you like the visual appearence? Maybe you turned the bass up in the sat/sub setup you had, and you're finding out that you can't do that in a single speaker design. If that's the case, maybe you need to look for a preamp with *gasp* tone controls, possibly a Adcom GFP-750, so you can turn the bass up again. I don't know, I'm grasping here.
The Cardas cables are darker than the Nordost too. It just looks like you have a case of too many changes at once. Do you still have the older stuff around? Can you just, for example, switch the Cardas out and put the Nordost back and see if you like it better or not? Put the Sunfire amp back in place of the Levinson and see if that helps. One step at a time backwards until you found out where you lost your way.

Definitely look into vinyl though, there is magic in that Licorice Pizza. I lost my love of old rock, until I got back into vinyl. LP's just sound more like rock was meant to, not thin and sterile. That of course is just my opinion.

Cheers,
John

Man- the knowledge within the posts is incredible to me.
Sean, you mentioned something in your post about using a single run for the speakers instead of biwiring. That really struck me because I have found that to be true for my ears and that is why the first move I'm making is to sell my Audioquest and trying a pair of single Nordost Blue Heavens or maybe the SPM. Probably the Blue Heavens first.
But your overall post has a lot of great info for me and I thank you for all of it.
And John,
Thanks too for the interest. As far as the Legacys go, I just got them and I have read much about how well they perform for my type of music which leads me to want to try looking at, say the Krell Cd, and the Cardas cables, along with the ML amp. I think if I replace those properly it will go a (hopefully) long way towards my goal. I thought the Pinnacle, Sunfire setup I had before was better but I didnt mean that it was good enough. I just wanted, like everybody else, to continue to improve my system. I probably made a huge mistake like you guys said: changing too many things at once. Now Im less dazed and confused, but this thread will help me 100 times more than anything else I could have tried. Nothing better that listening and learning from informed people, especially those familiar with the components I've listed. I'm not wealthy, but Spending money for audio in this price range isn't a problem and it's also a VERY enjoyable hobby. Can any one suggest what CD player to try as I am convinced that the Krell I have is a big part of my problem. Based upon using the Sig iii, the Sunfire Sig amp, and Nordost cable.
I think the best , first 2 things to do are the get the Nordost and CD player. And then the amp. I also didn't mean that I wanted a bass heavy system, just that PUNCH! I got that with the Sunfire amp and Pinnacle sub. Nor is the system I have now TOO bassy, just too dark (warm) and hard in the midsection. I've read a lot of opinions about the Theta Miles for Rock. Thats the one I may get next unless someone convinces me of another unit.
Thanks everybody!

Reb1208,
When you suggested using light guage copper cables:
Would the Nordost fall into that catagory and if not, do you have a cable recommend? I'd like to know about combining the bi-wire leads to one post. Is that different than using the external jumpers?
Thanks,
Dave

Naim gear is often preferred for rock because of its drive (prat). You might consider a demo of the Naim CD5i CD player.