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want to upgrade music performance in HT syst.

First the system:

Pioneer Elite DVC-36(odvious weak link for music but love video performance and conveniance of 5 discs.)
Krell HTS1
Plinius SA-250mkIV
Aragon 8008x3b
Dynaudio Contour 3.0
Dyn Contour cntr ch
Dyn 1.3mkII
Rel Storm III sub

I'm not getting the performance that I feel I should be getting, for music, from this system. I cannot afford a separate music only system and I know someone will mention getting rid of the HTS. Sorry, but I love the performance I get from this piece overall and I will not let it go. I've looked into getting a dedicated cdp and have rounded up the usual suspects. Budget; Music Hall MMF cd-25, Rega Planet 2000, top of the line Rotel, various Sony sacd players but I'm not interested in multi-ch music formats at all. The more pricier suspects; Rega Jupiter, Accuphase, Electrocompaniet, Wadia, Levinson, ext. The dealer I purchased my Krell HTS from mentioned that the dacs in the HTS are state of the art, so I could run a good transport and have the processor do the upsampling. I'm so confused. I just want to enjoy my music and I know I'm not getting everything I can from my dvd player. I would like to keep the cost down, $750-$1500. I would greatly appreciate any help you guys & gals could give me. I'm running a Goldmond digital cable (RCA to RCA terminated) and I've had my doubts about that purchase. If you have any thoughts on this cable or any ideas for an upgrade I would love to hear from you as well. Thanks in advance for your help.....John
jrwr7
kthomas
911 posts
 
How big is your TV? If it's a 50+ inch TV, then another problem would be only 7' of separation between the L/R speakers as that would imply they're pretty close to the edge of the TV. Getting the fronts of the speakers in front of the TV and the sides some breathing room from the TV will both help the music reproduction. However, having a big TV in the middle of your speakers is going to negatively impact the performance no matter what you do. The only way around that would be a retractable screen, plasma TV or RPTV built into the wall.

Also, while I don't recommend choosing music based on it's recording quality rather than it's content, I'd recommend getting some CDs you're very familiar with and/or are of noted high recording quality that have a deep and wide soundstage and be sure that part of your dissatisfaction isn't merely that the recordings you're listening to are less than stellar. Maybe even resort to the Stereophile test CDs or something - they give you a lot of tools to experiment with. In any case, a lot of music I like a lot isn't recorded particulary well and has very little soundstage depth. Maybe you like the same stuff. -Kirk

sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
Stan Warren and Dan Wright are both in Oregon, but they are not connected. Stan only uses the phone. His phone number is 541-344-3696

The full mods are like $250 plus $19 shipping. It is a good way to get a big improvement in the digital playback for audio without spending a lot of money. If you go that route, it takes Stan a couple months sometimes to just a couple weeks, depending on how busy he is, so you would need a backup DVD player in the interim.

bwyoung
140 posts
 
I agree with the above advice but would add one thing I have not seen above... I own Krell equipment and Transparent IC's and Speaker cable (all two channel stuff). I love these products. I owned Transparent super balanced cables and then auditioned the Ultra's and now own Reference with the xl technology. I recommend the upgrade. The super's and the Ultra's are dynamic but somehow more 2-dimensional and less musical. I know you're thinking, "no way", I can't afford it. Neither could I, but I waited and waited and eventually found the reference cables right here on Audiogon.
jrwr7 OP
211 posts
 
Hi all,

Thank you very much, one and all, for the helpful information you've shared w/me. It was all very informative and useful. I would especially like to thank Brandon, who suggested I that I move the spkrs out in front of my TV. I know, common sense, but I wasn't doing it. Also, Sugarbrie, who pointed out to me that I could run the digital cable for movies to let the processors DAC handle the 5.1 and hook L&R ICs up for the music and use the DVD players internal DAC. I did this today and it was just amazing. It was a whole new experience in sound reproduction that I knew I could achieve but, up until now, had not been able to accomplish. Let me not forget Mg123 for explaining that, by using the digital cable, I was not utilizing the DVD players dac. If I have forgotten anyone, I apologize. Again, thank you all very much. I don't know how I ever survived before I found A'gon......John
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