What to upgrade?


Hello,
I am interested in getting some input for a serious upgrade to my system. Currently my system creates the clarity, soundstage and dynamics a like, however this is only at lower volume levels, once I start to turn the volume up it starts to lose all the qualities I mentioned. At this stage I am not sure what to tweak and or complete change out. Listing room is currently in my loft 15 x 25, the wall behind my sitting are opens up to the rest of the house. Listing to mostly prog Rock, guitar driven jazz. My budget is 10,000 dollars for new or used equipment. My current rig is noted below with some equipment I have been researching. Thank you for your suggestions.

Portal Panache - Integrated amp
Rega p1 TT
Bellari 129 phono amp
Marantz cd5400 CDP (transport)
Wyred 4 Sound DAC
Daber Audio Monitor 3 speakers

Currently researching:

Montana speakers
Focal speakers
Totem speakers
Chapman speakers

Rogers High Fidelity amp
Pass lab
Vincent audio
Accustic Arts
Rogue Audio
musicrover
Looks like a good amp and nice speakers. You probably just need to add a little "muscle" in that larger sized loft to retain good dynamics at higher volume.

If sound is good but dynamics lacking at higher volume, I would consider adding a pair of good powered subs. That's the easiest way to just throw some more power and air pressure at the problem. Crossing over to subs for low bass will also take load of the monitors and allow them to do better as well at higher volumes.
Do you use any room treatments for the acoustics?
That could possibly be the culprit?
With that said I must admit that I'm not familiar with your current speakers or integrated amp. Can you tell me more about them?
No doubt room acoustics in a loft can be tricky. Might wreck havoc on soundstage and clarity with perceived dynamics more the victim.

DEfinitely always a good idea to assess and get a handle on teh room acoustics before making a major change. That's often the biggest determining factor regarding what will or will not work. Good sound from gear heard elsewhere may not matter much.

The sub idea might still be the effective boost needed. Placement options with separate subs to compensate for room acoustics might be easier than just replacing with all self contained larger speakers. Corssed over correctly, existing amp should be able to perform more optimally as well at higher volumes with low bass offloaded.

Take a look at some of the audiokinesis Planetarium speaker systems that leverage up to 4 separate subs to help compensate for room acoustics. This might be a fantastic approach to consider in your case. I have not heard these but love the innovative approach and thought processes that go into Duke's stuff to wean out performance for reasonable cost.
Thank you for the response.

Mapman - The dynamics seem to be ok at higher volume but the highs and midrange get a bit lost with no separation of instruments. I have given subs a thought. Just not sure how placement would work and not sure how one goes about connecting them. Any ideas of a sub that would match my system?

Lak - I have also thought about room acoustics and have researched but just have no idea of what I would need. Noted below is some additional information about the speakers and amp and room:

Daber Audio Monitor 3 daberaudio.com
Features/Specs
8 inch Magnesium/Aluminum woofer
2 inch Aluminum dome midrange
Planar Tweeter
Satin Nickel binding posts
Hand built crossovers using hand selected parts
150 watt RMS power handing
91 db efficiency
35-21k response
8 ohm nominal impedance
Rear facing port
32 pounds each
22" H X 9" W X 14" D

Portal Panache portalaudio.com
The Panache Integrated Amp by Portal Audio combines a completely transparent passive line stage with a high gain dual mono Class A/AB amplifier on one chassis.
100 w X 2 @ 8 ohms
200 w X 2 @ 4 ohms

Room
One speaker is in a corner, Back wall, side wall, cabinet, the other is open on the left side, back wall, cabinet on the right side.
Rover,

If bass levels and dynamics are good at higher volume, and all is well at lower volumes, then indeed likely room acoustics, possible treatments, speaker placement are the things to look at. Switching gear alone may accomplish little or nothing until these fundamentals are addressed.

To what extent have you played with what you have to get things optimized? Definitely do that first. Nothing wrong with what you have I could determine as described to prevent that.

Is there echo in the room when you speak? That's a good test to determince how lively room might be and how sound echoes within. A lively loft with lots of echo might be a difficult beast to tame fully unfortunately, but I'd be willing to bet playing around with things a bit might help significantly.

I read your speakers are rear ported.

First thing I would try is move both speakers 2-3 feet out away from walls minimum, more if possible and play around with different locations and see what that does, especially if rear ported. Bass may be affected negatively or not, but other current reported problem areas like detail and imaging/soundstage should improve. Adding subs if needed at that point might help.

Use a good mono recording and make sure speakers are close enough to produce a solid center image from your prime listening position or preferred sweet spot., not too far apart as to leave sound muddled and spread out with no center focus. Then try some stereo recordings and see what happens then.

You can also try toeing speakers in or out as well along with placement to help tune things. Might require a lot of experimentation to determine what sounds best at your preferred listening position.

I would try a position with speakers well out from nearby walls so that distance sound reflected of any nearby rear or side wall at each primary reflection point travels from speaker to your ears at your primary listening position or preferred sweet spot is at least twice that of sound that reaches you directly from speakers. This will help address timing issues between direct and reflected sound that will muddy the detail if not within certain tolerances.

If within the tolerances, as determined by relative distances direct and reflected sound travels to your ears, 3-D soundstaging and imaging and associated detail will improve. Try that first and tweak accordingly from there to fine tune.