What is my weak est link...? Suggestions please.

Please don't insult me by calling me an audiophile; I am certainly not one of you. Just a music lover. And my apologies to 689 for my less than pleasing bedside manner.

I would opine that none of the "audiophiles" here was actually helpful to 689 at all. To not point out that more reasearch and experience would save him a ton of money and grief is what is wrong, IMHO, with the hobby, and what is wrong with this forum. And to commoditize the hobby by not introducing the OP to a systems approach rather than moving more black boxes is, IMHO, irresponsible. And it is what turns people off. But opinions are just that and everyone has them.

IMHO upgrading your speaker would be the best move. Your Adcom 750 preamp is still to this day one of the best and the 5800 is a very decent amp.

I guess you have to decide if you want to get into the higher end and, if you do, how you want to get there.

What I was trying to say in my earlier post was that you don't know how good or lacking your speakers are until you get an amp that will grab the speakers and tell them exactly what to do.

For $4000.00, you can get yourself a really good high end amp that will do that. I don't see one listed here, but call Mark at Reno HiFi. I think that you might be able to get a Pass X250.5 demo or refurbished in that price range.

If your electronics aren't up to the task of really controlling your speakers, you'll never know how good or lacking any speakers you get will be.

Then again, they always say to choose your speakers first. If you're going to do that, make sure that you're hearing them in as good of quality system as you can so that you can hear their full potential.

Chuck

The full system approach, which includes the room and any treatments, power conditioners, interconnects and speaker wire, is called for if one is to get credible assistance on such an open question.

That said, many of us are drawn to the component-by-component approach because it's easier [minimal research] and it's doable NOW. It may be a shame that many people in this hobby think this way, but that's life. I've been guilty of it, too.

And that said, I wouldn't try to give advice on this question without knowing the sources being used and the type of music preferred.

Just my take. Joe

>>I would opine that none of the "audiophiles" here was actually helpful to 689 at all.

Viridian, this is close to rudeness. Please think again before you put off more people than you already did, especially when you yourself have started many threads asking for help. In other words, unless you can contribute positively, please refrain from flaming, thank you!

[soap box on]
On a related subject. I have noticed that many on this forum taking time to answer with just a one-liner like YMMV and nothing else (no suggestions at all), it is a pitiful waste of blog space.
[soap box off]