Planning to step up to a high end home audio system. Need advice.

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bluegrassphile

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I was into high end audio in the '70s but my last two systems have been mid end. Right now I have an SVS 5.1 system with Yamaha receiver in my downstairs home studio and an SVS 7.1 system with Yamaha receiver in my upstairs living room. The upstairs is a more open listening environment as it is open to the kitchen. I'm also running identical SVS subs. Both systems are obviously home theaters. They sound decent but are not what I would describe as high end.

I'm looking to go with a dedicated high end listening system in my downstairs studio and I want top notch sound. I don't own any vinyl or a turntable, just CDs (thousands), Pandora, and Sirius/XM. My budget will be roughly in the $20,000 range maybe $25,000. Although it would be a plus if I didn't have to spend quite that much.

I am completely out of touch with current high end home audio and what my options are. Should I consider streaming the music. Heck, I'm not even familiar with that. Just consider me a total newb. I'm wanting "top level" listening or as much as I can get with my stated budget. I can get by fine with my upstairs home theater system. But downstairs I want a really good system.

OK, what advice do you have for me regarding high end audio, components, and brands? Should I go with stereo or multichannel? Bring me up to date.
​
 
Welcome to the forum, thank you for joining.

Have you thought about a budget? Anything in mind now?
 
This is hard as a lot of people want instant gratification and there are some disciplines if followed will yield you listening results you will enjoy.

You really want to consider your electrical foundation, including distribution and power cables - sounds silly and there are no knobs or speakers to look at but done right will enhance your sound to amazing levels.

If possible within your space look at room acoustics and furniture placement, and to a lesser degree if there’s pushback by others sharing that same space.

Then I would consider speakers, components and more cables and tweaks.

If done right up front you will be surprised what you can put together.

To make your dollar stretch further, work with a dealer like Mike at Suncoast, talk to the forum members here and consider some demo or trade ins that will get you more than new.

Research carefully, spend wisely and happy hunting, we are here for you!

Caution, Audio Junkies we are, and this High End Audio is like Crack, so be careful [emoji851]




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Once you have a budget, I also strongly suggest that you work with a dealer to guide you. Lots of changes since you were in the game!
 
joeinid said:
Welcome to the forum, thank you for joining.

Have you thought about a budget? Anything in mind now?
Click to expand...

Hi Joe. Thank you for the welcome. Yeah, I'm prepared to lay out around $20,000 if necessary. I'm thinking MacIntosh, Marantz, or other brands in that class. Maybe all tube? Although I've heard about some great sounding hybrids and SS amps. The only high end speakers I'm familiar with are JBLs and Paradigms.
 
bluegrassphile said:
Hi Joe. Thank you for the welcome. Yeah, I'm prepared to lay out around $20,000 if necessary. I'm thinking MacIntosh, Marantz, or other brands in that class. Maybe all tube? Although I've heard about some great sounding hybrids and SS amps. The only high end speakers I'm familiar with are JBLs and Paradigms.
Click to expand...

I’m sorry, you did state that in your opening post but I must have been distracted.

Since you have a ton of CDs, you could start ripping them to a computer/server for future playback.

You really need to think of speakers and amp almost as one unit because, I feel, there are natural combos and terrible combos.

Do you prefer a more neutral sound or a little sweeter or more musical?

A preamp with a dac might be a wonderful start. Have you demoed any gear lately? Any local dealers?
 
Welcome to the pool. Glad to have you here.

I would find the sound your are after first. Do you want to have a Tube or SS ? What kind of music do you listen to most ? And I would pick the speakers first and build the amp around it. Just my 2 cents.

Welcome back to audio world :).
 
If I were starting in this hobby today, I would concentrate on a digital set up. Digital has become so good, that you would have to spend thousands more on an analog system to better the sound of a good digital setup.

The speakers is where I would put the biggest chunk of your budget. The speakers can also determine which way the rest of your system could look like (tube or solid state).

You already have thousands of CD and like Joe mentioned above, you can rip all of them to your computer... or you could just pay $20/month or so and get immediate access to over 30 million tracks (and likely most of your collection if not all). Yep, that’s what you can get now with streaming.

And if you decide to go the streaming route, you will not need a CD player anymore and you can store your CDs in the attic

Oh, how times have changed!
 
bluegrassphile said:
I was into high end audio in the '70s but my last two systems have been mid end. Right now I have an SVS 5.1 system with Yamaha receiver in my downstairs home studio and an SVS 7.1 system with Yamaha receiver in my upstairs living room. The upstairs is a more open listening environment as it is open to the kitchen. I'm also running identical SVS subs. Both systems are obviously home theaters. They sound decent but are not what I would describe as high end.

I'm looking to go with a dedicated high end listening system in my downstairs studio and I want top notch sound. I don't own any vinyl or a turntable, just CDs (thousands), Pandora, and Sirius/XM. My budget will be roughly in the $20,000 range maybe $25,000. Although it would be a plus if I didn't have to spend quite that much.

I am completely out of touch with current high end home audio and what my options are. Should I consider streaming the music. Heck, I'm not even familiar with that. Just consider me a total newb. I'm wanting "top level" listening or as much as I can get with my stated budget. I can get by fine with my upstairs home theater system. But downstairs I want a really good system.

OK, what advice do you have for me regarding high end audio, components, and brands? Should I go with stereo or multichannel? Bring me up to date.
​
Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum. I'm like you, I don't stream and feel comfortable with my CDs. I don't have a turntable either; as Nicoff said you would have to spend much more money on a vinyl set-up comparable to digital. You can get a digital front end like I have (see my signature), but given your budget you might want to save on the cable between CD transport and DAC. Then you can be done under $ 5K with your source. With your budget I'd go with a monitor/sub combo for about $ 4-5 K, with $ 1 K spent of that spent on a sub; your SVS subs may also work (I have a monitor/sub combo too, at a much higher budget, but that is another story).

As mentioned, take care of electrical (one dedicated outlet for all your gear is best; you have to worry about several outlets with their grounding issues only with very power hungry amps), and take care of room acoustics; for those be prepared to spend up to $ 2K on treatment in a dedicated room. The best system will sound mediocre with mediocre acoustics.

You can have decent amplification for about $ 1-2 K, e.g. a Schiit Freya preamp/Schiit Vidar amp (combined $ 1.5 K; you can always upgrade from there if desired). Throw in some decent signal cables (don't bother with audiophile power cords), and you should be all set for $ 15 K or under.
 
By the way, you mentioned that you have thousands of CDs. Ripping them all to file would be highly impractical and time consuming. Why then bother with computer audio? Just play those CDs like you have always done and are comfortable with, but then on a great transport like mine.
 
I agree with what every one has said, although I am not on board with budget Schiit gear except for their Yggdrasil DAC which is well worth its price and then some. With a budget of $20K to 25K you have a lot of options. I would listen to a lot of speakers and figure out the sound that you like. I would put at least $10K to 14K to speakers and the rest to electronics and cables. Once you have your speakers then you can take a look at what amp/preamp or integrated amp that will match your speakers and have the features that you want.

Take a look at brands like Audio Research, BAT, PS Audio, Pass Labs, Bel Canto, Luxman, Ayre, McIntosh, Cary Audio, Conrad Johnson to name a few. These are all high end companies. Other companies that are just below are Parasound, Vincent Audio, Marantz, Cambridge Audio. And then there are budget friendly boutique companies like AVA HiFi and Oddyssey Audio that make very good gear that performs way above their price point.


I am sure others will chime in with idea's.

You should consider moving all your CD's to a computer hard drive and going with a DAC. There are lots of great DAC's at various price points.

Above all, take your time and have fun!

Definitely talk to Mike here from Sun Coast Audio. He is a wealth of info and can set you up.

Larry
 
bluegrassphile said:
I was into high end audio in the '70s but my last two systems have been mid end. Right now I have an SVS 5.1 system with Yamaha receiver in my downstairs home studio and an SVS 7.1 system with Yamaha receiver in my upstairs living room. The upstairs is a more open listening environment as it is open to the kitchen. I'm also running identical SVS subs. Both systems are obviously home theaters. They sound decent but are not what I would describe as high end.

I'm looking to go with a dedicated high end listening system in my downstairs studio and I want top notch sound. I don't own any vinyl or a turntable, just CDs (thousands), Pandora, and Sirius/XM. My budget will be roughly in the $20,000 range maybe $25,000. Although it would be a plus if I didn't have to spend quite that much.

I am completely out of touch with current high end home audio and what my options are. Should I consider streaming the music. Heck, I'm not even familiar with that. Just consider me a total newb. I'm wanting "top level" listening or as much as I can get with my stated budget. I can get by fine with my upstairs home theater system. But downstairs I want a really good system.

OK, what advice do you have for me regarding high end audio, components, and brands? Should I go with stereo or multichannel? Bring me up to date.
​
Click to expand...
A few thoughts. One keep cd s and get a great older CD player it's a good start as servers and formats you pic all effect the end sound.
Get a CD player that allows you to use its internal dac. Usb is best but aes or spidif is also fine. Note you can't play dsd to you CD player .
Buy used stuff if possible too. Many buy new cause it's new not if it's better. My whole setup is legacy except for dac and cust servers.
 
welcome... building a system is a marathon, not a sprint !!

this approach has served me extremely well. doing lots and lots of research has rewarded me with what is (i think) a terrific system that is simple, elegant and produces a sound that i never thought possible given the modest amount (for hi-end) spent. in being methodical and deliberate, i have also avoided very costly mistakes as well as found system components that punch way above their price-point.

also, this is an enjoyable process... take your time and maximize the fun.
 
So, you do the research, buy a bunch of gear, get it all set up and then find it is not exactly what you hoped.
Congratulations, welcome to the club. You will not be the first nor the last to attempt at assembling a great audio system.
A lot of good advice here. Especially contacting Mike. He has a good ear and is extremely knowledgeable in all aspects of this hobby.
But, like has been said before, ENJOY the Journey.
 
I've already ripped all my CDs to an external HD through iTunes. And, yes, it took a couple months to do it. Here's the first of hundreds of future questions.....DAC = digital audio converter? And do I need one to run my audio/computer through an analog stereo? BTW, I'm running a PC with Windows 10 for recording.

I also do a lot of recording and have a high end home recording studio. I use Reaper as my DAW (digital audio workstation). I have Neumann nearfield recording monitor speakers. I'm guessing it would be better to keep my audio system and recording system separate? Will I need a computer dedicated to audio? Lots of questions.....
 
bluegrassphile -

Welcome to AS! You will get a lot of friendly and excellent recommendations in this community.

In addition to the info you’ve provided, what are dedicated room dimensions and what kind of music do you like?

Thx!
 
I suggest contact Mike ( Suncoast Audio and owner of this site)and speak to him. You have a budget, but you also need to provide a room size and a goal, do you want to go a route of say streaming, or rip your CD's to an external drive or a NAS or have access to a music server , so many choices these days. Enjoy
 
Ritmo said:
bluegrassphile -

Welcome to AS! You will get a lot of friendly and excellent recommendations in this community.

In addition to the info you’ve provided, what are dedicated room dimensions and what kind of music do you like?

Thx!
Click to expand...


As far as music choice, it's pretty much all bluegrass. I'm also a bluegrass musician. Although I also like blues and jazz.

Room measurements are 11' x 27'. My music and recording studio occupies about half of that. The remainder is "living room" with a TV. The downstairs studio has wood paneling and a painted peg board ceiling. The floor is carpeted. The remainder of the downstairs is utility room and it is separated from the studio/family room. Hope that helps.

PS What is NAS?
 
NAS is a network attached storage unit. Typically 2-8 hard drives with some form of raid protection built in account for hard drive failure. Raid is a redundant array of independent disks or hard drives.

If you start copying your music from CDs to a computer, it’s usually a good idea to have back up. This is something you need to think about in the future.

You have so many ways to go just starting out.

Maybe looking at speakers and narrowing down what you like and working from there. Integrated amps might be something to think about as well to keep it more simple.

What state do you live in?
 
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