best bang for buck

[greggy]

I am having some difficulty deciding the best course of action. I have some money $4-5 k to spend on improving my main system. Currently I am feeding a bluesound node2 into a Meitner M1 dac and using a Perreux Eloqunce 250i amp to B&W D904 series 2 speakers. I often stream via roon using a late model iMac as roon core.

 My question is whether changing up my Bluesound to a more upmarket streamer such as a Lumen U1 mini vs upgraded server such as a Roon Nucleus Plus or Innuos server and whether either would make a substantial difference.

Another option is to leave the front end the same and upgrade the speakers.

 

Interested if anyone has been down the same path and what their experiences have been

[Eggmeister]

What do you think you are missing with your current system ?

[Ittaku]

Reviews seem to suggest that amp is dry sounding (not my words.) If that's the problem you're having then perhaps an amp switch might be a better option. I doubt upgrading your server would make a substantial difference to your sound.

[Misternavi]

33 minutes ago, greggy said:

Interested if anyone has been down the same path and what their experiences have been

Audiophile chasing the next best high. (buying addiction) is what a lot of audiophiles suffer from. 
You have a pretty good set up. 

Maybe spend it on tweaking room acoustics?

 

[buddyev]

Not familiar with B&w 904  - do you mean 804?

Upgrading the bluesound would probably help but i’d be looking at the amp. 

[Irek]

Maybe another source with different characteristics will give more enjoyment, something like CDP or TT for $6k+. 

[PauliD]

57 minutes ago, misternavi said:

Audiophile chasing the next best high. (buying addiction) is what a lot of audiophiles suffer from. 
You have a pretty good set up. 

Maybe spend it on tweaking room acoustics?

 

it's free to change things around. Can the speakers or seating position be improved/moved into the room? First reflection point?

I've done some DIY absorption panels behind the speakers, speaker feet isolation and some marble speaker toppers. Each tweak all really helped bring out the clarity of voices and highs. Most notably the absorption panels and I'm no golden ear. I think the black framing of the TV looks great without having a huge dark feature wall.

 

I tested my idea first with 3 layers of towels first, but the panels totalled $80 in materials and an afternoon. Note the Elac's are gone and running the KEF's now.

 

BTW I have been trying to stick to a 'no new gear year' and focus on content and speanding money on improving my media. 4K can go a long way on some quality source material! 

 

 

 

Good Luck!

Edited October 15, 2019 by PauliD

[greggy]

Yeah did mean 804's

room acoustics a difficult to change as in main living area

Probably looking for a bit more punch at the bottom end which I suppose may mean changing speakers

Going to the hi fi show on weekend so might audition a few

By the way thanks for all of your replies good  to know not suffering this obsession alone

[buddyev]

You’re certainly not alone in your obsession.

Lack of bottom end punch isn’t necessarily a speaker problem - I’d try to borrow a few different amps to try in your system. 

[Ittaku]

Get a/some sub(s)? 5k can get you an SVS SB16ultra which would give your bass a foundation unlike any other.

[Misternavi]

40 minutes ago, PauliD said:

it's free to change things around. Can the speakers or seating position be improved/moved into the room? First reflection point?

I've done some DIY absorption panels behind the speakers, speaker feet isolation and some marble speaker toppers. Each tweak all really helped bring out the clarity of voices and highs. Most notably the absorption panels and I'm no golden ear. I think the black framing of the TV looks great without having a huge dark feature wall.

 

I tested my idea first with 3 layers of towels first, but the panels totalled $80 in materials and an afternoon. Note the Elac's are gone and running the KEF's now.

 

BTW I have been trying to stick to a 'no new gear year' and focus on content and speanding money on improving my media. 4K can go a long way on some quality source material! 

 

 

 

Good Luck!

My previous place had the best sound compared to now.

 

Before I had carpet floors, a back wall full of frames, shaggy rug & lots of furniture.

 

Now I have hard wood floors, no frames, ratan rug and empty walls - sound is now very dull and slightly hard sounding. 

[Anthony1]

If not addressed already -
Full on mains filtering via 2nd hand power regenerator (P10 or equivalent).

[buddyev]

Not sure that spending $4-5k on a power generator quite fits in the ‘bang for the buck’ category for better bottom end punch.

[Snoopy8]

2 hours ago, greggy said:

room acoustics a difficult to change as in main living area

Probably looking for a bit more punch at the bottom end which I suppose may mean changing speakers

Lack of low end likely due to room. In the absence of room treatment in a shared space (have same challenge), I managed to improve things a little by playing with the positioning of the mains and using room correction to do the rest.

 

Adding a sub is another option.  I used to have dual subs, but not possible in current setup.

[Eggmeister]

See what speakers you like at the show and then try to demo them with your amp at a store that sells them.

[bzr]

Best bang for the buck, couple the speakers to the timber floor! Spikes on timber.Probably detract from the accurate bass sound but should make you wonder.

[RCAJack]

It would be good to have an extended demo with some different speakers, and find out how they sound in your room, with your favourite music, at your preferred listening levels. You might end up preferring a speaker that just happens to have a great balance in your system. And it might even cost a lot less than your budget. 

[needlerunner]

I am having some difficulty deciding the best course of action. I have some money $4-5 k to spend on improving my main system. Currently I am feeding a bluesound node2 into a Meitner M1 dac and using a Perreux Eloqunce 250i amp to B&W D904 series 2 speakers. I often stream via roon using a late model iMac as roon core.
 My question is whether changing up my Bluesound to a more upmarket streamer such as a Lumen U1 mini vs upgraded server such as a Roon Nucleus Plus or Innuos server and whether either would make a substantial difference.
Another option is to leave the front end the same and upgrade the speakers.
 
Interested if anyone has been down the same path and what their experiences have been

Admit it Greg. You want a quality turntable.
You know you do.[emoji41]

[Pim]

A mate of mine has the 802 D2 and their bass drivers are very hard to move. I was unpleasantly surprised by their lack of articulation in the bass, even with my very powerful amps running them.

If the 804 D2 are similarly hard to drive, a change in speakers, not necessarily an upgrade, might be the way to go. I have Dynaudio C1's and even they are better (not louder of course) in the bass. 

 

Read this in the context of having either speakers set up in different rooms but it's something to explore.

[DJGopal]

804s have very stiff bass drivers that even very high current amps struggle to get moving properly, the result is often a slightly top heavy sound.  I would say that the best bang for buck, by far would come from adding a high quality subwoofer to your system

[was_a]

Nice system, and even if the Perreaux—B&W synergy is not completely ideal, I don't think that applies to bottom-end frequencies.

 

Regardless, some acoustic tweaking may be in order. I once had a timber floor setup and put very thick rugs under each speaker. Spiking them this way sounded far better than using floor-spike protectors. 

 

A lack of bottom-end punch? Are you seated in a null frequency zone? This question also pertains to speaker position.

 

Best bang for buck would be to pay a professional for an hour of their time to come to your house, listen and advise. 

 

Mind you, you haven't really given us much to go on. I'm surprised you got this many replies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 30, 2019 by was_a

[anewmission]

On 15/10/2019 at 11:53 AM, PauliD said:

it's free to change things around. Can the speakers or seating position be improved/moved into the room? First reflection point?

I've done some DIY absorption panels behind the speakers, speaker feet isolation and some marble speaker toppers. Each tweak all really helped bring out the clarity of voices and highs. Most notably the absorption panels and I'm no golden ear. I think the black framing of the TV looks great without having a huge dark feature wall.

 

I tested my idea first with 3 layers of towels first, but the panels totalled $80 in materials and an afternoon. Note the Elac's are gone and running the KEF's now.

 

BTW I have been trying to stick to a 'no new gear year' and focus on content and speanding money on improving my media. 4K can go a long way on some quality source material! 

 

 

 

Good Luck!

With that 4k buy a nice nas and fill it was sacd. Iso files and native dsd files. 

Best thing I ever did. Not sure of people would agree but rather than buying 1.k-20k sacd player, which needs laser maintenance, the nas box is controllable by your phone/tablet and using the right streamer (I have been going between daphile and snakeoil os on a DIY built streamer) it shows all cover art the same as roon. I tried roon and then I tried daphile, daphile sounded better than roon and the i tried snakeoil os and it sounded better than both. A few tweaks in the settings and wow.