Mike_Steiner@ames.arc.nasa.gov (04/26/91)
I'm thinking about upgrading my system and am asking for advice as to what components to upgrade first, and to what. The system consists of the following equipment: APT Holman 1 pre amp bought new in 1979 Audionics CC2 power amp bought new in 1979 Original DCM Time Window speakers bought new in 1978 Techniques SP-15 turntable bought new in 1977 Magnapan Unipivot tonearm bought new in 1983 Sumiko Talisman cartridge bought new in 1991 CAL Icon CD player bought new in 1990 I obviously am not interested in upgrading the cartridge or the CD player; they are too new for that. I suspect that the speakers or turntable/tonearm should be first and second (but I'm not sure in which order) and after that, the pre amp, and lastly the power amp. I've been away from the market for a long time, so I'm not sure what is out there, and what are the good buys. Money is definitely an object in this case. Thanks...
miker@polari.UUCP (Mike Ranta) (04/29/91)
In article <11438@uwm.edu> claris!Mike_Steiner@ames.arc.nasa.gov writes: >I'm thinking about upgrading my system and am asking for advice as to what >components to upgrade first, and to what. The system consists of the following > >APT Holman 1 pre amp bought new in 1979 >Audionics CC2 power amp bought new in 1979 >Original DCM Time Window speakers bought new in 1978 >Techniques SP-15 turntable bought new in 1977 >Magnapan Unipivot tonearm bought new in 1983 >Sumiko Talisman cartridge bought new in 1991 >CAL Icon CD player bought new in 1990 I used to either sell, or sell against, most of the older equipment you have in your system--good choices back then! I don't know how big you are on vinyl, but I'd probably leave your entire turntable setup alone unless the Unipivot is giving you trouble. The Time Windows were _great_ in their day for soundstaging and an open mellow sound. I don't know what your tastes are in music, but these days you can get a better low end, more detailed sound, and perhaps slightly better imaging from modern speakers in the under $1000/pair category. I can suggest Theil, Snell, Vandersteen and perhaps Paradigm as speakers to go listen to (excluding electrostatics and planar speakers). The APT preamp had an outstanding phono section back then--probably as good as most of the more mainstream preamps today (mostly because of the lack of emphasis on vinyl these days). Adcom makes a couple of good preamps if you don't want to get too expensive, but the Apt might work just as well (assuming nothing is wrong with it). The Audionics was a good amp, but I'd probably replace it with an Adcom GFA-545 (or larger if you like it loud). My overall advice is the same today as it was in 1978, TRUST YOUR EARS!