Building a System - Pour on the advice.

[admin]

I believe I can go 16x20. Im thinking I splurge for treatments for the front corners (perhaps front middle wall) and the side at each wall placed via the mirror test.

That's a good sized rooms. I would wait to purchase accoustic treatments until after the system is set up. There is no reliable way to tell what you will need.

My dilemma was I was going to only place the amps by the speakers and run longer interconnects to the pre-amp, I was quoted 7K for nordost tyr 2 7m cables. Nope. I suppose I could go 5m but it Will be unlikely I can find a 5 m cable used in one level up or down from the tyr 2. I thought about splurging for a new cable for just this one and Frankenstein The rest of the system with used cables. But even at $5000 just for the one interconnect, I just don’t see that happening now.

That's a lot of money for cables. In your shoes, I would probably go with something more economical. Not saying that cables are not important, they are, but I think you can get good quality cables for much less. You can always upgrade later if you feel the need to.

I’m not sure if I mentioned this but all of my listening was going to be sourced from either flac via the server or hi-res steaming. I am under the mindset that a well created flac file will sound better than the same version streamed, especially played on my Antipodes set. With that in mind I have been buying CDs for the purpose of ripping via the P1 which is supposed to be better than exact audio copy (which I am sure is what most of my conversions used. With all these do on hand, I then questioned the idea of getting a CD or SACD transport. When speaking with knowledgeable retailers they have postulated that I would need to spend north of 15 to 20,000 on a transport to equal what I can achieve from my server.

I'm really not sure if you are going to get better sound quality from a flac file on a local server vs a flac file (presuming all things being equal) from a streaming service. You are building a top notch system here. You don't plan to have the ability to play any physical media? Also, I don't know why you would need to spend $20k just for a transport. You can buy high quality transports for a small fraction of the cost. Why not just buy a used Oppo player and see what it sounds like?

Not trying to talk you out of any particular high-cost components, but I really question people's advice when they start saying you have to spend a minimum of 5 figures to get top-level excellent sound (maybe with the exception of the speaker). At the very least, you can audition some components before comitting $20k for a transport. Just my two cents.

[Big Dog RJ]

Yes, Admin 110% agreed there mate! And your solid advice/ suggestions to the OP is far grester than 2cts!

In all this madness I've seen and been involved with the highend... so called, sometimes I really begin to question myself whether all this expenditure is really worth it. Dating back to the early 90's, when my dad and I made a trip to Spore and purchased the Bose 901 series VI system, along with NAD and Accuphase amplifiers, we thought that was it! The best you could get, and the music was very enjoyable...
Until that highend bug bit us hard!

Dealers were going awol, closing in on big sales, huge margins and convincing customers that without a particular type of component your system's no good...
I was also part of this guilty party, always recommending the greatest and latest and divulging in totally unnecessary expenses. I have seen others living just for this stuff and going big time on highend gear that it actually ruined them, including their partners and families, simply because it became an addiction.

Now, after well over 3 decades I'm very cautious in what I commit to, and my benchmark in performance is 40-45%, otherwise it's a total waste plus you've been nicely prepared for a great deal by none other than the trusted dealer. Which I used to be one myself, so guilty as hell!

Fully agree on the speakers, this is one main component that must be given priority focus, similarly the main power amplifier driving this speaker system and of course the room. The room and it's parameters must be given proper attention for any system to deliver its full potential, otherwise it's a half baked cake.

There are so many products and brands to choose from, we are spoilt for choice but limited in who we can really approach for good advice and trust. These two traits are very rare nowadays, everyone wants to make a buck, its a man for himself.

Since of lately when arriving in Aus back in 2004, having to start from scratch in rebuilding a system and getting to this point having achieved a fully custom made system towards my particular tastes/preferences in music, every component I have purchased has been through home demo's, not the dealers demo. I adopted an approach where I directly asked the dealer for home trials and auditions. If those dealers weren't willing to oblige, for whatever reasons, I simply walk away. It didn't take too long to find the right one (actually it took about 3yrs!), and that just happened to be our very own CJ importer for Aus. He was very confident of the products on offer, so home demo's were never an issue, simply because I never returned the items, I purchased them!

So how good is that, CJ, Vandersteen, McCormack, Nordost, DH Labs all under one roof, ML and Rega TT gear sourced from a similar network.

The funny thing is, when I was in search for that ultimate cable solution, if such a thing exists, I short listed on three brands for a full cable loom: Nordost, DH Labs, and Audio Quest. Apart from what I experienced and eventually settled with, when I visited several dealers offering Audio Quest, I was surprised at the variance of prices offered for exactly the same product! Some were so exhorbitant went to the extent of one dealer claiming that the other guy's Audio Quest products were too cheap because they were counterfeit! Oh boy, that's not even funny.

Putting a system together is an "art form", and there's no short cut or easy way out. It takes years, and the key is to start slow, experience what it can do, benchmark it against something else that delivers top quality sound within your finances. Compare that benchmarked system to something else, across various other price points and see and learn what's out there. The majority of best advice will be eventually learnt from those auditions and home demo's.

Then once you feel confident about your updated information and your ears are extremely happy, plus you've established a great trust with your network, might as well go ahead with the purchase.

Amplifiers and other gear is not that hard to move on, depending on if you gain or lose much, as long as the next upgrade meets all your expectations. I believe the hardest element to finally get right, and should be a final decision, are the speakers because not only does it have to gel well with the rest of the gear forming that special synergy but also it has to gel well with the room! So it's two separate aspects speakers have to fulfill.

I also think the streaming thing and digital playback systems have improved vastly or at least will continue to improve but so far it has not gotten me too excited to engage with. Therefore, I remain with the physical stuff, CDs, SACD's and vinyl. I guess I'm old fashioned or out of date but whenever I compare sonics side by side, the difference in overall quality is quite apparent.

I hope Jordan can request for a few home demo's because there's nothing like trying this marvellous gear at home on your very own system... If the dealer/s are confident in what they offer and stand by it, they shouldn't be afraid to oblige

Cheers mate, you raised some very good points and definitely not 2cts worth!
Big woof! RJ