[sgodwin66]

New to the board and restarting my audio journey after 25 years. Step 1,  old broken Technics TT --> Project Debut Carbon. Step 2, Bluesound Node streaming CDs from NAS. Step 3, NAD 7000 monitor series receiver --> Hegel H190. Step 4, JMLab Focal 706 --> ???

Looking forward to the next step.

Thanks!

[FullRangeMan]

Welcome to AC 

[Jeff_From_Michigan]

Welcome! You are getting back into the hobby at a very exciting time. I see that you're doing both vinyl and digital, and that you have some very nice building blocks in the system. 

Any recommendations would require knowing what you're trying to do. Budget is a key consideration.

What percentage of your time do you spend listening to vinyl vs. CD rips? Do you listen to internet radio or a streaming service (Qobuz, Tidal, etc...)?

What are you accomplishing in running both the NAD and the Hegel?  Is this so that you can listen to FM radio? How exactly is this implemented?

The one thing that sticks out to me right off the bat is that your speakers only measure down to 57Hz.  A subwoofer (or two) would transform your system for sure.

[ArthurDent]

Greetings & Welcome to AC   

[Phil A]

Welcome!

[I.Greyhound Fan]

Welcome! You are getting back into the hobby at a very exciting time. I see that you're doing both vinyl and digital, and that you have some very nice building blocks in the system. 

Any recommendations would require knowing what you're trying to do. Budget is a key consideration.

What percentage of your time do you spend listening to vinyl vs. CD rips? Do you listen to internet radio or a streaming service (Qobuz, Tidal, etc...)?

What are you accomplishing in running both the NAD and the Hegel?  Is this so that you can listen to FM radio? How exactly is this implemented?

The one thing that sticks out to me right off the bat is that your speakers only measure down to 57Hz.  A subwoofer (or two) would transform your system for sure.

He is not using both the NAD and Hegel.  He replaced the NAD with the Hegel.  Same for his TT.

[Jeff_From_Michigan]

OK, I misunderstood the post. Thanks for correcting me. I need to pay closer attention.

In light of that, my first recommendation would be a set of speakers, or speakers and sub(s), capable of producing more of the lower octaves.

It would be helpful to know the proposed budget for speakers, the size of the room, what kind of music you listen to and how loudly.

[sgodwin66]

Thanks for the replies - yes, the Hegel replaced the NAD. It amazed me that the NAD was still fully functional after all of those years, but the Hegel sounds better, even with older speakers.

I mostly listen to ripped CDs and streaming through the Node (Spotify and Amazon Music - mostly for convenience). Occasionally vinyl. My philosophy there is that if I like it, and it was originally vinyl, I try to get it on vinyl. Otherwise I'm all digital.

I've been looking at bookshelf speakers (e.g. KEF R3) and having fun trying to audition them when I can. I'm somewhat curious about DIY (e.g. GR Research) but kind of drawn to commercially available speakers for fit / finish reasons. That's Step 4 of my journey over the next few months.

Thanks all!

[I.Greyhound Fan]

You can buy finished speakers from GR Research.