[icarus]

   I am a relative newby with decent 'mid-fi' machines.Nad c372,Polk Lsi15 pair,Rotel RCD1072.Am looking for best bang/buck for now.Will be awhile before next step.Would you replace Nad with the likes of Parasound A21,as I like the performance of the Polks,but any better would be nice.Or would you go to such as something in the $3 to $4 grand range of speaker,e.g. Vs VR4,Hyperion,Jm Labs,ad infinitum,running off the Nad. My room works well size wise with the Polks.Many thanks for your time/opinions.

[mcgsxr]

Welcome to AC!

Could you fill us in a little more around room size, and music preferences etc?

Thanks, that might lead folks to recommend something, with a little more insight.

[Occam]

Am looking for best bang/buck for now.Will be awhile before next step.

While you're waiting, replace those horrid jumpers connecting the Nad's preamp-out to the poweramp-in. They suck (the life out of the Nad). Tara and AudioQuest make jumpers specifically for that purpose. Jena Labs also makes a more bespoke (expensive) version. Anyone with a Nad or Creek will benefit tremendously. I used to make my own version with a 'tiffany' style rca phallus portion of a rca male with a single 3" piece of magnet wire. No need for a complete interconnect, as the grounds are common. If your Nad is out of warranty, the easiest thing to do is take a small piece of wire (your choice, magnet, silver, etc...) and bypass the connection inside your amp, taking those connectors out of the signal path. Its easy to reverse the surgurey with a diagonal cutting pliers to remove the wire.

http://www.dagogo.com/DussunV8i-jumpers.html

[icarus]

 Mark,room size 12x20x7height.I sit about 10 ft. from speakers.Music choices are 99 per cent acoustical,e.g. 'bebop',some classical,some other 'jazz' types.The Polks sound great as to 'depth','stage',etcetera.Also if I were to go the amp route this time,I would be using the Nad for preamp.Again,thanks. Also Occam, I am using a $40 pair of ic wires in place of the 'pins'.Thanks.

[lazydays]

  I am a relative newby with decent 'mid-fi' machines.Nad c372,Polk Lsi15 pair,Rotel RCD1072.Am looking for best bang/buck for now.Will be awhile before next step.Would you replace Nad with the likes of Parasound A21,as I like the performance of the Polks,but any better would be nice.Or would you go to such as something in the $3 to $4 grand range of speaker,e.g. Vs VR4,Hyperion,Jm Labs,ad infinitum,running off the Nad. My room works well size wise with the Polks.Many thanks for your time/opinions.

I once listened to those speakers, and really liked them. There ain't nothing wrong with them, other than a tad short on bass (so some folks say, but I don't). But remember they are 4 ohm speakers, so I'd forget about tubes in the amp stage. I think if it were my call the next move would be to a better tubed preamp. There's a lot of good ones out there, and of course the price will vary all over the planet. So here's a couple thoughts:

* Odyssey Candela for $1100 you just can't go wrong here! Very adaptable to driving a
   solid state amp. Downside is there's no tape loop installed. You'll need to spend $4K
   to get better sound.
* Quicksilver line stage. I have one that was replaced by the Candela. Very high quality,
   and can be bought for around $550 dollars used, but in near mint condition. The sound
   of this unit is not even close to the Candela. Still a good unit.
* Some of the older Conrad Johnson stuff can be had for a good price. I use one of their
   PV10's in my bedroom system. Very smooth preamp, but maybe a touch laid back. 
   Found that it will really smooth out a solid state amp (I keep an Adcom amp as a
   spare unit).
* AVA makes several nice preamps as well, and Frank like Klaus (Odyssey) are very
   good folks to work with.
* Believe it or not I have an ASL 2004 gathering dust, that is kept around in case of a
   major  catastropic failure. It's somewhat veiled, and maybe a touch dark. But it keeps
   on plugging away. And these things can be had really on the cheap.

      Now if it were my money( $3K), I think I'd order a candela preamp with the remote option. Then pick up something like a Jolida CD100A and a pair ZU Gede cables. For an amp You might want to either use the "preamp in circut" with the NAD outfit, or better yet look around for a nice Odyssey Kartago. There are some other good units out there, but not in that price range. That's going to leave you about $500 for cables (audiogon is loaded with them). Also you could resell the older stuff, and add to the $500. The reason I went with a tube preamp is that it will really smooth out the amp, and the same with the Jolida.
gary

[Zero]

Icarus,

You’ve put together a very smart system. Dollar for dollar, each component is a tough act to follow. The Lsi-15’s in particular offer great performance for your hard-earned dollar. Bear in mind I say this with the bias of being a fan of Polk, having owned numerous pairs of their speakers in the past. You picked the right speaker for the size of your room as it takes a bit of space for the 15 to “fill” out. So what to do?

Naturally the first piece of advice to anyone is to try and get your ear on as many speaker as possible to see if you can find something that will “take it to the next level”. If you find a pair of speakers that tickles your fancy – then you know what to shoot for!

I can say with confidence however, that your LSi-15’s still have quite a few more notches to go. Between the complex cross-over, impedance, and sheer thickness of the woofers, they are not power tube friendly – you’ve got the right idea by going solid state.

While the Parasound Halo series gives great performance for the dollar, their sonic signature does not best compliment the Lsi. For similar amount of coin, I would investigate going with an integrated more along the lines of a Bryston B100 SST or the Krell KAV400xi.  Bear in mind these aren’t absolute or specific recommendations. Instead, I am simply trying to encourage you to investigate powerful amplifiers that focus more on the detail/transient/transparent side of things to counter-balance the natural warmth of the LSi-15’s. 

Regardless, when going down the upgrade path – its important to have a very solid idea of what you want. You will have to sit down and ask yourself; “what do I like about my system now? What virtues does it have that I want to have later in the future, what things do I wish were better, and what’s  most important to me? Is it transparency? Scale? Dynamics? Timbre? Theres any number of directions you can go.. but its best to have a good idea of what you are looking for before you set sail on your journey.

Good luck!

[Brad]

If you haven't already done so, TREAT YOUR ROOM
First reflection points, corners, etc, etc.

Since you already have a pretty nice system in place, I would start there.
A few hundred in room treatments will seem like a few grand in hardware improvement.

I agree with the tube preamp idea, but I'd do the room treatments first.
There are some good, inexpensive options (even a couple from vendors with circles here)

[gooberdude]

I 2nd Brad's recomendation....even spending $200 toward some 8th Nerve or MG audio
corner triangles would make you happy...assuming you haven't treated the room.

i'm a newbie too and recently installed the Deluxe Room Tunes kit from michael green audio.  Instantly i knew it was the right way to spend $225.     

Try and install a decent wall outlet too, like a Furutech Fi-15cu for $40.

no affiliation whatsoever...

[smccull]

I second the Eighth Nerve recomendation. I couldn't do much in my den because of the wife so I ordered their corners and they really cleaned things up, more than I thought they would. And they blend in well. We almost forget they're there.

I also second the tube preamp considering your listening preferences. Tubes will really bring the sound to life and give you that bloom and soundstage that heightens the experience with acoustic and jazz music. Since you probably can't and wouldn't want to go with tubes in the power amp, the pre seems like a logical place to place them. And pre tubes last forever and do not require to be biased, so they're almost as maintenance free as SS pres.

Regarding cables, you might check out Paul Spetlz's Anti-Cables. They're silly good for the money (meaning cheap!). They are clean, dynamic and extended with no coloration that I can hear. Even if they don't work out, you can sell them easily and not be out of a ton of cash. In fact, I have a 13' pair I might sell if you were interested. I ended up needing a 16' pair, so I may end up keeping the shorter pair or putting them up for sale here, or on Audiogon.

I too like the NAD equipment and think you'll be hard pressed to improve that a ton. I don't know the Polk speakers you have, so I can't comment there. But if you did end up with new speakers I think the VR 4's and Hyperions would be the ticket. Also check out Zu Druids. They are killer for the price.

Best of luck!

[icarus]

  Thanks for each of the opinions.All have led me to more research,and to a hopefully real improvement to come.Many thanks!

[JLM]

Good advice above.  CDPs in the price range of the Rotel are being replaced with Squeeze Box (that can be modded) or cheap universal players (that can also be modded) as market forces are pushing chip vendors away from CDPs.  Either can be upgraded with a DAC.  IMO the SB is the obvious choice if you're at all computer savy.