£3-4k upgrade opportunity?

[Sotosound]

Had them, loved them. A really excellent speaker, a great all-rounder and so easy to live with, but whether they would be an upgrade or a sideways move from what you have I wouldn't like to say.

P.S. Used them with a Gato 250S too, and it was a superb partnership IMHO

Had them but no longer have them?

What happened?

 

[smithy27]

Id replace the speakers.

Why

 

[newlash09]

Acoustic treatment, especially bass traps and a second REL T9 would be my suggestion.

+1

I think that your system is well balanced at the moment. So in my humble opinion, spending 3 to 4k on a component upgrade, might be just a slight improvement, but won't have me parting with 3k for that slight uptick.

So if it was my wallet and your system, below would be what I'd do :

1. The biggest singular night and day difference for me has been acoustic treatment. And trust me, it can be made visually pleasing with GIK art panels, and their bass traps for the corners. Once you have the panel mounted, just make your own gold frame to wrap the circumference of the panel, to make it look like proper art. Iam posting 2 pics of my DIY bass traps and my DIY gold frame borders.

( My room is still a work in progress, so what you see, is not what it finally will be . Iam on a mission to build a aesthetically pleasing, treated room. I will resume work on my room in Sept, should have the finished results by November)


I just stuck gold tape I bought from amazon, on thin wood strips, and nailed them on the frames.


2. After room treatment, I would recommend townshend seismic podiums or isoacoustics gaia III under the speakers. In my own experience, the improvements in bass, mid range clarity and treble have been nothing short of a full speaker upgrade, but at a much lesser outlay.

3. If you do the room treatments yourselves, like me , then room treatment + Isoacoustics gaia 3 can be done within a 1000 pounds. So that would leave 3k to improve your source if you wanted ( sell the aries 2 and get a terminator 2, or add a denafrips DDC like the gaia to the aries 2 etc ).

All the best

 

[tuga]

Why

To me (my ears and preference) they are the weakest link.

 

[StingRay]

To me (my ears and preference) they are the weakest link.

You have heard his system?

I would try a different LPSU for a start, try a Sbooster, you can get a trial from some dealers. Really I would try different source, amp and speakers.

+1

I think that your system is well balanced at the moment. So in my humble opinion, spending 3 to 4k on a component upgrade, might be just a slight improvement, but won't have me parting with 3k for that slight uptick.

So if it was my wallet and your system, below would be what I'd do :

1. The biggest singular night and day difference for me has been acoustic treatment. And trust me, it can be made visually pleasing with GIK art panels, and their bass traps for the corners. Once you have the panel mounted, just make your own gold frame to wrap the circumference of the panel, to make it look like proper art. Iam posting 2 pics of my DIY bass traps and my DIY gold frame borders.

( My room is still a work in progress, so what you see, is not what it finally will be . Iam on a mission to build a aesthetically pleasing, treated room. I will resume work on my room in Sept, should have the finished results by November)


I just stuck gold tape I bought from amazon, on thin wood strips, and nailed them on the frames.


2. After room treatment, I would recommend townshend seismic podiums or isoacoustics gaia III under the speakers. In my own experience, the improvements in bass, mid range clarity and treble have been nothing short of a full speaker upgrade, but at a much lesser outlay.

3. If you do the room treatments yourselves, like me , then room treatment + Isoacoustics gaia 3 can be done within a 1000 pounds. So that would leave 3k to improve your source if you wanted ( sell the aries 2 and get a terminator 2, or add a denafrips DDC like the gaia to the aries 2 etc ).

All the best

You have a pretty odd room, no wonder room treatment made a difference. Larger rooms the treatment may well cost considerably more than yours and may not be possible.

 

[tackleberry]

I would change my speakers too. I’m not won on the venere range. It would for me bring you the biggest reward than changing anything else in your system. Do they need to be ‘pretty’?

 

[newlash09]

You have heard his system?

I would try a different LPSU for a start, try a Sbooster, you can get a trial from some dealers. Really I would try different source, amp and speakers.

You have a pretty odd room, no wonder room treatment made a difference. Larger rooms the treatment may well cost considerably more than yours and may not be possible.

Well beggars can't be chosers , iam happy and content that I finally got a room to myselves. Where I can do as I please. Yes, larger rooms will definitely cost more to treat. For that matter, even my room would have cost a lot more had I gone with ready made panels. There is 550 kgs of stuffing in my room now. And more to follow in my next vacations. Now imagine 550 kgs in ready made panels, and the costs will start touching silly figures, pretty fast.

The above said, every room will make a profound difference with room treatments. If anyone thinks he is lucky to have a great sounding room without any treatments, then he will be in for a real surprise, once room treatments are added. I've experienced it first hand in 4 of my friends rooms, which went from good to great, with the same system.

 

[tuga]

I would try a different LPSU for a start, try a Sbooster, you can get a trial from some dealers. Really I would try different source, amp and speakers.

Do you have his system? Or ears?

Speakers will make the biggest difference, a different PSU the smallest (after cables).
Unless perhaps it's a £4k LPSU?

 

[StingRay]

Well beggars can't be chosers , iam happy and content that I finally got a room to myselves. Where I can do as I please. Yes, larger rooms will definitely cost more to treat. For that matter, even my room would have cost a lot more had I gone with ready made panels. There is 550 kgs of stuffing in my room now. And more to follow in my next vacations. Now imagine 550 kgs in ready made panels, and the costs will start touching silly figures, pretty fast.

The above said, every room will make a profound difference with room treatments. If anyone thinks he is lucky to have a great sounding room without any treatments, then he will be in for a real surprise, once room treatments are added. I've experienced it first hand in 4 of my friends rooms, which went from good to great, with the same system.

Some rooms need more treatment than others. Many don't have a dedicated room. Some rent the property so cant do room treatment. It is risky, spending £3-£4k on room treatment when changing the speakers may make more improvement. Then if you move house you will have problems.

 

[StingRay]

Do you have his system? Or ears?

Speakers will make the biggest difference, a different PSU the smallest (after cables).
Unless perhaps it's a £4k LPSU?

In your opinion. I agree speakers will make the biggest difference to the sound. But they need to suit the room unless you go down the room treatment/sound correction path. Changing the PSU is worth trying as it will only cost around £300. He could get a demo unit.

 

[tuga]

In your opinion. I agree speakers will make the biggest difference to the sound. But they need to suit the room unless you go down the room treatment/sound correction path. Changing the PSU is worth trying as it will only cost around £300. He could get a demo unit.

Why is my opinion wrong and yours right?
Also, one can buy speakers to suit a room, or better still to use acoustic or signal-level room-correction.

 

[StingRay]

Why is my opinion wrong and yours right?
Also, one can buy speakers to suit a room, or better still to use acoustic or signal-level room-correction.

I did not say it's wrong, I said its your opinion. You seem to stating it as a fact.

 

[tuga]

I did not say it's wrong, I said its your opinion. You seem to stating it as a fact.

Please read before posting. 🤦‍♂️

The message you quoted –> To me (my ears and preference) they are the weakest link.

 

[rdale]

Some rooms need more treatment than others. Many don't have a dedicated room. Some rent the property so cant do room treatment. It is risky, spending £3-£4k on room treatment when changing the speakers may make more improvement. Then if you move house you will have problems.

You don't have to spend £3-4k on acoustic treatment to make a significant difference. I have installed acoustic treatment in a property I rent. It is no more invasive than hanging pictures on the walls with picture hooks. For bass traps you don't even have to hang them from the wall with picture hooks if they are upright in the corners.

 

[StingRay]

Please read before posting. 🤦‍♂️

The message you quoted –> To me (my ears and preference) they are the weakest link.

Wrong quote, why dont you read what I quoted, it does help if you reply to right post.

 

[tuga]

Wrong quote, why dont you read what I quoted, it does help if you reply to right post.

 

[StingRay]

Wrong quote again

 

[DUVET]

Sorry over budget but approach and there could be deal to be done .

ASR Emitter

 

[Warszawa]

Has anyone got Q acoustics concept 500? Nice upgrade, or a slide sideways?

Pretty sure heard these in a shop, albeit in passing. Very laid back sound, like horizontal laid back.

 

[Jules_S]

Had them but no longer have them?

What happened?

A pair of Martin Logan Summits came up for sale at a price I couldn't ignore.... and as an "itch to scratch" I went for them. Had they not made an appearance I would still happily be enjoying the Q's.

To Joe's point about "laid back" - they do benefit (I feel) from an amp that can put a big dollop of "oomph" up them - not to wake them up per-se but to give them the control I think they need. Poorly-partnered I could imagine them sounding a bit flabby and listless. So despite being a pretty benign load I'd still be looking more towards a neutral amp with a healthy output. Doesn't have to be Class-D of course (although these amps score very well on those counts, generally).