Decided it's time to upgrade my stereo system. The system I have now was the first thing I bought when I moved out on my own 20 years ago - a Yamaha RX 385 receiver, Boston Acoustic HD9s and an Onkyo 1400 turntable.
I'm living in a condo/loft. The listening area is sort of set up like this - couch is about 13 feet from the wall where the system is set up. The "room" is 35 feet deep by about 25 feet wide, but the back half of that 35 feet gets cut into a width of 17 feet about 6 feet past the couch. Ceilings are 12 feet high and concrete. Living in the condo I have shared (but decently soundproofed) walls, so I don't want to make my neighbors completely hate me - I rarely get above 1 o'clock on the current system's volume.
The Onkyo has been replaced with a Rega RP1 that should be arriving later this week. The speakers are shot so they're definitely going. There's a PSB dealer here in town and I really like the sound of the Image series speakers at his place - I was looking at the B5/B6s and the T5s.
Questions I guess I have - I am leaning toward also upgrading the receiver to get a better sound and phono preamp - most of my listening is vinyl (lots of indie rock & jazz...some metal) I was thinking of checking out the Marantz PM5004 people on here seem to like - there's a dealer about 20 min away. Is that Marantz a significant improvement over my old Yamaha? What else in that rough range ($400-500) is a good alternative/upgrade? Is the Rega Brio a huge jump in quality? The place I picked up the RP1 also stocks those, but it's a bit more than I was initially thinking of spending.
And then, if I go with something in that range for an amp are the B5s on a pair of stands a good route? Do I need a better/bigger amp for T5s? Also, considering my listening needs, am I fine with the B5s in this room or is something more like the T5s a better bet?
Thanks for any advice in advance.
Decided it's time to upgrade my stereo system. The system I have now was the first thing I bought when I moved out on my own 20 years ago - a Yamaha RX 385 receiver, Boston Acoustic HD9s and an Onkyo 1400 turntable.
I'm living in a condo/loft. The listening area is sort of set up like this - couch is about 13 feet from the wall where the system is set up. The "room" is 35 feet deep by about 25 feet wide, but the back half of that 35 feet gets cut into a width of 17 feet about 6 feet past the couch. Ceilings are 12 feet high and concrete. Living in the condo I have shared (but decently soundproofed) walls, so I don't want to make my neighbors completely hate me - I rarely get above 1 o'clock on the current system's volume.
The Onkyo has been replaced with a Rega RP1 that should be arriving later this week. The speakers are shot so they're definitely going. There's a PSB dealer here in town and I really like the sound of the Image series speakers at his place - I was looking at the B5/B6s and the T5s.
Questions I guess I have - I am leaning toward also upgrading the receiver to get a better sound and phono preamp - most of my listening is vinyl (lots of indie rock & jazz...some metal) I was thinking of checking out the Marantz PM5004 people on here seem to like - there's a dealer about 20 min away. Is that Marantz a significant improvement over my old Yamaha? What else in that rough range ($400-500) is a good alternative/upgrade? Is the Rega Brio a huge jump in quality? The place I picked up the RP1 also stocks those, but it's a bit more than I was initially thinking of spending.
And then, if I go with something in that range for an amp are the B5s on a pair of stands a good route? Do I need a better/bigger amp for T5s? Also, considering my listening needs, am I fine with the B5s in this room or is something more like the T5s a better bet?
Thanks for any advice in advance.