What should I upgrade in my setup?

This thread is possibly one of those Oh I will start a thread and just sit back and watch them get on with it. Without anymore input from the OP this thread is just going round in circles.
You might be right there.
 
I don't know how you came to this surely the speakers should be the 1st thing to look at. Those Dali's are very limited.
The amp is powerful enough to drive most speakers though I'd agree it is limited.
My hunch is that the system overall is very neutral and lacks bottom end.

OP I don't know the best way to go about upgrading yours system, it's very unbalanced.
If you know someone with a phono pre amp it might be worth asking if you could give it a go, I'm not sure of the quality of the one on the Topaz.
Long term I'd be tempted to get better speakers, again if you can connect some borrowed ones that might help. Something a bit more musical and with a bigger bass driver.
Eventually I feel you'll want to upgrade your speakers and your amp I would start with speakers as they really are the weak point.
The speakers are better than the OP’s amp, which is not very good frankly. The OP would like to upgrade, this is where he should start, IMO of course.

The amp is the heart of any system, get that right and it makes everything else that much easier. That’s where I’d be starting.

I’d dismiss any changes to cartridge or phono stage, this will solve nothing and be a waste of time, IMO of course.
 
I’d dismiss any changes to cartridge or phono stage, this will solve nothing and be a waste of time, IMO of course.
Surely new cartridge, phono stage can solve matter. Later on I mean or perhaps at the moment.

OP clearly states lack of warmth. This can mean bright fatiguing sound. New speakers would solve this.

But perhaps new cartridge, phono stage can also. Sadly I’m no TT expert, perhaps my comments don’t matter.

However I have read lot about vinyl, and changing the cartridge, stylus does wonders sometime.

After all you can get super expensive MC cartridges.
 
But he's said it sounds fine with a other source so that means amp and speakers are fine (plus not a reflective room etc)
 
But he's said it sounds fine with a other source so that means amp and speakers are fine (plus not a reflective room etc)
Fine can mean fine. I guess how you define sound. He clearly states lack of warmth.

Meaning it’s fine via iPod, not via vinyl. I assume he likes vinyl better. Hence likes to upgrade the TT setup.

Also the amplifier as mentioned should be in synch with speakers.

Alas it is impossible to say since OP doesn’t report back.
 
Surely new cartridge, phono stage can solve matter. Later on I mean or perhaps at the moment.

OP clearly states lack of warmth. This can mean bright fatiguing sound. New speakers would solve this.

But perhaps new cartridge, phono stage can also. Sadly I’m no TT expert, perhaps my comments don’t matter.

However I have read lot about vinyl, and changing the cartridge, stylus does wonders sometime.

After all you can get super expensive MC cartridges.
I'm no expert, but with a turntable one of if not the biggest influence on a TT sound is the stylus. You did mention MC cartridges, I would not go down that road as it can be very expensive and in most case you can't replace the needle or re-tipping as they say or if you can it's a specialists job, it's better to stay with MM.
I'm not saying you were trying to influence him to go MC 👌
 
Hi Harrison,

Your CA amp is the weak link here, the rest of your system is worth a better, dedicated stereo amplifier IMO.

The CA Topaz series were the most basic of components and can easily be bettered by a large margin. There is no mention of budget, so let’s start with that ?

Your speakers are respectable, they will sound MUCH better with a better amplifier. Then, when you realise the improvement an amp upgrade has unleashed, they can then be upgraded. Budget is the key here, wotcha got ?
To be honest not a great deal, was hoping not to go to far over the £200 mark
 
I’m not saying that your individual components wouldn’t benefit from an upgrade, but before you spend any money and dive down that rabbit hole, I’d spend a bit of time looking at the relationship between your speakers and the room. Because it’s free and it’s something people should typically give more thought to anyway.

As mentioned by others, pictures of your room and speakers, along with the size of your room will really help identify any obvious problems.

If you’re saying the system lacks warmth, this could be because your system isn’t delivering enough bass so you’re hearing too much of the upper registers within the whole frequency range. If so, moving your speakers closer to the front wall for a bit of boundary reinforcement could make a significant difference.

But there are so many factors at work with rooms and speaker positioning, that some pictures would really help prevent us all barking up the wrong tree.

My other guess is simply system matching. The relationship between your components is often as important as the ability of each component in its own right.

Get system matching right and you can achieve surprisingly great things with even modest budgets. Get it wrong and each component can end up either exacerbating the other’s weaknesses or nullifying its strengths.

And that’s why going to demo equipment before you buy is so important.

I have DALI speakers and have owned a Cambridge amp in the past. Whether they mirror a similar sonic signature to yours I’m not sure but in my experience they’re both on the forward side of neutral and emphasise the treble. So if amp AND speakers have this trait, the combined effect could be too much of a good thing. To counteract that you may need a warmer fuller amp (Arcam or Denon perhaps) or warmer speakers (Q Acoustics maybe).


I wonder how many people will buy components in the sales over the next few days simply because they saw an expensive component reduced to their price range and mistakenly thought, “if it’s a big reduction it must sound better” only to find it doesn’t suit their system, room or personal taste at all, then they put a thread on this forum asking others to fix it.

Online bargains must be among the biggest causes of user dissatisfaction and disappointment going in the hi-fi world.
Was very close to doing this and purchasing some Q Acoustic concept 20 in the sale. Unfortunately am sans camera at the moment due to a phone drop, but have experimented with moving the speakers round and having them on my monitor stands with isolation pads. I’ve achieved different sounds but never got the really clear sound I’ve heard from other setups.

My friend has a setup with a planar 1, nad c316bee and psb alpha p5 speakers and everything has this clarity and warmth to it as if I’m in the room with the musicians. I can hear every part and it makes me want to listen to music. It even sounds great with the aux connected to an iPhone. I have never felt that excited to listen to music with my setup
 
Was very close to doing this and purchasing some Q Acoustic concept 20 in the sale. Unfortunately am sans camera at the moment due to a phone drop, but have experimented with moving the speakers round and having them on my monitor stands with isolation pads. I’ve achieved different sounds but never got the really clear sound I’ve heard from other setups.

My friend has a setup with a planar 1, nad c316bee and psb alpha p5 speakers and everything has this clarity and warmth to it as if I’m in the room with the musicians. I can hear every part and it makes me want to listen to music. It even sounds great with the aux connected to an iPhone. I have never felt that excited to listen to music with my setup
It can be the room and the speakers. Mentioned before by others I believe.

Pictures of listing position might help.
 
I don't know how you came to this surely the speakers should be the 1st thing to look at. Those Dali's are very limited.
The amp is powerful enough to drive most speakers though I'd agree it is limited.
My hunch is that the system overall is very neutral and lacks bottom end.

OP I don't know the best way to go about upgrading yours system, it's very unbalanced.
If you know someone with a phono pre amp it might be worth asking if you could give it a go, I'm not sure of the quality of the one on the Topaz.
Long term I'd be tempted to get better speakers, again if you can connect some borrowed ones that might help. Something a bit more musical and with a bigger bass driver.
Eventually I feel you'll want to upgrade your speakers and your amp I would start with speakers as they really are the weak point.
Feeing very conflicted now! Unfortunately I’m located pretty remotely so borrowing things and bringing my setup to a shop is quite difficult, especially as I don’t drive. I’m hoping to go and test some parts but won’t be able to use my exact setup.

Consensus seemed to be speakers but some are also mentioning amp and as I’ve really only got about £200 maybe a little more as my budget I’m pretty stuck with only upgrading one.

I was considering ordering the concept 20s from Sevenoaks as the deal at the moment seems very good
 
Surely new cartridge, phono stage can solve matter. Later on I mean or perhaps at the moment.

OP clearly states lack of warmth. This can mean bright fatiguing sound. New speakers would solve this.

But perhaps new cartridge, phono stage can also. Sadly I’m no TT expert, perhaps my comments don’t matter.

However I have read lot about vinyl, and changing the cartridge, stylus does wonders sometime.

After all you can get super expensive MC cartridges.
I would say fatiguing is a good description of the sound I get. The mix always feels extremely cluttered
 
Fine can mean fine. I guess how you define sound. He clearly states lack of warmth.

Meaning it’s fine via iPod, not via vinyl. I assume he likes vinyl better. Hence likes to upgrade the TT setup.

Also the amplifier as mentioned should be in synch with speakers.

Alas it is impossible to say since OP doesn’t report back.
By fine I meant extremely average, not an enjoyable and exciting sound that I’ve experienced on other setups. This was a setup I was gifted in 2014 for a 21st birthday and hasn’t been upgraded since. Unfortunately I don’t have a huge amount to spend at the moment.

Apologies for not replying sooner have had a lot more family commitments than I expected this Xmas period
 
You cannot borrow the speakers, rest of kit your friend have? At least try. This way you can see where the problem is.

I see your friend has NAD. This particularNAD- amplifier is on the warm side of neutral.
 
You cannot borrow the speakers, rest of kit your friend have? At least try. This way you can see where the problem is.

I see your friend has NAD. This particularNAD- amplifier is on the warm side of neutral.
Unfortunately I don’t live close to this friend and as we don’t drive that’s not going to be realistic
 
Unfortunately I don’t live close to this friend and as we don’t drive that’s not going to be realistic
Sorry, I saw you mentioned this before my reply. Can you add pictures then.
 
Sorry, I saw you mentioned this before my reply. Can you add pictures then.
Sorry I don’t have any more recent ones as my camera is screwed at the moment

This was the original way it was setup. I have since tried speaker stands to the left and right about half a metre from the wall. As you can see from the second photo it’s not the easiest space due to being a loft flat.
F35E8886-F04D-4C9C-A49C-2330A117C745.png
A78ADD16-93FF-4C17-AC2C-7D3117F28677.png
 
buy some speaker stands for £50 and move those speakers further apart

Also, where are you sitting when listening? on the sofa adjacent?
 
buy some speaker stands for £50 and move those speakers further apart

Also, where are you sitting when listening? on the sofa adjacent?
As I said earlier I’ve got them now on speaker stands further apart and 50cm from the wall! I’m usually sitting at the table
 
Feeing very conflicted now! Unfortunately I’m located pretty remotely so borrowing things and bringing my setup to a shop is quite difficult, especially as I don’t drive. I’m hoping to go and test some parts but won’t be able to use my exact setup.

If your only option is to buy blind, then whatever you do, either buy new from a seller who has an excellent return policy, OR take a punt on used equipment.

Used is risky of course, but one benefit is that you can keep the component for a month or three months, give it a jolly good listen, really let yourself get used to the sound, and if you still don't like it then, well, sell it on and hopefully you won't lose too much.

Maybe if you like your friend's system, his components would be a good place to start. At least you know what you like! That's actually a good starting point. Just be careful though that it's not a kind of sound that's great for a 5 minute demo (exciting) but after an hour is too much (tiring / fatiguing). You'll know if you have to turn the volume DOWN after listening to it for a while.

Have a chat with your friend. See if he would be good enough to bring his equipment to your place and see if it still sounds good in your room. You could even then mix and match your components with his, learning how each component complements or distracts from the others in the chain. And you would learn first hand how your room and speaker positioning within it are contributing to the overall sound.

EDIT: just seen pictures of your room and your comments about the speaker stands.

My initial impression is that the L-shaped room is fairly large cubic-capacity wise for what are pretty small speakers. I would imagine they're struggling to fill the space with the lower registers which may contribute to a lean less warm sound. However, if you place the speakers you have a little closer to the wall, it may help. Worth a try. But the above suggestions to swap around with your friend's equipment may be worth trying.
 
Hola. Welcome back
 
I agree with above, the room is larger than I envisioned, I’d wrongly assumed the room was smaller due to the speaker choice.

With that excuse out of the way, speakers first would probably make sense. Would you be able to accommodate small floorstanders ?

There are lots of used choices for good quality floorstanding speakers to be had although it would appear you’d be buying blind which is a bigger risk with speakers.
 
I agree with above, the room is larger than I envisioned, I’d wrongly assumed the room was smaller due to the speaker choice.

With that excuse out of the way, speakers first would probably make sense. Would you be able to accommodate small floorstanders ?

There are lots of used choices for good quality floorstanding speakers to be had although it would appear you’d be buying blind which is a bigger risk with speakers.
I’ve always found this setup lacking in the 6 houses I’ve had it in so not sure it’s just how the speakers are in the room

I’d be open to trying some floor standers, do you have suggestions under 250. I have seen a pair of q 3050i for 300 I could splurge to, but would I not be better spending a bit less and saving to change the amp too?

If I could stretch to £400 could I get a good set of speakers or floor standers and a replacement amp?
 
for £400 you should be able to get a decent amp and speakers on the used market. My first amp was a cambridge audio, (though i cant remember what one now but was a budget model) my first serious upgrade was a NAD C320BEE amp and some Monitor Audio BR2 speakers. I always liked the combo. You could probably get both for £300-£400 or even some floorstanders.
 
I’ve found some q acoustics 2050i speakers for £100 which seems a bargain, is there an amp in the £200 range you could recommend
 

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