I don't know what the DQ-10s sound like yet but my DQ-20s are a very greatly revealing speaker in the sense that really great recordings (Diana Krall) sound fantastic and so-so masterings really sound obviously more compressed. Perhaps it's that way with most better speakers (as I suspect?) and I just haven't heard enough of them to first hand yet...

Some of the big box store speakers I've had in my living room over the last several months include JBLs, Yamahas, Sansuis, and many, many pair of cerwin vega seem to find a sort of middle ground much easier. Everything sounds pretty good on them and nothing sounds terrible... and nothing sounds "live" like my new reference Diana Krall Live in Paris CD either.

I know there are other links in the chain too such as DACs, preamp, amp and even wires, something in particular I have always suspected had a high ratio of diminishing returns...

Thoughts?

The diminishing returns are in your wallet. lol

my biggest improvements in sound were my amp, pre-amp and DAC. but my speaker canare speaker wire surprisingly made a very big improvement for minimal cost.

elroy

Really? Pretty good bang-for-the-buck then? I've read so many contrasting opinions on the topic that I just sort of threw my hands in the air at the thought. Especially since some companies (that shall remain unnamed to avoid injury) throw around terms in their ads that are in complete contradiction with the laws of physics!

Here is the first "shootout" google came up with:

http://www.soundscapeav.com/wire_rev.html

And then you have things like this:

http://www.noiseaddicts.com/2008/11/most-e...est-audiophile/

In contrast to things like this:

http://gizmodo.com/363154/audiophile-death...s-a-coat-hanger

And of course you can read 100 different A/B comparisons without ever getting a clearcut winner.

I've heard your system and it certainly sounds excellent but how much of that is the wires you suppose? One would think that the one component (and I do consider good cable as components, not accessories) with no moving parts, transistors or other switchs, presumably the fewest additional variables, would also have the smallest improvement potential compared to physically much more complex things like DACs and preamps...

the speaker wire thing with me, was that they were some really old original wire set from when the guy bought the vandy's new. very thin and generic.

even right now I am running my yamaha cr1020 as the preamp and there is a very clear difference in sound. way less refinement and clarity.

now when i changed IC's there wasnt a stark, glaring difference, I have a set of kimber pbj's and I replaced them with grant fidelity IC"s , and there was a difference in sound but the pbj's didnt have the clarity in the highs, so I went with the fidelity's. but my point is that change was subtle, not an amazing change in sound.

elroy

the Canare speaker wire that Todd uses is the same that i use, s411 starquad. i think it may very well be the ultimate in budget wire as it sounds great and goes for around $1 per foot.

I have a pair of Tara Labs bi-wired speaker cales. I put them on my 12.2s. I did notice more bass after the switch.

but was the change something that blew you away, or was it subtle?

el

subtle

Wow! Both of you guys have really nice sounding systems. I remember you telling me you could get that wire for "pretty cheap" and I still assumed you must have meant something like $10/foot! Where can I pick them up?

As for ICs I don't have anything really great but nothing really bad either. I have GE Ultimate Cinema ICs that terminate in Monster-style (that turbo look) gold plated connectors. They fit VERY tightly as they compress by pulling on them just a little after they are seated. Best part is that I got them for $1 for 6 feet in a two channel pair. I run heavy gauge Monster in matched length pairs for speaker wire, would be curious to see if I could hear a difference between it and something like those Canares.

one factor is where you are starting from. if you replace your quality component with one of higher quality, the improvements are not going to be a great as when you first got that quality component to replace an old mediocre component of low quality.

another factor is component synergy. if you get lucky you can find components that make magic, even when compared to components of higher quality.

but the biggest change that made me do the "wow" was amplification. when I went to the cx/mx2000 the change wasnt even close. a whole new level of refinement.

elroy

i made a typo, that should be 4s11 and you can get it at several places. here are a couple ..

http://www.markertek.com/SearchProduct.asp...4s11&pagesize=0

http://www.westlake-electronic.com/cgi-bin...at&sgid=l10stat

westlake has it for $0.80 per foot right now, markertek is $1.17 (less shipping on both quotes).

And then what are you using for termination?

For sure. I think my amp is pretty good considering it's intended for five channel surround as opposed to two channel audio only but the big one for me was the preamp stage... As I had been working around a dual-role principal I had had several pretty decent integrated home theater receivers in my living room already. When I added my Adcom dedicated amp I started using the receiver(s) as preamp and saw a very good improvement, most notable with channel separation during movies of course.

I went through a couple of $1000 Yamahas and a $1500 Onkyo integrated AV receiver before I finally broke down and replaced them with my original Adcom pre and pro. While the Adcom stuff doesn't have the bells and whistles of the more modern integrated stuff the difference in sound quality was stunning for both movies and music.