Tax refund upgrades , anybody?

[Alaric]

As the season approaches I have begun to get upgraditis. I thought about speakers , but my little amp seems to be the choke point. I've been looking at the bel canto s300i and used Krell KAV-400xi. These would allow for speakers next year. :T I wish I could hear them first , as I'm not sure I'll like the sound of ICE amps after my little Marantz.
Is anybody else planning/hoping for new stuff with the repayment of Uncle Sam's interest free loans?

[Blindamood]

What's a tax refund...? :roll:

[Alaric]

What's a tax refund...? :roll:

It's what happens when you owe the IRS large sums of money in 2004 and overpay after that 'cause the IRS is mean . If you overpay enough (too much) sometimes they give some back. Sometimes. h:

[Bob]

You're lucky! I pay quarterly estimated taxes, I go zero exemptions on all paychecks so max. taxes will be taken out, and yet I still seem to end up owing more than the cost of a new car.

Could I have some cheese with my whine?

To your "problem". What do you want to be different, that you are hoping a amp will rectify? How much of a refund, hundreds or thousands? Depending on the amps in question, and the speakers, sometimes a change can make a very big sonic difference. From your system desciption, I don't think the change you are thinking about will be very satisfying. Possibly, you wouldn't hear anything different than what your present system is doing.

[twitch54]

You're lucky! I pay quarterly estimated taxes, I go zero exemptions on all paychecks so max. taxes will be taken out, and yet I still seem to end up owing more than the cost of a new car.

Could I have some cheese with my whine?

You really don't expect us to feel sorry for you ...do you ?? !! LOL !


Now........ regarding that "cheese with your whine" !!

[Bob]

You really don't expect us to feel sorry for you ...do you ??

LOL! No, it beats the alternatives.

[RobP]

Lee, they say that if you do something good for someone else it will come back to you tenfold...........so.........you can buy me something nice and wait for your reward. :W

[Alaric]

To your "problem". What do you want to be different, that you are hoping a amp will rectify? How much of a refund, hundreds or thousands? Depending on the amps in question, and the speakers, sometimes a change can make a very big sonic difference. From your system desciption, I don't think the change you are thinking about will be very satisfying. Possibly, you wouldn't hear anything different than what your present system is doing

I'm contemplating a speaker change , but the ones I'm looking at (Studio 100,Maggies) are somewhat power hungry.I figured being able to drive the speakers was a good first step. My current 95wpc is ok with the Studio 60s , and I like my amp , but after a little asking around about Maggies I found most people say "more power". I know the Studio 100 is a greedy speaker. I heard a RB1070 and a RB1080 A/B'ed with Studio 100 v3 and there was a pretty noticeable difference.
Heck , if I were sure my amp would drive 'em I'd try the Magnepan MMG. The trade in deal they have on them would get me some 1.6 or 3.6 models next year. (If I like 'em)
Anywho , I have the 'itis and I hope to be able to drop between 2 and 3 grand on fun stuff! I'm not unhappy with my current rig-far from it. I think I got great bang for the bucks I spent. Improvements are going to be incremental from now on , though. I'm open to input , opinions or name-calling!

[miner]

I will be upgrading my Rega P5 TT/Exact cartridge to a P7/Dynavector DV20XH soon. Major reason for upgrade - 'cause I can.

[Alaric]

Part of my issue may be all the money I spent last year on other people. I'm not into HT and don't really have many other interests than two channel audio. Maybe I'll look for another bike. Or some new vinyl and SACDs. Or both. If I like the MMGs I can sell the Paradigms and pick up a few bucks-bwaahahahahaha. Like I'm ever selling anything.

[dyazdani]

The MMGs are pretty nice, I tried out a pair a few years back, in-home. Do they still have the money back deal?

I can't help you on the power, at the time, I had Sonic Frontiers Power 3 monoblocks, 200WPC all tube.

[Alaric]

Yup , still the money back deal-and full price on the trade-in if you move up within a year. What did you think of the MMGs?

[Luke G]

I'm thinking Magnepans are in my near future too. I still regret selling my MG-I's...

[Alaric]

I found this http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=VIPKG1 and wondered if I should get all warm and fuzzy. Anybody have any input on Vincent stuff ?(Not our friend in Ireland!) I've also considered a second system. I found a 120 wpc Harman Kardon receiver and a pair of Klipsch Synergy (2 way) for a total of $735 shipped. Both items NIB. I was thinking system #2 would be a good starter system my daughter could use for quite a few years.

[M3-SRT8]

Already spent (some of) mine...

My New System, described in another thread, is as follows:

PrimaLuna DiaLogue Two tube integrated
KEF iQ9's
Yamaha CD-S2000

The rest of the refund goes into mutual funds. One of which is "The Vice Fund". It invests in politically incorrect industries. Up @ 20% each year for 6 years in a row.

[M3-SRT8]

I found this http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=VIPKG1 and wondered if I should get all warm and fuzzy. Anybody have any input on Vincent stuff ?(Not our friend in Ireland!) I've also considered a second system. I found a 120 wpc Harman Kardon receiver and a pair of Klipsch Synergy (2 way) for a total of $735 shipped. Both items NIB. I was thinking system #2 would be a good starter system my daughter could use for quite a few years.

The Vincent stuff sounds like a great deal. I, too, like Tubes.

Good Luck choosing.

LJB

[Luke G]

The rest of the refund goes into mutual funds. One of which is "The Vice Fund". It invests in politically incorrect industries. Up @ 20% each year for 6 years in a row.

Care to elaborate on what industries you have money in?

Booze, tobacco, etc.?

[M3-SRT8]

Care to elaborate on what industries you have money in?

Booze, tobacco, etc.?

They invest in Booze, Tobacco, Gambling, Aerospace & Defense Stocks.

Up another 17.8% for 2007. Up an average of 20%/year for the lifetime of the Fund. Fund inception is 2002.

[Race Car Driver]

Ive begun my upgrades early this year.

PS3, B&W NSCM1's for the rears, and B&W ASW855 will be added next month

[Hdale85]

Sony KDS-50A3000 TV. Possibly a Denon AVR-3808CI we'll see.

[Chris D]

They invest in Booze, Tobacco, Gambling, Aerospace & Defense Stocks.

Up another 17.8% for 2007. Up an average of 20%/year for the lifetime of the Fund. Fund inception is 2002.

Wow, what an interesting model. Who's the brokerage? I might just get in on that.

[Hdale85]

Hey Chris, You have an HDMI 1.3 receiver correct? Do you notice anything hugely different between regular surround formats and the lossless audio formats? Or even the new HD audio formats? Something I've been pondering.

[Chris D]

Definitely, man. I'm noticing even a difference, for example, when I play the BD version of U2 - Rattle and Hum through optical audio. The DVD version has the standard DTS track, which sounds good. But play the DTS-HD track on BD, and use optical digital audio, and it's automatically converted to compressed legacy 5.1 DTS audio, NOT the full HD version that's included on the disc. You'd think they'd sound the same, but on DVD, movie studios weren't using full bandwith possible with DTS. So even though they're both legacy 5.1 non-HD streams, the new recording sounds noticeably better, because it's at a higher bandwith! When I use HDMI to get full DTS-HD, the sound gets even better! Then go to a movie with a lossless track, (uncompressed LPCM, Dolby TrueHD, or DTS-MA) and the sound is unbelieveable. Definitely noticeable in difference!

[Glen B]

No tax refund upgrade here. I've already had my fun, now its time to pay the piper, especially with two kids currently in college. My anticipated refund will go toward financial recovery from last November's purchase of a new SACD player, and the purchase of three amps from Ebay during the past three months to add to my collection of vintage electronics.

[M3-SRT8]

Wow, what an interesting model. Who's the brokerage? I might just get in on that.

Check out Mutuals.com