Sound system ~ Would like Advice and Recommendations

TheRoarOfTheCrowd

So we recently bought a nice house with real sonic privacy [2 1/2 acres with a large greenbelt around the property as well...] the house has vaulted ceilings and good open airflow for acoustics. Its been a while since I have had a sound system.. We moved to a condominium for a decade and so i gave away our system pieces because the environment was not suitable for the size and scale of system components I had accumulated.

I had Kef 104.2 speakers a large output adcom amp, denon preamp and tuner, cd player and a cool old turntable that was the state of the art in the 70's.

Its been years since i have looked into sound systems and a lot has evolved in the meantime. I do like warm sound with natural unclipped ambience air tones and I'm curious what people would recommend... this is an open air large scale house so beautifully balanced power with nuanced definition and super clarity is what I'm after. At this point in our lives price is no issue, and we are looking for a far better system than I used to have.

My wife is a singer / song writer so we are both very interested in high quality sound. She is going to chat it up with sound engineer buddies, but I would value the input of those in the know in here... after all, this is HCH, home of the extraordinary savant lifestyle experiences.

PurpleThrobber

YellowSnow

Do you recall what the KEF speakers cost new ? I feel like those were high end back in the day.

What will be your primary source ? Streaming ? CDs? What CD player to you have ?

TheRoarOfTheCrowd

They were the best that i heard at the time... the 106. something were larger but i liked the footprint and sound staging of the 104's... they were pricey for the times, can't remember but it seems like they were 5-6 thousand for a pair at the time which was in 1987.

We will do everything... still have a pretty good selection of CD's... use to have vinyl but gave those away to my brother... my dad and brother [deceased] had a massive collection that i may be able to peruse... my brother was an engineer at the oldies station back in the day, and when they changed their format he got whatever records he wanted. My dad was a vinyl jazz and 40's-50's fan... I think the records are in my sisters garage...

I've always liked high quality reel to reel as well.

1to392831weretaken

I recommend just letting your hearing go to shit. Then good sound doesn't matter. It's free!

YellowSnow

TheRoarOfTheCrowd said:

They were the best that i heard at the time... the 106. something were larger but i liked the footprint and sound staging of the 104's... they were pricey for the times, can't remember but it seems like they were 5-6 thousand for a pair at the time which was in 1987.

We will do everything... still have a pretty good selection of CD's... use to have vinyl but gave those away to my brother... my dad and brother [deceased] had a massive collection that i may be able to peruse... my brother was an engineer at the oldies station back in the day, and when they changed their format he got whatever records he wanted. My dad was a vinyl jazz and 40's-50's fan... I think the records are in my sisters garage...

I've always liked high quality reel to reel as well.

Do you have any of the old gear or are you starting from scratch?

TheRoarOfTheCrowd

scratch... gave everything away except for an all in one bose combination cd, radio, speaker unit which we have also jettisoned when we moved.

YellowSnow

So if you are building a cost is no issue system, there are so many good options to choose from and ultimately you need to find the best local hi fi shop and start demoing stuff. In Seattle proper I’m partial to Hawthorne stereo. Definitive Audio I guess for the east side.

I tend to an Anglophile when it comes to hi fi and love the UK brands.

My cost is no object system would be the biggest Harbeth floor standers. For amplifiers I’d have a Naim power and pre (I have a Naim
Integrated).

I think Rega makes the best CD players in terms of sounding the most analog and warm. Rega makes great turn tables too. But if you want to go full baller here Luxman has some decks in the $4k to $ 7 k range that are just stunners.

Other speakers I dig are Spendor, Focal and DeVore.

I still think McIntosh makes the best looking amps but dollar for dollar there are other brands that beat them in terms of performance. But I still love their sound.

YellowSnow

But at the end of the day I’m just a humble pour and the total cost of my set up (retail) is like $11k. There’s probably some more knowledgeable folks out there in terms of cost is no object. But all of the above brands are legit and make cost is no object speakers and amps.

TheRoarOfTheCrowd

Thanks a lot, I really appreciate your taking the time to pass on your perspective... I am north of the bay area so will have to see what the local resources are and will find a way to check them out... Gracias.