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Which component to upgrade next for improved sound quality

Robin L

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"Not every new member is a troll from another forum, OP seems quite genuine in seeking assistance here."
@JSmith I am very genuine in my question. And I did get a few decent answers.

Still I get a bit disappointed in the discussion when I say that I currently have A, B and C. A will not change for a few reasons. I do have X budget for B and/or C. And the replies state "You should change A".
Unfortunately, it looks like the weakest link in your case are the speakers. However, assuming you like what these speakers are doing and intend to spend around $500, the NAD appears to be a bit underpowered. You can find a more powerful amp for less than $500.

I'm an old dog in this game and am about to suggest a lateral move that will improve your sound. I've had speakers, large and small, good and not so good. Like I said before, if you like the sound of your speakers, a bigger amp will give you more of the same. However, because of the design of your speakers, utilizing a bigger amp might not give you all that much more volume because your speakers have small woofers with limited power handling. You could get more power/clarity with a powered subwoofer. Ideally, you'd bandpass the signal going to the speakers, cutting them off around 100hz and having everything below that go to the sub. I suspect the NAD amp you've got does not have a provision for a subwoofer. I owned the original NAD 3020, nice but very limited in power. I've recently found a lot of A/V receivers, used, in record shops and thrift stores, for something like $50. While they may not be the be-all and end all of audio, they make it much easier to join a sub to speakers and have more power than your NAD amp. They also make it easier to have a surround system, though that is a whole 'nother can of worms.

This doesn't address any of your problems but it did address mine. What I did with $500 to improve sound: Topping E30 DAC, Topping L30 headphone amp and Drop 6XX headphones, hooked up to my computer, playing Apple lossless files and Amazon music, not to mention streamed movies and all that YouTube has to offer.

I have a nice little system of a/d/s 400 speakers, a Sonance powered sub and a Yamaha a/v receiver. As I got all of it from thrift stores and yard sales it only set me back about $120. The a/d/s speakers have larger woofers than your speakers but in smaller boxes. They are designed to be mated with a sub anyway, limited to about 100hz before the bottom falls out. I don't think you'll find this sort of system for $500 unless you're really lucky. Of my two systems, the headphone based system is much more musically informative and I use it much more often. If I were to do something about my loudspeaker based system I'd get some floorstanding speakers, but I'd have to get them used if I were to really improve the overall sound because $500 of floorstanding speakers wouldn't be all that big of an upgrade from what you've/I've got. Anyway, the room I've got the audio gear in right now is too small for that sort of thing. On the other hand, I did manage to find the 5 of a 5.1 system at a thrift store for all of $80, Infinity Primus speakers with big and small tower speakers and a center channel. For a while I was on the hunt for used audio gear, that required access to thrift stores and a lot of time on my hands. You might not be as lucky. But if you're a smart shopper, you can find amazing deals with used gear.
 
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Frank Dernie

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Not sure if everyone commenting in the thread is familiar with the model/general design, or just claim them to be the limiting factor due to them being an old design and rather unknown in the US.
I know them, but I am not in the US.
IMO omni speakers sound nice but can never be accurate to the original recording. As you like them, and electronic changes won't make any difference, what are you dissatisfied by?
If there is a prominent peak in the response this can be changed by room treatment or moving speakers and listening position.
You can use some sort of room compensation too, though I am not a fan of that as a first solution.
 

Mnyb

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Yes more power ! if you renovated your Carlson's to modern spec with modern drivers they shure can handle more power .
You can not have to much clean power.

And noise . People get all riled up with 0.005% thd you might not hear that at all but if an amp or DAC is noisy that you can hear, hiss is not nice .

So a very silent DAC like the Topping D70S or similar and a purifi based class D amp (check out audophonics offerings ) that could give you a dead silent system that can take EQ .

I've not heard any modern take on the Carlsson speaker I've heard them in the 80's as a teenager so i have no mature concept of them I'm a bit to young ;) (51) I never heard the restored ones or the Larsen variants of them .
 

FrantzM

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Subwoofers? At the frequencies they operate or should operate, radiation is Omni. If you go that route, you may be able to off load a good portion of the spectrum from the main speakers, resulting in better reproduction. I hasten to add that this is not an easy upgrade and may require additional components.
How big is your room and how sensitive are your speakers?
On a different note @Wes is correct. I am not sure electronics is where you should focus. You ask for advices those are mine
 

Plcamp

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One thing that helped my system at zero cost was to find speaker positionin the room where all closest reflection points had maximum path length differences to the direct signal.

I would like to also try fractal diffusers behind the (ob) speakers, but that’s just one more project In my backlog.

The two other things in the past that made biggest difference were using a dedicated power amp instead of an AVR, and in my upstairs system adding a topping e30 to replace the tv analog out. No surprise those two made a difference.
 
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Einar

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I know them, but I am not in the US.
IMO omni speakers sound nice but can never be accurate to the original recording. As you like them, and electronic changes won't make any difference, what are you dissatisfied by?
I know that they will never be as accurate as unidirectional speakers (Is that the correct term) and aiming for highest precision is unrealistic.
What I am dissatisfied by? As I said, nothing really. But provided that my amp has a SNR of ~90dB I thought that would be an audible improvement. And since the CCA measures decent, but not great, I thought that a DAC upgrade could make a difference as well. So I am not attempting to fix one specific problem, rather general improvements.


I've not heard any modern take on the Carlsson speaker I've heard them in the 80's as a teenager so i have no mature concept of them I'm a bit to young ;) (51) I never heard the restored ones or the Larsen variants of them .
There are some modern reviews of the Teenage engineering OD11 which is basically the same design as the original but with modern drivers. As for my OA12:s, I went from a pair of B&W 607, and even with the original, 45 year old, drivers the OA12:s had far more clarity and better sound stage. And with new drivers they are in a completely different league. And that is basically in the entire room, and not only in a quite small optimal listening position. That's why I prefer to keep them, even if they might be off a bit in FR.
 

Plcamp

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I note in the speaker specs the following...

“Frequency response: 42-15.000 Hz ± 3dB placed on the floor against the wall.”

... and specs like that bother me because I think speakers should not be within about 3’ from the room boundaries in order to avoid early reflections at the listening position. From what I have read, and my own fiddling around I agree with Linkwitz’ conclusion you want any reflections to be 6ms delayed or longer.

so maybe you need a subwoofer, so you can move your speakers away from reflecting surfaces?
 
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