Hello and welcome to the Forum. First let me start with this is not a flame or knock of your system. Its a better system then average and now for the but. But some of the points that you have pointed out or heard are probably the equipment you already have in my opinion. The amp just doesn't match the speakers very well in my opinion.
You made the statement that the speakers reveal poor source material, well there isn't any better source material then FLAC Files. They are an exact digital copy of the Red Book CD if properly ripped with dBpowerAmp with the added advantage of no mechanical interference or CDP error correction. Try running the Receiver straight into the amp and see what you hear. This removes the Pre-Amp from the chain. Remember to turn the volume all the way down on the Duet and also verify in SC before powering off everything and disconnecting any RCAs. After changing the connections, reverify that the volume is all the way down in SC before applying power to anything. If I owned your setup and had the money, I would get a good used high current amp off of Audiogon first. From my experience with the Kappa 9s, they need a bunch of current to be happy and to produce good image and soundstage. I would spend the next money on a Transporter to drive the new amp especially if I could due without a pre-amp anymore (IE just play music off the server to the Transporter). This would be the simplest setup. If you just have to have a pre-amp then don't buy the Transporter now. Find the amp on Audiogon and then look for a much better pre-amp as well on Audiogon (the Yamaha has to go (motorcycles and piano yes, pre-amps no)) and run the Duet's Receiver into the new pre-amp. After all this, maybe you can tell that I think your source is OK as well as your speakers for now, its the Pre-amp and amp that I feel needs upgraded/replaced. Anyway that is where I would start and/or how I would go about it if I were you. I am not you, so YMMV. -- iPhone *iPhone* Media Room: Transporter, VTL TL-6.5 Signature Pre-Amp, Ayre MX-R Mono's, VeraStarr 6.4SE 6-channel Amp, Vandersteen Speakers: Quatro Mains, VCC-5 Reference Center, four VSM-1 Signatures, Video: Runco RS 900 CineWide AutoScope 2.35:1 Living Room: Duet, ADCOM GTP-870HD, Cinepro 3K6SE III Gold, Vandersteen Model 3A Signature, Two 2Wq subs, VCC-2, Two VSM-1 Kitchen: Squeezebox BOOM Bedroom: SB3, GFR-700HD, Thiel 2.3, Second Boom Home Office: SB3, NAD C370, two VSM-1 Home Gym: SB3, Parasound Vamp v.3, Thiel PowerPoint 1.2 House Portable: SB3, Audioengine A5 Ford Thunderbird: Duet, Mac Mini Ford Expedition: SB3, ToughBook ------------------------------------------------------------------------ iPhone's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13622 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=66754 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
