You already have a lovely amp & speakers. Ruark always made deceptively good, properly musical speakers.
In contrast, very few streamers actually sound musically credible and “right” to these cloth ears. And you have gone and hit the bullseye with the DCS Rossini + clock. Once you have heard one of these, almost any other streamer sounds artificial.
So by all means upgrade your pre-amp, power amp, go active or buy Sopras. They will all give you better hifi but in the process will shine a brighter spotlight on the limitations of your streaming source.
So I would leave your amp & speakers well alone. In your position, I too would buy the Rossini + clock, then sit back and enjoy the marvel of truly great streamed music.
Speakers can vary so much in sound even at quite exalted price points, so you really have to go and listen and find what you like – but of course you need a shortlist to do that!
With your decent size room (vaulted ceiling is good, too) I suggest PMC MB2, the best speaker I’ve heard.
If money no object MB2XBD! And if you really want to push the boat out and have truly excellent sound, they do that active… There’s an active PMC MB2XBD on fleabay right now for an extremely good starting price - If I had already moved into my next home and had the spare cash left I wouldn’t be telling you as I’d be bidding!
Another I’d certainly audition would be the ATC SCM150 active, simply because I love their midrange unit (very similar to that of the big PMC) and think the level of their speakers with reasonable bass extension.
Likely solution is Dynaudio Confidence 50’s, with 552/552 PS DR, 300 DR, Rossini & clock. Dealer doing excellent deal with Fraim and cables too, all contingent on home listen - though have heard the speakers in 2 different rooms and excellent both times. More than I was originally looking to spend (by about 10x) but engagement and presence and musicality won the day. Plus my lovely wife told me we must get them as they sounded so great.
already upgrading my 250DR to the 300DR. And my preamp choices from just the 272 preamp stage to 552…
Whilst you are probably correct, I suspect these speakers will last and work with most anything before them, so this is perhaps the limit now. One day, maybe I’ll go up another level, but we’re close to what I bought my first house for art the moment on all this, so I plan to stick. Mind you, I might be persuaded (I did a quick Google search on s/h ones, to be fair… )
edited to add: so I get it would be better - can you describe how tho?
edited again to say have now read the 300->500 thread, and sent email to dealer!
I went from 250 to 300 to 500. Maybe the dealer will bring both. I know it’s not run in, but you will get a good demo. All this is based upon, IF THE FUNDS ALLOW. Don’t ever put yourself in financial strain to upgrade, it’s never that good.
