Hi Dan, I was only joking and I agree what you have is more than excellent. Especially in that concrete finish.
I sincerely wish you the best with the ops, my auntie lived with cancer for 22 years before passing a few years ago. She was an inspiration to everyone around her and always said you’ve just got to go for it and enjoy life. I know you have the same philosophy and so I look forward to seeing a system pic of some utopia speakers arriving in due course (after the controversy roof obvs)
There’s lots of other makes: ATCs, PMC, ProAc, Kudos, Harbeth, Magico and so on to look at.
I think new mains and room treatment will be a big upgrade.
My room would need that to go any further really.
But to be honest, I really do feel my system is complete. I am not feeling like any further changes of any kind! The only thing I have done of late is tinker with a new switch.
The speakers made the biggest difference to the sound. Then the 500DR and LP12 Klimax upgrades.
Upgrading the room would perhaps be a project for the next year or two. No rush. System at this level sounds sublime.
Sounds good, it must be nice to not have the upgrade itch! I am terrible for it
Interestingly, the sales guy from hi-fi cinema, which is where I have my eye on a 555DR, highly recommended the Melco servers. It might just be a sales pitch, but he thought that would make a bigger difference to my system the the 555DR.
I know you were discussing these with others here so I thought I would share his perspective. They have a couple of second-hand ones available; but even then, they are still very, very expensive…
I would get the 555PSDR first as it will benefit streaming from apps and your NAS.
With no upgrades on the horizon I feel delighted with my system. There really is nothing to be done until the room is completely rebuilt!
The listening room has been redecorated recently so there is even less motivation to do the work. It will be a big upheaval with everything moved out, carpet taken out, subfloor stripped out, rads moved, mains redone, subfloor strengthened and reboarded and refloored. Pretty much gutting a lot of the room. Needs careful planning as well.
So look, if everything goes well with these potential ops then I will go for it. It will be amazing just to do the room properly and keep the system as it is.
The Sopra 2s are a really good speaker. I have listened to top flight ATCs and Kudos 808s and the Sopras compare favourably. Their presentation is totally different and I know that many dislike their looks and their sound. But they are high quality, very well built, have fantastic bass, midrange and tweeters. They are very forward and are not totally neutral though.
Wow! Are you saying the 15000 Sopras are better than the 28500 808? Have you compared at home with your system? I realize it’s a taste thing but if it’s a speaker that can rival the popular 808 it most certainly are above its price point performance wise.
So I have heard Kudos 808s and I am very happy with Sopra 2s. I have listened to Scala Utopia Evo’s which are very good but perhaps too much for my space.
The Sopra 2s are amazing speakers. I have kept an eye on the Scala Utopia Evo’s used. Not ready for any change right now.
As you have seen before I had this configuaration. It is the NDS but with latest streaming platform. There was little difference between this configuaration and ND555 in sound quality.
ND555 is newer model, nice remote, nice screen, 500 finish. And all in one box.
I love the ND555 and I prefer it to having NDS and ND5XS2. With extensive tests, to my ears which are quite good the difference was minimal.
With 2 x 555PSDR and switches and cables high end I have got the best from my source and am very happy with it.
I didn’t know before I bought it that there would be no real difference.
But I have it now and other kit is sold and I am happy with what I have.
They can sound fantastic as i found out using the 500dr, you just need to do away with the naim pre amp. If you dont do this then you are certainly limited.
I imagine what Dan was implying was that considering the significant price difference between them, and the general acclaim the 808s attract, the Focals comparative performance was impressive…