Looking for experiences and opinions on potential upgrades to my system

[Pfenning]

Hello Bottleheads, I spent allot of time on this board about 5-8 years ago, and assembled a pretty sweet system. Currently, I have Paramours (ver. 1) with upgraded iron, Foreplay (ver. 1) with a few upgrades, and Seduction in stock form. I built a turn table base and bearing from scratch, and used a Teres motor / controller, a Rega RB250 arm with a stock cable, and a dynavector 20x?. CD play back is from a Marantz DVD/SACD player. I built a Pair of Pi stage 4 speakers, and added powered subs for the low end. I have really enjoyed the system, and it has a jillion trouble free hours on it. I find myself in a situation where I could make some significant upgrades. My question is, should I move up to Extended Foreplay 3, Paramount, and Eros? I tend to think Eros might be over the top for my stock Rega arm. Is the step from Paramour to Paramount significant? The easiest one to justify is the Extended Foreplay, mainly for more inputs. I tend to think the weak link is the Rega arm and stock cable. What's everyone using for tonearms now? Any good cable upgrades for the Rega? I listen to mostly rock and blues on vinyl, but CD's and IPOD are in the rotation too. What would you guys do if you were me? I am finishing a hobby room in my basemnt, so my Foreplay and Paramours would have a home if I upgraded. It's kind of a wide open question, so let me know your thoughts and opinions. One more thing, I have to tip my hat to Doc for designing such great products. I love my current system and will never part with it. I just sit here and think if 10 year old designs sound this good, what am I missing out on. I also love the thought of having gear that will be with me a lifetime. Fire away.

Pfenning     

[Grainger49]

I guess where to start is the question.  There is an Incognito Rega rewire kit out there that I used on my arm, not a Rega.  It removed a "chestiness" in female voices that I did not know was there.  It improved clarity.  Sadly those selling it now are asking a premium price.  But one of the advantages is only two solder joints per wire from cartridge clips, gold Cardas, to RCA jacks.  

Hopefully poster Paully will chime in on the Rega arm and the Seduction vs. Eros.  He has owned both, I think, while owning his Rega.  I'll bet others have too.

The Paramounts would be a bonus if you 1) want more volume or 2) want lower noise.  The DC heaters on the Paramounts are a real plus for lowering the noise floor.  Otherwise the Paramours are fine amplifiers, especially when the iron is upgraded.  I too have a Paramour ver. 1.  There is not a stock capacitor in it.  That is something else you might want to play with.  My next tweak will be putting the hum balance pot through the top plate.  It has gotten difficult to hold it on its side and adjust the pot that is not really supported from the bottom.

I'm still using my old Foreplay but added an input when I bought a tuner.  It wasn't hard to do.  But as I see it the Foreplay III has eliminated several sources of noise that the old one had.  That isn't to say that the old Foreplays had noise.  If you don't hear noise on your current, very sensitive speakers I would just add inputs.

Hope this helps some.

My two cents worth.

[Doc B.]

Obviously I think any of the kit upgrades will be audible and useful. My hunch is the greatest benefit would come from doing an Extended Foreplay III first. It is more versatile in terms of adjusting the input sensitivity, more quiet and, has better extension at both ends of the spectrum.

I happen to like the sound of the Paramounts very much and I would probably be inclined to do that upgrade next, particularly in light of the high sensitivity of your speaker system. Even if there is no audible hum from the current setup I suspect you would find a blacker background and a bit more natural quality to the music.

I do think Eros would be an improvement as well, regardless of the tonearm.

[Paully]

I am not one to argue with the founder and head honcho but I have had or listened to a bit of what you are asking about.  I had the FPII with a good number of upgrades.  I would agree that upgrading the FPIII (extended or not for that matter) would be your first choice and best bang for the buck.  I haven't upgraded to the extended on mine, just the FPIII, so I can't actually comment on that in total other than to say that the improvement over the II was quite large so I would assume it would be well worth it to go from the I.

Next I would do the Eros if you listen to vinyl much.  I have a Rega P3 and have had the Eros and the Seduction.  The improvement over the Seduction isn't as massive as the improvement for the Foreplay, but it is definitely there.  Smoother, more detail, more enjoyable.  It is a wonderful phono preamplifier and you will notice the improvement if you do a side by side comparison.  The comparisons we did were with an improved and modified Seduction and the Eros still was just more musical and nuanced.  It's worth the money if you have it.

My buddy has the Paramour I's or II's (I don't know which) with upgraded iron.  I guess my Paramounts are better amps, we have never done a direct comparison and neither of us really feel the need to.  But having listened to his upgraded Paramours those are some really nice amps.  Paramounts are an improvement, I wouldn't argue with Doc.  But anyway, that is the order I would upgrade in if I were you.

[Grainger49]

By, "The comparison we did..." that was me and Paul.  We get together twice a year for an audio weekend.  And it is Paul's Eros that I got to live with for 4 or 5 days.  That made me want one.

And Paul, Doc is "President For Life!"

[Paully]

President for life, sultan of glow, grand poobah, you name it.  Which is why I hesitate to even suggest I would reorder his recommendation for upgrade other than to say in my experience listening with you I would put the order of most improvement as FPIII, Eros, and Paramounts but I certainly have to admit my direct experience comparing the Paramounts to the Paramours is limited, especially compared to him.

[ssssly]

There are several substantial upgrades to the RB250 that are well worth the money. The aforementioned Incognito rewire, which can still be had at a reasonable price if you shop around, counterweight structural mods from several manufacturers, and vertical tracking improvements. You can also upgrade the base to the 3 point mounts.

I have a RB250 with the Incognito, Michelle Technoweight, and PR VTAF and it is quite frankly one of the nicest sounding arms I have heard for anything under $1500.

[sl-15]

If you don't have the C4S upgrade in the Seduction I would do that, it made a big difference when I put it in mine. For interconnects I would try to DIY. You can make some pretty nice cable with some basic star quad microphone cable from Canare or Mogami or go for something more esoteric without paying too much. There are numerous recipes out there on the Cable Asylum or TNT audio. Good Luck.

http://www.tnt-audio.com/ 

http://www.AudioAsylum.com/cgi/etv.mpl?forum=cables