You have certainly made the most of your available resources and I think have made wise choices above in either scenario.

Couple of thoughts...upgraded cables, especially in the Kimber price range are a total waste for that Music Hall/Elac system. Wonderful equipment for the money but no where near revealing enough to justify premium cables. I have questions altogether about validity of premium cables outside of single ended/RCA type but unless you are at the Wilson Audio/Raidho/Magico level of speakers, the hundreds to thousands spent on premium cables would deliver a better return if spent on better equipment.

For instance, you could easily spend $800 -$900 on two speaker cables and which do you think would sound better, Elac Speakers with high end speaker cables or Monitor Audio Silver 2s with Monster speaker cable. I would take the latter every time. Not that the Elacs are bad, they are SPECTACULAR of $279, but rising a little in speaker quality will deliver monstrous returns.

If you have the room for Maggie's, they are spectacular and it is truly the case where the better quality the amplification you deliver to them, the more you will get out of them. The big issue is that they operate at a very low impedance so the absolute amount of power at 8 ohms is not really all that important, it is the the amps ability to remain stable at 3 ohms that matters most. It seems like fewer and fewer Class A/B amps do well at these low impedance's so you are right to choose carefully.

The Parasound Halo integrated is one that will do well. Parasound didn't bother with THX certification for the integrated which makes sense since it is not a home theater unit but other amps in that Halo line are THX Ultra 2 certified which is relevant because part of the bench tests is to ensure stability down to 2 ohms.

I think Parasound makes very, very good sounding amplifiers, just short of exceptional. I feel the same way about Dynaudio speakers. This is strictly my personal taste. Lots of people love Parasound and Dynaudio and think it sounds perfect while I feel the focus on pure neutrality lacks a certain musicality and is a bit...uninteresting. It is a great product line and John Curl is a brilliant designer. Just not to my taste. As I said, it is my opinion and it is worth exactly what you paid for it. If you can listen to Maggie's with the Parasound, I would.

I have not heard the Ragnarok but man it looks sweet! Maggie's are very low sensitivity so if you like turning it up to 11 the Ragnarok might not deliver enough power but otherwise it looks spectacular. The LS50s are very revealing and you need to spend A LOT more to find a speaker that will be clearly superior so if it drives them well, it should be a fine choice.

Another good option would be the Rogue Audio Sphinx. It is stable to 2 ohms and worries about Class Ds and poor sound quality is just gone. The Sphinx uses a Tube based input stage with Hypex outputs. It seems like everyone is using these Hypex modules and that is basically because they sound great. The beauty of this unit is the tube based input stage. It comes with stock tubes that give it a slightly forward sound profile, very much in line with a mainstream class A/B integrated. The cool part is that you can easily roll in different tubes to tweak the sound. For instance, a pair of Mullard NOS tubes will warm the sound while a pair of Cifte's would add detail and top end sparkle. Either could be had for <$250. I have the Sphinx's big brother, the Hydra as the power amp in my system driving an extremely revealing pair of Raidho X-1 and I rolled in the Cifte NOS tubes recently and can't believe how awesome they are.

Other notes -

For Phono Stages - I like Vincent and the PHO 8 at $300 and the PHO 700 at $500 are spectacular options. I use the Pho 8 with my Rega RP3. The Musical Surroundings Phonomena II at $750 is an incredible unit and would be a step forward from the Vincent's and the Simaudio Moon 110 LP is a fine choice at $650. After that I like the Musical Fidelity MX-VYNL at $999.

For cartridges, the Ortofon 2M Blue or the Clearaudio Concept MM at $200 and $250 respectively are nice choices.

For upgraded tables in the $1500 range I would look seriously at the Music Hall 7.3 and the Clearauido Concept MM. Your taste is more diverse than mine and these tables offer a more balanced sound profile. I LOVE my Rega but it is a better choice for Jazz/Rock/Classical.

The Marantz PM6006/6005 would be an alternative to the Music Hall. I like Marantz's sound and for $499 the 6005 is a strong value. It is totally inadequate when thinking about the Maggie's.

For your sub, I agree that it is good enough but you will want to upgrade. I personally like Sunfire as they deliver a strong value in quality and power vs. price. The HRS line is great and from $850-$1050 list for the 8, 10 or 12" models is a strong value with 1000w amp. SVS also makes some very nice sealed subs for the money and the entry level unit at $499 is worth every nickel. Rel and JL Audio are the best of the best but they cost more.

I have never heard the Maggie Bass Panels and have no POV.

The Paraound internal DAC is fine but I believe both Shiit and Rogue lack internal DACs. In either case you will want to consider an external DAC. The Dragonfly is nice but something as simple as a Peachtree DAC iTx at $299 would be a step up and offer more flexibility. The Musical Fidelity MX-DAC at $999 would be a step up from that and be pretty awesome through time and would be a particularly good choice with the Schiit.

You want to ensure that you are MQA compliant eventually as that seems to be the direction things are heading. Tidal is even offering streaming MQA. The Bluesound Node2 supports MQA and seemingly every streaming service on earth. Nice unit and something worth considering adding to any system at like $500.

I have the Thinksound On1s so nice choice. I have them but only use them on occasion - later night listening.

putty wrote:

Greetings all. First post. I'm looking to build a system and struggling with price point a bit. I listen to mainly: alt, punk, acoustic rock (Dave, Tim, Jack, Ben, etc.) SOME: rap, r&b, electronic, funk, jazz, classic rock. Tastes are quite eclectic. I have started a vinyl collection and I have Apple Music (may switch to tidal)

I play around a little with guitar, trumpet/trombone but I'm barely intermediate. My friends are beasts and I've managed bands and been through the recording process at Capitol in Nashville and Retrophonics in Florida, both totally analog. I really want a system that accurately reproduces drums and bass, but really want a full range system that is neutral and close to live. I know what the instruments sound like live so I want to get close to that, if that makes sense.

First what I have now:
From an old HT system
Denon AVR-987 (used to drive a 2.1 system)
KEF Satellites on KEF stands (HTS 3001 I think)
KEF Sub HTB2
Music Hall 2.2 with no mods <-- added last year

System is setup in dining room (12x15 with 2 windows and 2 8 foot openings, wood floors, area rug, 11' ceilings), but I will be moving it into a 'loft' type space in the next year or so, unknown size but larger.

I'm considering 2 options:
Option 1:
replace Denon with Music Hall a15.3 ($550)
replace speakers with ELAC Debut B6 ($280)
AQ Dragonfly (100-150)
upgrade platter to pro-ject acrylic, add pro-ject speedbox, upgrade cartridge (to what I have no idea) ($3-400)
Upgrade speaker cables to Kimber or AQ (2-300)
Upgrade/tweak setup where possible
I think this is a pretty solid setup but total cost or around 1500 or so, well UNDER my budget (which is not a set number per se)

nothing serious at this time.
--Thoughts on the sub, I have it labled as good enough for now, but not opposed to upgrading, if I go option 2 Maggie bass panels at some point??

Thoughful comments, questions, and debate :)
So sorry this is so long!

I think Option 1 looks very good, except that I would not mess with the platter or the speedbox. Put the money onto a very good cartridge; for example the Benz Micro Gold.

As for speaker cables, I have Vandersteen Treo speakers (which run $7000), and a system that is in the $30,000 range, and I say expensive speaker cables are bullshit, and a total waste of money.

Get pure copper 12 gauge cables, such as the Monoprice 2789 ($30 per 100 feet), and you will never find anything that sounds better. I have tried dozens of cables over the last 30 years, and never heard any that sound better than plain pure copper wires.

If you can fit it into your budget, get some better speakers. While the Elac B6 is very good for the money, you probably won't be satisfied with them for long.

I recommend the Focal 706 speakers, which are $749/pair from Music Direct. These are excellent speakers that will be satisfying in the long term.

The Revel Concerta2s are spectacular. I own the Performa3 M105s and they were the primary speaker in my system until a few weeks ago. Listening to the Concerta2s at the Harman store and literally being able to switch between the two with the press of a button, I found the Concerta2s uncomfortably close to the Performa3s in quality. I am not certain I could tell the difference on many tracks. Thet are the reason Revel is upgrading the performa line with ceramic drivers and beryllium tweeters. They are going to sound radically different than the Maggie's but those are my favorite speaker below $1000.

The Heed will be a poor choice for either speaker. Revels like a little oomph and will sound best with a little more power. The Schiit should be fine but he heed will fall short. I would not use it for either. It will work best with an easier to drive speaker. As a Revel owner, I was driving them with a Brio R and it is more powerful at lower impedance than the Heed and the sound got thin at modest volume levels.

Not sure about the nuprime with Maggie's but it looks great for the Revels. Seems like a pretty sweet unit. I really want to hear it and need to find a dealer. Seems awesome.

Since Rogue didn't entice you, you might want to check out Vincent and Roksan. They both make a few interesting integrated amps that might work for you though your three choices above seem pretty nice.

Don't screw with the cable coming out of the turntable. That should go straight into your phono stage. You should just need an RCA cable from the phono stage to the integrated. This is one of the few cables where spending a touch more is with it. I like Audioquest and the Evergreen or Golden Gate lines should be fine.

For the sub, same line of cables, Evergreen or Golden Gate should be fine.

For stands, I used the OEM stands for my Performa3s. In other threads, commsysman has particular recommendations for good generic stands. He will be able to suggest a Non-OEM that will do well for you.

If the Revels disappoint it will be because you find them a little forward. Try and ignore lower frequencies. The Revels will probably sound like they have a little more bass than the Focal but since you are using a sub, this is less important.