Upgrade amp or upgrade amp tweaks?

Upgrading an amp can give better sound. The law of diminishing return makes it cheaper to upgrade a power cable to an existing amp than to use a stock cable on an slightly more costly amp.

Upgrading other things like DC-blocking, grounding, isolation and absorbtion in racks, noice stoppers, XLRs, air-borne antivibration absorbtion, RFI-abosorbtion, room treatment and even more gives better sound from existing amp and can make a highly tweaked USD 5000 amp sound like a USD 10 000 amp (just resting on a shelf).

A tough but very general question:

When is it time to upgrade an amp and when should one stop tweaking? Are there any general rules of thums that someone has got or is it just down to basic listening?

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Not to start controversy here, but no tweak will improve sound quality as much as a well applied amplifier upgrade.
There are myriad variables that inform the choice of amp into your existing system.
First start with clearly identifying what problem you’re trying to solve with your current system.

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I tend to agree. The amp itself would make the most SQ difference than interconnects and power cords, even from the expensive ones. The isolating devices and footers would make a smaller difference in amps compared to sources, DACs, and preamps from my experience.

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One thing that I’ve done is kept my spending on components relative. When I upgraded from the Gain Cell DAC to the DSD and BHK Pre, I knew pretty early on that I’d likely want upgrade my 700s and even my speakers. Sure, there are elements of lower tiers that perform well, but the next step up is where I’ve found the greatest improvements. Though its ultimately up to personal taste, if you’re lifting, shielding, blocking and isolating to the tune of half the value of an item, it might be time to look for an upgrade.

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I usually wait at least 90 days before I upgrade my Amps.

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Upgrading my amp from a Parasound A21 to the Parasound
JC5 resulted in a significant upgrade in sound quality. All
other aspects were kept the same…

So yes upgrading a power amp to a better one should result
in sonic improvements…provided the sources are equal to the task.

Just my .002

Best wishes

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But with my existing amplifier, which very well should be an end game piece, swapping out the Stealth Audio V12 interconnects to the V17 Sakra LE interconnects resulted in a massive and very obvious improvement in the sound.

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If you and your bunnies didn’t have a blindfolded test, then you experienced a psycotic acoustical fantasy because you knew what you wanted to hear when you wanted to hear it and certainly your bunnies just told you what they knew you wanted to hear because you feed them and mama bunny didn’t raise no fools.

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In addition, EVERY room at AXPONA sounded EXACTLY the same, since no listening was performed blindfolded. :wink:

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Woah!!! Great idea for a service at audio shows. Leading the blindfolded from room to room.

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The room was very, very dark.

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Sorry. Do over please.

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Guys guys…Y’all forgot the biggest test of all…

The bunny test…Al says if bunnies like the sound
they hang around if not they vamoose…

Or at least I think I read as much somewhere…

Purely bunny science… :innocent:

Best wishes

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How many bunnies are required to lift and move a 450lb. amp?

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Depends on if they have been to the gym on a regular basis or not.

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Good ole Al sure gets a ribbing round these here neck o’ woods… :grin: :grinning:

Best wishes

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