With respect to all the posters everyone's point of view is correct in it's own way. I would suggest that the overall syngery between the components is more important than the one link in the chain. $$$ cost doesn't necessarily predicate the level of performance and you should listen with your ears not your prejudice: just because something costs more doesn't necessaily mean it will sound good in your system. Nothing wrong at all with the SB3 > Melody SP7 > Onix Ref-1 combo. In fact very nice. With the Melody's 45 watts per channel you should be getting decent soundstaging and imaging from the Ref 1's. Mind you compared to OB speakers any small bookshelf will struggle for soundstaging. The SB3 is "veiled" in stock form and the Ignuz plug-in makes a huge difference to be sure. I had a SB3, tried all sorts of Dac's with it and concluded that while it you could difintely improve it's sound by an external DAC, it began to look expensive when the costs of the mods (digital), cables, DAC and discrete linear psu were factored in. Plus the buying and selling and time involved. I think you are on the right track addressing room acoustics as a relatively inexpensive way to upgrade your system. May I suggest that get a quality SMPS, untreat your reflective walls to brighten up your room abit, pay attention to where your standmounts are, save your money and upgrade to a Transporter (about $1500 on Audiogon) which saves all the mucking around searching for improvement. If I didn't have need of a one box solution for video/audio then I certainly would have a Transporter in preference to the modded SB3/External Dac/PSU path that everyone seems to go for. Lastly Pro Audio or at least "Prosumer" audio does work remarkably well for a fraction of the price of "hi fi". I figure if it's good enough to master from it certainly should be good enough to play back with. At least so it has been for me. Best wishes Tricka
-- tricka Lynx 2 Custom Shiuy SEP 2.5 watt B200 OB/ Custom Sub (450 watt plate) MAC cables ------------------------------------------------------------------------ tricka's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=11614 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39892 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
