I have always been passionate about music - I worked at a small chamber music hall and quickly grew an appreciation for the acoustics a good room can provide. Fast forward decades and some recent surgery has me mostly at home so I start to focus on building out an audio system to finally start listening to music again. I started with a pair of Forte 3's and added a se34i.5 amp and a zp3 (both on order - happily waiting). Added a VPI Prime 21 with a ortofon black lvb and blue jeans cables running it and I'm getting closer. The issue I have now is I'm running everything off of my 90's Pioneer SX-303R which just gives lifeless sound to just about everything. The other issue is I forgot what things should sound like (or what they can sound like). I may need to find a local shop to listen to a system that is dialed in to get my ears back.

Hi SoCalBill,

Welcome the forum!  No worries, you're ears don't need calibrated.  You will find out what it's suppose to sound like as soon as the ZP3 and amplifier arrive.  The only way to refine things further will be room acoustics, placement, cables.

Steve