How do you like the Transcendent Sound gear? They were recommended to me by someone else, and they look very tempting. I am thinking about both the phono amp and the GG pre. Did you build the GG?
I can vouch for your psb loudspeakers (a nicely balanced, musical loudspeaker). I had them in my main system for quite some time before upgrading to Legacy Focus 20/20s.
It's all good. I've plenty of experience with most of the stuff you've mentioned. The Golds are a powerful sounding full range passive speaker comparatively. They are rolled off on the top end a bit, and have warm bodied sound as well. The Parasound amp is the same. The two together will give you definitely a warm, slighly rolled off top end sound. It will not be bright overall. I've no experience with the Kimber Hero however. I personally (along with every high end dealer I know of) prefer the PSB stratus Silvers over the Golds, as they are more neutral sounding, and extended sounding I believe. I'd own those over the Golds every time..but that's me. They would definitely make a better sonic match with the Parasound amp, should you stay with that amp. The amp is strong enough, and is a good chioce at the $450=600 used price point. It also have volme controls on the back of the amp, and you could compare "dirrect hook-up" from your cd player vs. preamp to amp connection!..incase you're currious how pure your preamp is compared to a "passive" set up!...which is nice. Infact, you'll probably find the dirrect connection from your source component(s) to your amp dirrectly a more transparant situation...although slightly a bit dynamic in ultimate terms. Also, for less money, I think there's better sounding dac's out there than the Bel Canto. Infact, I find the older Theta Pro Prime IIA and similar to be better. I just didn't care for the Canto. If it were my money, and overall musicallity and purity of sound where an issue, and I was thinking of the choices you are considering, I would do PSB Stratus Silver I's, maybe try staying with the Parasound amp, find a used Theta Data Basic or Basic II, a good interconnect,one of the "plus $1000 or better" used Theta Dac's for standar CD playback(although there's tons of Digital chioces here), and you'd get excellent sound! Anyway, I think the overall sound of what I described is a step up. The Gold PSB's will play deeper(get a sub if needed) and harder, but the 2 1/2 way designed Stratus Silver PSB's are faster, more neutral, less colored, and maybe a bit more extended sounding!...leaning more toward the more neutral NHT sound. Getting into another amp in the future is a must sometime down the line. Good luck
After the power amp I would upgrade all the cables. You have some good high end gear (except the amp) with mid-fi to budget cables.
If you need to use a conditioner the Monster is also a budget-end device. Think about something better like a Blue Circle Music Ring, or a conditioner by Chang Lightspeed.
