You made a mistake when you bought the speakers. As you know. You were thinking proactively about you tinnitus but the sale made you forget all about it. According to the data I see, the response is flat in the listening window between 3 and 10k with some notable peaking in that zone. I would think that ideally there should be a slight diagonal down even for those who do not have tinnitus. So, I'm not sure toeing the speakers out will help all that much. Changing your dac and treating your room is kind of like rearranging chairs on the Titanic. You got a good deal on the speakers so you might not lose much selling them. Another fellow mentioned the Polk R700s. They are well known for having a restrained upper end. And are usually on sale these days. Shouldn't cost more than $2,000. If it were me, I would move on from the KEFs. And also move on from the v curve. You probably knew the speakers were bright as that has been your preference. Accept the things you cannot change.
Aggrivated tinnitus from speakers?
Hi,
I'm new to the forum and was looking for some advice. I recently put together a system comprised of a McIntosh MA6900 + a pair of KEF R7s.
I've always had hearing sensitive to high frequencies, and have a very high frequency tinnitus at 18,000k. That's why I went with the Mac, as everyone talks about how smooth and musical it is. When I was shopping for speakers, I was doing a lot of research but then the KEF R7's went on crazy sale and I was able to pick up a pair for under 2k. It seemed like too much of a deal to pass up, especially with all of the glowing reviews, but maybe that was a mistake on my part...
I'm noticing when I listen to the system, my tinnitus activates at a lower frequency for several hours afterwards. I notice this most on FLAC / MQA - quality tracks on Tidal (via WIIM w/ integrated DAC, at very reasonable volumes - <85db ) It seems to happen less when I listen to vinyl or CD-Quality tracks, but it still happens.
It's driving me crazy and I'm so disappointed as I thought this was going to be my ultimate setup and I dropped a lot of $. The Mac has just been to an auth service center for new lamps and was bench tested and given a perfect bill of health after a small bias adjustment, so I don't think it's the problem.
I decided to use some headphones to see if I experienced the same thing... Senn. HD650's let me listen for long periods without problems. HD660S2s seem to give me maybe a little sensitivity after awhile, but the sensitivity I get from the KEF's is totally different.
I realize I should have demoed the speakers, but I just jumped on the deal - partially on their reputation and also because their narrow, tall size was ideal for the room layout.
Any advice on how to get to the bottom of this? Do I need to test different speakers or do I need to treat the room? I'd hate to give up the Master level recordings because I mentally swim in the detail and love it. I just hate the thought of not being able to enjoy the system properly, but I'm not sure where to start on making it work for me.