Hi all, I'm new to the forum and a relative beginner at hifi, so please excuse the (potentially) dumb question. In homage to my late father, and the basic, budget setup he had when I was a kid, I've recently acquired a vintage AKAI AA-1150 receiver (circa 1979 I think) and paired it with brand new Wharfedale EVO 4.2 large bookcase speakers.
Two problems - First, I think the speakers are waaay too sensitive for the amp - turn the volume up to 3 and the room is shaking. Taking the dial to 11 would definitely kill the Wharfedales. My old speakers (Paradigm Atom) suffer too, but a little less. Its definitely the amplifier! Second, the sound is impossibly forward and bright. Incredibly clear, with amazing detail (from both vinyl & DAC) but really hard on the ears.
Do I need to ditch the nostalgia and get a warmer, 21st Century integrated amplifier? Or is there some setting I've missed somewhere?
According to the specs, speakers and amp should be a good match. Akai: 50wpc into 8ohms. Speaker load impedance: 4Ω to 16Ω Speakers: Recommended amplifier power: 25-120 watts Sensitivity: 88 dB Nominal impedance: 8 ohms compatible
Has the amp been inspected or serviced? These speakers have separate connections for high/mid drivers and bass (woofer). Are the metal jumpers connected and how do you have the speaker cables attached?
Get rid of the jumpers and make some new heavy copper jumper with spades. Get LARGER speaker cable first. Copper is how everything was voiced back then.. Use heavy copper and short runs, see if that helps.. The LACK of bass in a room or tone control issues with a receiver are pretty straight forward. They have a treble and bass control does that help? How is the room set up.. Large reflective walls, ceiling and floors? ALL that, and speaker placement.
Lot of stuff could change how it sounds. GEAR is in place, LARGE enough cable, speaker, listening position. After that, ROOM treatment..
The listed efficiency of the speaker is 88db which is pretty much mid-level, not overly efficient.
I read a couple of reviews for the speakers and they do not describe the speakers as being overly bright/forward. I suspect your vintage receiver is either not functioning correctly, or it is a bad match for the speakers.
Please insure you have the speaker cables installed correctly. Check the tone control knob and insure they are working correctly. Just work the knobs back and forth and insure your bass is not being attenuated and that your treble is not being boosted. Old potentiometers are notorious for having bad/dirty connections that could be affecting the output.
Do you still have your old speakers? Do they sound correct?
I'm guessing you need a different, properly operating integrated amp/receiver.
It's a receiver. Ditch it. Why? Because it's a receiver. Just get an integrated. Any integrated will be better. Why? Because everything is better than a receiver.
Of course he needs a better front end but bang for the buck, do a little tinkering first, THEN shell out for a good integrated or separates.
I'll bet there is a lot of improvement with room and heaver cable, get rid of the FACTORY jumpers too.. those things really can make a BIG difference in SQ.. No L-Pads right?
BUT if you got 3-6k to shell out? And NO problem with a little wait?
Luxman, Ravin, Cary, Mac.. All different all BETTER than what you got..
I just heard a new C2700 Mac..
I swear I'm just predisposed to LIKE UM' Man that sounded so sweat... all Mac SS Gear...With that 2700, just magic. A Mac TT, crazy Mac guy..
Akai was never known for its receivers. They were not highly regarded like their tape decks. That said, the volume control itself may be way too touchy for the receiver. I've seen this before, but not to the degree you have. One way to possibly tame it is to run another set of speakers with the 2 you have now. Wire them in series so you get a 16 ohm output. I'm not entirely sure this will work but might be worth a try.
Maybe get a warmer sounding dac like a black ice audio wifi dac they use 2 -12ax7 tubes from underwood wally you can get one for under $700, or Denafrips dac which is also warm and detailed for similar monies ,your cables too can Taylor your sound.
Whatever you decide from the excellent advice here, there is no need to actually throw away your father's amp. STORE IT as a family memento. This is what I did with my dad's 1955 camera--an excellent unit in its day, but something I would never use today.
But it would never cross my mind to discard it. Nostalgia is for romantics, and romantics love music and make life worth living.
A vintage amplifier was made when speakers had a different tonal balance than the new ones i would use the treble control to tame the highs to your liking or if it does not have one the high filter might work but i can say that modern speakers are very bright and detailed in general.
Some old "jay" receivers from the 70's were very good like the Yamaha CR series (especially the cr2020), others not so good. Also, there are some good receivers in todays market: look up the Mcintosh MAC7200 receiver, it will blow away what MC is currently using. If you want to get a decent integrated amp for $600, look at the PS Audio Sprout 100. I use 1, and check out some of the reviews for it.
If you have an opportunity, have a professional check the receiver out. After all, you have that receiver because of your father, not because it is the best thing ever. It is worth keeping and problems you are describing are way out of ordinary even for some mismatch and what not.
Your receiver will need to be serviced. You should not have that issue with those speakers. Your match is fine. Like others have said you will probably be better off with an integrated. There are techs that can fix your issue however it may not be worth the investment. Was definitely one of those Gems from yesterday.
Wow,push the pause button! There's so much that's not even being talked about or asked. I've heard some of the best gear ever sound like garbage AND some of the worst gear sound surprisingly good. It all comes down to how it's placed in the room AND if the room has any good possibility of decent interaction in sustating good performance. Speakers are everything. And placement in the room can make or break the performance. The amp or receiver has a factor but it's nowhere as inportant as the first two. Have you had other equipment (speakers) in this room setting before? What size is the room? If you clap your hands is the room have bright relections or is it dead? The best speaker for one room may not be the best speaker for another. As an example; horn loaded speaker tend to work better in corners while wide dispersion speakers work best away from corners. Bass loading is often tuned by the distance from the walls or corners. Sometimes the distance or direction across the room can make or break the sound. While your receiver isn't great, it has very little to do with the sound you are experiencing. Move your speakers around. try oputting them on stands. Maybe tyou have another pair of speaker to stack them on as stands. There are RTA apps you can get for your phone as well as signal generators. If you have two phones, suggest putting the signal generartor through the system while viewing the RTA in the room for results. Compare it to what you HEAR.
Thanks everyone. What a vibrant community you are!
First -- It is not my fathers receiver. It is the same model, my mother threw his one in a skip bin after he died (ouch) It might actually be his one - but thats a very long shot :-) Nonetheless its a sentimental piece and I will keep it on display. Very insightful of you athrillofhope.
Second -- I have an AV Receiver 7.1, paradigm speakers in exactly the same (crowded) spot and they sound great. But no good for vinyl/audio. Which is why I started this whole spree.
Third -- I got a loan of a Yamaha A-S1000, option to buy. Swapped it in --- its better but not that much better. So I accept that the room & placement needs attention.
Don't overthink this and run down a few rabbit trails trying to make that receiver work properly, unless you enjoy all the testing and placement and have some time to kill
I concur with MC and the others that have already indicated the receiver is your pain point
I second the suggestion of the PS Audio Sprout integrated amp, $600ish and they'd probably give you a few bucks on the trade in of the Akai
I run a Sprout on a 2 channel B system with a pair of KEF Q750s for my TV and streaming Tidal and Qobuz via Bluetooth from my phone
It's a great price performer, easy set up, not fussy and SQ is worthy
For extra added pleasure a good middle of the road power and speaker cables was like putting big boy pants on the Sprout
Interconnect is not cheapo at all Speaker cable is premium copper (actually too fat for the back of the Akai) Speakers are on wharfedale evo 4.2 stands Maybe i could do something about the jumpers (or bi-wire the speakers...)
Thanks for the the cable-guy advice, I do believe in cables, honestly, but I don't think they're my issue right now.
Hi Miller, Russ, Steve You got a down on receivers. Please tell me why an amplifier coupled to a radio will have inherently poorer sound quality than a lone amplifier.
Assuming the present cables are not faulty and correctly connected, they cannot be the cause of a louder than expected signal.
The last thing those wharfedales should be is harsh on the ears....they are wharfedales and are usually a warm speaker. I'd buy the Rogue Sphinx v3 for those.
I agree with most, ditch the receiver get an integrated. Raven Audio, Rogue, Vincent, etc but like MC said anything you go with with will be a huge improvement over that old receiver.
I went with a budget setup myself for my man cave/garage and got the floor standing Wharfdale EVO 4.3 paired with an Arcam SA20. Cables from Audio Envy. Its been a great combo and all budget friendly.
Vintage staff is not easy to rely on. I picked up 80s Marantz receiver ones hoping to setup secondary system at my tool room and with a couple of days the rec killed my Yamaha speakers however all of specs was matching. The speakers was relatively cheap and I easily fix them myself (drivers replaced) but since then no vintage staff for me anymore.
I remember those Akai receivers without fondness. Find a Pioneer SX750 or Sansui 771, Marantz 2238, Sony STR6050, or a similar model from one of those brands. The volume control taper is nothing to worry about, but if you want to use the loudness button, look for a Yamaha CR-840. OR...just buy a Rega Io.
Hello, I like the idea of the heavy copper speaker cables. 12awg should be enough. Before you do that check the output/ bias on the speaker connections.
I am amazed by the knowledge of this group. I would imagine there are a few dealers who are part of this discussion. Millercarbon you mention ditch the receiver because it is a receiver. Why are receivers inferior to a 2 channel amplifier. My dealer sold me my ARCAM AVR850 receiver because I wanted to use it for both TV and 2 channel listening. Is my receiver good or bad and why? At the time I would have liked to have gotten a 2 channel amplifier, but was not sure I could play it through my TV. Right now I have left and right towers, a large center channel and 2 S2 SHO Rel subwoofers I have not yet added the two left and right rear surround speakers. I looked at the Parasound Integrated. Wish I had more clarity in the highs.
With 88dB efficiency, and an older Akai, I’m guessing you are clipping, or at least driving high distortion. Maybe a new Integrated Amp?
Take a look at Parasound’s options.
A good, smooth amp with those speakers would be nice. Also, take a look at a powered subwoofer like Rel T Series. Their T7i is $100 off for a while. A little dialing in (excellent docs and videos on their site, and lifetime support.
Kudos to everyone's input. And to Larry's note, yeah. Doin' it since this stuff was made. And to the integrated amp: yes and no. There just as many bad integrateds as there are receivers. It depends on the brand, model and year it was made. I modify older pieces to do what they never did back in the day usually because there are now better parts and / or the designers back then weren't allowed the budget to do it right.
In any case one item that comes to mind here- try a BBE processor. Unlike an equallizer, it corrects time. It's a time correction equalizer that most any mid-end system can benefit. High end system don't need this as much because there are no (or few) time base problems to solve. Most items in your system do not process all frequecies at the same rate of speed. Amps, cables,speakers, it all adds up. Even the room plays a part in this. Time arival equals clarity and usually flater smoother response. I keep one on my own system (often in bypass) because audio recordings themselves have no standards in which they are recorded and often have time correction problems from the invironment and equipment where they were recorded. Best of luck on the old gear. There's probably more to it than we know. Are the surrounds on the speakers dead? Are the pot on the amp cleaned, etc?
@clearthinker
Hi Miller, Russ, SteveYou got a down on receivers.Please tell me why an amplifier coupled to a radio will have inherently poorer sound quality than a lone amplifier
I'm probably more down on the fact that it's an Akai receiver.
The receiver is still the workhorse power source in the AV space
In the 2 channel realm the receiver is considered an entry level component as you go up the food chain to separates the SQ improves SQ and radio really don't go together very well, best done in the car for the most part - IMHO
I have a Brio-R with the same Wharfedale EVO 4.2 speakers for my kitchen - it’s a great match. I tune them a little with a as schitt Loki EQ box since placement and a kitchen is not ideal for listening and it sounds really great. I was using a Yamaha a-s801 and switch in the brio-r was an immediate and obvious improvement. Highly recommended.
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