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Help. Wife says Teres 340 Is too bright.

My Teres 340 is equipped with a Origin Live Illustrious 3 arm and Benz Ebony L cart. The rest of my system is listed.
I think the TT combo sounds great. She does too, but says the highs are just a little bright. I have played with VTA but that has not fixed the problem though she says we were headed in the right direction with tail lowered.

She says that we had the Scoutmaster just right prior to buying the Teres. Funny thing is that I thought the SM was a tad bright on certain albums. But she didn't. Now I think the 340 is just right but she thinks it bright on some recordings.

The only component that I can think that would be causing this is the tonearm. I cannot imagine the Benz Ebony L as bright. Nor do I think it is the Teres. I really think we (wife & I) need to have our ears calibrated so as to agree on brightness. But since that isn't going to happen, I suppose I should figure out how to please us both. So, do you think I'm on the right track with the tonearm being the culprit? What tonearm would give a warmer presentation? Thanks for your help
artemus_5

Showing 5 responses by jj2468

jj2468
280 posts
 
I agree with Doug. Before chasing down tweaks, go borrow a good tube amp. The CJ is a mismatch with the easy to drive Silverline speakers. The better resolution of your new table has exposed the mismatch, probably both in terms of distortion and odd order harmonics.

When looking for a tube amp for the Silverline speaker, you don't have to look for a high power tube amp. Since the Silverline is easy to drive, I do recommend looking for one with low or no negative feedback. Replacing the CJ with a good tube amp in your setup may be a revelation.

Do this excercise before changing the arm, cartridge, mat, etc.. IMHO, of course. Jeff
jj2468
280 posts
 
May I suggest that you call Alan at Silverline. He is a very nice guy.

Your speaker is about 93db @ 8 ohms and has a silk dome tweater. It is largely voiced using moderate power to moderately low power tube amps. A friend of mine drives a pair with a 300b amp and uses a lesser benz cartridge and it sounds great. The Silverline is designed to allow you to take advantage of the benefits of low to moderate power tube amps. The CJ is likely designed for 4ohm speakers at less than 90db efficiency. (See the white paper at the Atmasphere website).

Two-hundred fifty-watts of solid state CJ into this speaker is not a good match for the speaker or for the amp.

I don't think a suggestion that you buy vaguely "better" gear is helpful. All your gear is good gear. IMHO, start with a good power match between speaker and (tube)amp. Then go for tweaks, treatments, cables, etc.. Jeff
jj2468
280 posts
 
Maril555,
I have not heard the Bolero. Have you heard the Sonata?

What SET amp did you pair with the Bolero?
jj2468
280 posts
 
I'm not sure using the Jas 6c33 convinces me, however given the room size and volume, I narrow my suggestion to a moderate power tube amp. Again, less or no feedback is good. A good used push pull amp is fine.

You may find that doing so enables you to move the loading into the range suggested by Thom, which will provide additional sonic benefits.
jj2468
280 posts
 
I suppose somebody could bi-monobloc (2 BAT VK-150 SE) for a total of 4 monoblocs. And if it really sounded better, I'm sure there are audiophiles who would do it. I also imagine it would introduce new problems matching gain.

The point is, if higher wattages strongly correlated with better performance for efficient to moderately efficient speakers, then more goners would be bi-monoblocing. Well, at least driving their speakers with more watts.

Seriously though, I am open to a scientific explanation as to why 150 watts should sound better with 106db efficient speakers when compared to enough watts to get the job done well.

In general, I postulate that it is more difficult to build a muscial amplfier outputting more watts rather than fewer watts. So, in a perfect market, I imagine that a goner would do better putting his or her budget into the best quality amp that puts out enough watts to do the job.
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