Help with System Musicality


I'm reaching out to my fellow A'goner's with an issue I'm sure many of you have faced before. My current system (VPI Scoutmaster/Zyx R100H, First Sound Presence deluxe MKII, Edge G8+, Volent CL2i speakers, Mac Mini music server, and Sonore DSD DAC nad MIT, Analysis plus, and Wireworld cables...sounds extremely accurate, revealing, etc.... But that's the problem. It's not music! My favorite system of all time, before Desert Storm war, was Project 6.1 with Kiseki Blue Gold, Vac in the box phono, Reference line 2a, Air Tight el34 Amp, and totem Model 1 with Purist Audio cables. i couldn't have been happier and have been chasing the same enjoyment since then. I want that magic back! Looking for suggestions to upgrade/change system. I like warmth, holographic soundstage, realistic bass, and in-the-room presence with an emotional connection. I'm desperate...listen to %95 jazz. Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. First corrective step @ $3K.
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Showing 5 responses by mapman

You'll get as many suggestions as people who answer and at best perhaps only be one step closer...or further away depending.

Do you live near any other A'goner's?

The easy way will be to go and listen to another system until you hear the one you like that would work in your room as well.

Then put that exact same system or something as close to it as possible in your room.

Might be a shorter and more direct approach than trying to figure it out piece by piece.

Or a local dealer could work. Used to be that people bought entire matched systems all the time. NOWadays people seem to go piece by piece. Probably due to the high cost of high end stuff these days.
As I understand it, ribbon and/or folded ribbon tweeters also tend to be very directional and frequency response can vary widely with location. Worth taking note assuming to be true in this particular case.
Also, I think in line with Al's point, I always find crossover points in the midrange where most music occurs to work against musicality overall, unless very well designed and executed. Even then, it can only usually hurt and not help. Take a look a the musical frequency respone chart on the internet to get an idea of at what frequencies most music occurs.

That in conjunction with a highly directional tweeter could be a double whammy. The remedy for a directional tweeter is to be even more cognizant of room acoustics and listening position than otherwise, and then play with placement, tilt, orientation, etc. accordingly.