High End system sounding Terrible????


Hi. I invested quit a bit of dough in my system and I'm disatisfied to say the least. I have an Arcam AVR-300, Arcam CD-73, and a NAD DVD player with Energy C-3's for my mains and Energy C-C1 Centre. Movies sound fine but when playing music the sound is overly bright (harsh), and bass lacking. The sound is also kind of lifeless, not very involving. I had an old 30 watt/CH Rotel from the 80's that I enjoyed much more for music through the C-3s. Could it be bad speaker matching.I bought the amp new from Creative Audio and even if it's not broke in shouldn't sound this bad.Can someone please help...
djwcalhoon
i am not a fan of arcam and nad, having auditioned some nad pieces and arcam pieces. perhaps, it is one or all of the electronic components that may be contributing to the spectral balance that upsets you.
Many years ago when I started the journey, I was using NAD amp and CD player in a two-channel system and liked the sound; when I upgraded from NAD to Arcam amp and CD player, I noticed more resolution as well as dynamic, however, the sound became very bright; and I have been on the upgrade path ever since.
I think your first bet is to follow the advice of onemug. Oftentimes, the set between HT receiver and sub limits the sub's output to x.1st channel, and in 2ch, it is left out, which will, as Shadorne notes, produce an imbalance like what you seem to be hearing.
i went out and started with ok rotel 1098 decided i dont like the 5.1 sound thinking about keeping rotel pre and just do 2 chan through it sound fair hooked to 1095 amp hooked up amp to accuphase v200 circa 1987 the sound is nite and day try simple hook up good luck