Your ML gear is not bright from my experience. The 585 and 436 were on the slightly warm side of things when I heard them with Magico A3 speakers. I also feel the B&W are brighter than my comfort level, and the Sonus is darker than my comfort level. So given that and also your observations I would think it is your room acoustics that is making the sound bright.
I have NOVA V's and I am not happy
I have a Mark Levinson 585 and a pair of Sonus Faber Olympica Nova V's and although I admittedly have some room acoustic issues that I am working on I am not happy with the sound.
I listen to music LOUD. This Pairing thru a pair of Kimber Cable 8TC's gets bright in what I think is the 2 to 4 khz range and the sonus faber nova's seem to mute the lower end of female vocals, artist like Macy Gray or Tina Turner dont seem to have the same drive in the lower octaves. At the same time the upper end of vocals like Sheryl Crow can get too bright and cause fatigue (I am assuming this is in the 2 to 4khz range) I have tried every speaker placement you can think of, toe in, toe out. distance from front wall and I am adding acoustic treatments as fast as they can be shipped.
Here is my question, I had Mark Levinson 436 Mono Blocks in the past connected to a pair of B&W Nautilus 802's thru a pair of MIT Shotgun bi-wire speaker cables and I never noticed that system to be bright. Granted that system was in a different room in a different house. Everyone is telling me that B&W is a brighter sounding speaker by far over Sonus Faber. If I decide after all my room treatments that I am not a fan of the Sonus Faber sound where should I turn for my replacement speaker? Or is it Mark Levinson's Fault? I want Rich Lush Loud Musical sound. I like a decent sound stage, I also really love it when when you hear decay from the instruments. I don't really care if that's what is neutral or not that's what I like :)
Where did I go wrong and what can I do to fix it?
Thanks Lee
Showing 6 responses by yyzsantabarbara
@rlross3 This afternoon I removed my CD rack containing about 300-400 CD’s from my small office. I had an acoustic absorption panel in front of the rack because it was near the first reflection point of my right speaker. I also increased my wall of computer monitors by adding to 2 more to get 6 monitors. Now I expect more reflections off the monitors and less from the right speaker. Whatever the balance, the sound is improved. My sound was lacking a bit of dynamics or excitement before and now that bit of extra oomph is there. So far this is not fatiguing. I just wanted to highlight how the contents in the room are so important, more so in a small room like mine. My room used to sound like crap and very fatiguing with the same gear as I am using now. Next week, I plan to put an exercise bike (Wattbike) in the place of the CD rack. That will also have some effect, likely negative. Sometime back I added a bookshelf behind the speakers with thick books. The sound really improved. The bookshelf used to be where the current wall of monitors reside (on the other end of the room).
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@rlross3 If you want to bring out the big guns to tackle this problem. I recommend a DSP genius, Mitch Barnett. That is if you are a ROON or JRiver user. Accurate Sound Reproduction Using DSP , Barnett, Mitch - Amazon.com His company is Accurate Sound Home - Accurate Sound You will have to measure your room with a decent mic ($100) and the free REW software. He will give easy instructions on how to do this. The dude is a genius on this stuff and can make your gear work. I used his remote services for my small room. However, after a lot of testing with treatments and moving furniture, I was able to get great sound without the DSP. Not everyone has the ability to add treatments and move furniture, so the DSP is a great safety net. There are other ways to do this type of DSP (such as in audio hardware) but nothing as powerful as what Mitch does his very expensive DSP computer software (I forgot which 2 he uses).
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@grisslehamn I understand some of us start from a deficit on those brain cells, so here is a link to what I am talking about. My buddy had some other model, but the projector tech is "Laser" something. There is this new thing called the internet that can help you dig deeper into this tech if you are so inclined. LG HF85JA Full HD Laser DLP Home Theater Projector HF85JA B&H (bhphotovideo.com)
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@rlross3 No one beeching about your placement is really offering you any advice as to how to remedy it. Send me a DM on A’gon and I can direct you to some DSP solutions that will get you excellent sound and you will want to keep your speakers in the exact spot you have them now. That TV in the back is a big problem though a lot of people do it that way. My buddy has a projection TV in his office (projector cost about $2000). I forgot the tech that was used but he projects the picture to the wall and the projector sits on the floor about 1 foot away from the wall. That is what I would use if I had to have a TV in the middle like that. The picture was very good, or good enough for me.
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