I'm confused - Different music...different speakers?


Thanks for allowing me this exploration. I've been on Audiogon before and find myself here for a very different reason this time.
I do believe my system is well resolving and will define gear at the end
Yet I keep getting steered to music genre based on sound.
What I mean by this is simple.
I can't seem to listen to old rock n roll favorites anymore.
There are albums I know from the past inside out and upside down - one example: The Allman Brother's at Fillmore East. I can mostly play every bit of this on guitar. I own three good copies on vinyl and can stream it at hi-res on Qobuz.
There are two drummers and Berry Oakley on bass- no slouch. Duane on slide...etc. An Epic and dynamic album
I can't listen to it - the metal tweeters are just aggravating. And what I remember from the bass and percussion is slam from the very opening to the end - it's not here.
What is going on here?
Gear is as follows:
Analogue side is a Nottingham Space 294, 12" Ace arm, Lyra Delos Cart and an EAR 834 MM/MC phono stage
Digital is an Antelope Zodiac plus with Voltikus power supply
All good and better cables
Totem Hawk floor standers
Amp is a Rogue Cronus w/ KT120 output tubes
Play Bill Evans or Bach ....and I can watch the paint melt off the walls and love every second of it......
I'm at a loss and thanks

smaarch1

Showing 3 responses by decooney

As a prior owner of Totems with that exact same tweeter for many years, and going through a few different higher current amplifiers, and cables, I had to kinda beat them into submission to get them to sound reasonable to my ears across different types and generations of music and recordings of varying quality. These speakers caused me to move to monoblock tube amplifiers, and ultimately to different and more sensitive custom built speakers with different type tweeters and crossovers..

@smaarch1 fwiw, if you must keep the Totem Hawks, there are a few different things you might try to help curve the alloy dome tweeter "aggravation" some, if you have not already attempted these band-aids. 1. try changing the front center 12AU7 preamp tube in the Rogue to a softer tube to take a little edge off. 2. good quality copper multi-strand speaker cables can help a little; tried several types with my former Totems with varying results. 3. Research and check capacitance pf/ft of your existing interconnect cables between the source and preamplifier. Ask Rogue what the acceptable limits are pf/ft, it matters with some tube amps too. Sometimes other/softer sounding copper interconnects can help a little. Your results may vary. Best of luck.

 

@smaarch1 I ran two custom 12" 500w Scanspeak subs with my former Totems. It was overkill for the Totems, not for my current speakers though. Possibly quality dual 9s, 10s, (faster) could be really nice with the Hawks.

With levels adjusted down I will say it helped the overall presentation and deferring to some of the comments above by @atmasphere yes, it helped it to sound "calmer" for sure. Another good recommendation for consideration.

@smaarch1 Oh I've been playing with speaker positioning alright....

Forgot to mention what a colleague and I landed on with our former Totem's with the same metal dome tweeters.  If you have not already done so, face them dead straight forward, no toe-in at all.  It rolled highs off a tad, more bass, deeper sound stage resulted. Seemed odd a first, and yet it worked really well for our rooms, fwiw.