Maggie 1.7i's lack detail. Ideas?

thanks snapsc, flatblackround

I assumed the EX-440 (350WPC @ 4 ohms) would have enough quality power to do pretty well. Its pretty well rated.  A Halo A21 is a bit out of my budget.

I think I have the DVD player configured so it is sending bitstream out of the optical cable and the new NR1200's DAC is being used.   I could be wrong about that.

the BDP-S590 dvd player has optical, coax, hdmi, and line out.   The hdmi is noticably worse than the optical.   I haven't tried the coax.  I thought coax/optical digital was digital.   I set it to PCM and bitstream.

soix I chose these components mainly because I thought they'ld get me close to the sound I remembered without spending too much.   Maybe I should have done more research on the components that would get me there.  The Marantz was the cheapest option I could find that had all of the common inputs you would want these days and output stereo pre-amp out.   The BK I bought used about 10 years ago.   i assumed power was the main thing and it got good ratings.

The Marantz to BK connectors are SonicWave from Impact Acoustics.   

I can swap out my cheap optic cable for coax from Monster.

I appreciate all of your inputs.   I just did a little test and I think I found the critical piece.  I did a lossless rip of a cd.  Put it on thumb drive and put it into the USB slot in the NR1200.  What a difference.  The voices came alive.   So much more detail.  I either need to rip all of my 10 cds or get a better player.

any thoughts on the stranded coper between the amp and the speakers?  What is good cable for Maggies crappy connectors?

Thanks everyone for the input.

i don’t have a terribly large CD collection, maybe 150, so I am going to rip them when I want to hear one. That eliminates the DVD player issue.

52356: Your father sounds like he was a class act.

I bought the 1.7is used from a dealer. He said they were a trade in from someone they knew well. When I got them home they looked very much like they had never been taken out of the box.

Lots of good advice here. To roughly tally it up. The votes on what to blame (left off DVD player since I am now streaming bluetooth):

Marantz NR1200 dac/preamp 6

BK EX-440 amp 6

location 5

wires 3

jumpers/fuses 2

Quasi-ribbon vs true ribbon 2

My hearing has declined. 3

romanticized memory sound 3

mushrooms. 2

Hi boomerbillone,

I will look into Starke.   Thanks.

hartf36: my bad.  It is a B&K EX442 Sonata (not 440).   Thanks for the specific experience with the amp speaker combo.

thanks for the perspective jji666.  I was hoping for a cheap fix :-(

Thanks to everyone for all of the input. 

i hate to do it but I think the Marantz NR1200 has to go.   I really like that it accepts all of the inputs I need.   I also liked the price tag.  But I am going to bite the bullet and get a better DAC and preamp because my disappointment is killing me. 

your depressing me helomech.  I'm going to try upgrading the DAC and pre-amp.  See what happens.   Maybe what I am hearing is the difference between a true ribbon and quasi.   And there are definitely levels of audio they are mainly a question of budget.   I am not going full out financially on this.   Will see what happens.

Well, I got a Bluesound Node for streaming.   Currently using it's DAC.  And straight into the power amp.  I think it is a bit better.   Next up, Topping d70s or d90 DAC.  And, of course, anyone want a gently used 6 month old NR1200?