2. speakers
  3. 186009-183416

Midrange Increasingly Harsh

Lately I've noticed some harshness in the mid-range, especially with violins, clarinets and female voice.  I recently bought a CD of female plainchant, and she hits the un-sweet spot so frequently I can't listen to it.  I don't listen at high volumes, rarely over nine o'clock on the volume knob.  The sound is not anything unnatural, just a less musical presentation and an unpleasant harshness.

 

I have twenty year old Forest Totems with their original cones, a Prima Luna Dialogue One amp which got new tubes about five years ago and an Arcam CD-73 which got a factory rebuild about three years ago.  I have neither the money nor inclination to just start arbitrarily replacing parts, but would appreciate some insight and guidance on likely culprits. 

Thanks,

John Cotner

New Ulm, MN

jrcotner

Showing 3 responses by elliottbnewcombjr

elliottbnewcombjr
5,239 posts
 

Source; Pre/Amp; Speakers: Isolate the Problem.

Other speakers you can put in the system?

IF you have, or a friend has a fairly portable pre/amp setup, even an old receiver or AVR, you could try using that, it will isolate the problem: speakers or amp.

btw, this happens on more sources than your CD player, correct? If only CD, try a different one temporarily. Buy some cheap thingy from Amazon that is returnable.

Live near me, New Jersey 07062, I've got lots of stuff to help isolate this and/or that.

elliottbnewcombjr
5,239 posts
 

 

jrcotner OP

First: Switch equipment: Isolate the Problem: preamp?/amp?/speakers?

Don't jump around changing tubes before you know if it is the speakers themselves or your amp or your preamp.

go from there

elliottbnewcombjr
5,239 posts
 

OP mentioned the problem persists from BOTH CD and TT, sooo, that rules out source equipment.

It is unlikely both speakers would develop problem(s) at the same time. So, simply switching speaker wires, left to right, right to left, NO OTHER CHANGES: IF the problem moves to the other side, it's that speaker.

Tubes: get paper, make notes, easy to confuse yourself or forget. Swap all tubes L to R, problem move? Next: using tubes from the 'good side', swap l/r one at a time, any single tube swap make a difference?

Many tubes last 10,000 hours, so 5,000 hours is not a DEFINITE answer. Ask seller about the tubes you bought from him, what are the life expectancies of the tube types your unit uses?

...................................................

How many times have I advised a simple tube tester to give answers when problems occur????????????????????????? Blindly buying tubes is an expensive shot in the dark.

 

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