Musical Fidelity and Sonus Grand Piano too bright.


Hi All,

I'm finding that this set-up is a little on the bright side (acoustic guitar especially). Sometimes I get ear fatiuge. Everything is all burned in. I've had all the equipment for over one year.

I'm considering changing all the electronics, but not sure where to start. I'm looking for SS stuff with a tube-like sound. My price range would be something comparable to the MF stuff. My only contraint is that my new electronics must have an HT bypass.

My system consists of the following:
1)Sonus Grand Piano Home (not Domus);Walls & Solo
2)Musical Fidelity A308 Integrated
3)MF A3.24 DAC
4)Synergistic Alpha Quad Interconnects and Speaker Cables.

thanks,

Tghooper
tghooper
Ghunter - 99% chance of room problems, the MF piece is fine. Room acoustics are WAY more real than audiophile amp-inherent brightness.
GHunter - thank you for clarifying your response. Yes, I do not have any experience with that equipment. And I have had electronics that sounded really awful.
The poster (tghooper) mentions nothing about his room, so I couldn't know if he has his SF speakers in a gymnasium or an overly-damped 'English Library' with books, fireplace, persian rugs and smoking jacket to boot.
That said, after owning those terrible amplifiers I had (which I won't mention), and having what I considered a good room, I switched to a smoother amp (McIntosh) and it made all the difference in the world.
There are a lot of shades of gray in this hobby.
When I bought my Sonu Faber Grans Piano (Original)

I heard them through the Musical Fidelity 308 with a Naim CD5. The cabling for the speaker was the Cardas Golden Cross. No brightsound at all, that why I bough the Sonus Faber on the spot.
I am a big fan of SF and have owned several of thier speakers. I have concluded this: For a warm and soothing as the SF line is, the orignal GPs are bright.

I too would get seriosuly listener fatigue and it did not stop until I got rid of the GPs.

Good luck, John

What is true for me may not be for you.....
After some trials and tribulations, I changed pretty much all of the components (except for the speakers and speaker wires). Here's an updated list. Of course this may change in the next few months too and is still a work in progress. I hate this disease...
1)Cary SLP98L
2)Cary 308
3)Conrad Johnson MFA2250A
4)Audience interconnects
5)Vibrapods & Vibrapod cones

I forgot to mention in my earlier posting that my system is in the family room which has about 25 ft. ceilings and extends into the kithen. It's a big room. Also has leather furniture and glass coffee tables. I have learned one important thing in my quest to improve on my old system. The best electronics in the world cannot compensate for bad room acoustics. This is something that I'm going to have to live with, unless we move to another house.

The current system is a step up from what I had but it's still a tad bit bright.

My next change will be to get new speaker wires. I know that the Synergistics is not the perfect match, but I needed a 20 feet pair, so I bought these since they were reasonably priced. I may try Transparent. I also tried Audience, but found no improvment.

Another change is to go with an amp that is more "laid back". The CJ is a tab bit in your face. I bought this amp after reading that it has "tube like" qualities. But I found that this claim was somewhat true. I think a tube would not be a good fit since my room too big and the base would be too mussy. Any recommedations???

Thanks,