2. misc-audio
  3. 994560456

Not happy yet

I have recently discovered "hi-fi" and have been replacing a few parts of my system. But I have not yet got the involving sound I am looking for. My judgement of the sound: the bass is too loud relative to other sounds, and the voices aren't prominent and involving enough. The loss of tone controls in my new higher-end pre-amp and amp (replaced older receiver) means I can't throttle the bass back as I used to do.

Any advice on where to go next? Here is the equipment:

Yamaha CDX-410u CD player (older single-play player)
Classe CP-35 pre-amp
Rotel RB-981 Power amp
Celestion S300 speakers
Cabling is generic

Room is about 12' x 25', with 8' ceiling. The speakers are at one of the room, several feet from back and side walls. Bare hardwood floor, bare ceiling, fairly sparse wall decoration.

Music is mainly Jazz, older rock, folk. I notice the well-recorded jazz sounds pretty darn good, very good highs, decent voices on the best recordings. Jazz tends not to be bass-heavy to start with.

Any ideas on what the next upgrade or change (room treatment?) should be? I have to go one thing at a time, but I expect to replace almost everything (except possibly the pre-amp and speakers) along the way.

Thanks for any advice...
ehart

Showing 1 response by snooker14

Ag insider logo xs@2x
snooker14
164 posts
 
Much as I hate to agree with Thunders....he is correct. You have three things that need work.
The CD player should be the first and most expensive. Whatever you get, you probably want to keep for a while.
I suggest a 24bit HDCD player, or a good DAC if you prefer that route. The room you describe is hell on good sound. You might want to follow leaf's recommendation for a large area rug and bookshelves or drapes or something to help with the walls. Last would be the cables. Start with ICs. I don't know your speakers. Your Pre is made by a company whose Amps are great but there are better preamps in my opinion. Rotel is a solid performer for the price.
More to discover