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Orchestral brass and fanfare - analysis of system

The question is - where do the elements of great brass reproduction reside in a system? In the story below, I think performance is limited by either my amp or tweeter. What do you think?

And now my story ...
My system at present:

Electrocompaniet EMC1 CDP with MKII upgrade
Pass Labs X-1 Pre
Krell KAV250a amp
B&W Nautilus 805s
Audioquest interconnect
Discovery speaker cable.

What I hear from individual solo brass instruments:
Lyrical sound with good harmonics and good "Pratt".
Equally good with coronets, flugels, trombones, baritones;
french horns may be a little compressed - but then that is their natural sound. Works equally well on loud and soft passages.

What I hear from symphonic brass in fanfare is different:
[e.g. Copland - new world symphony ]The "Pratt" is still there, mids and lows are good, however the highs become compressed at LOUD volumes. On low volume passages the system relaxes into my comfort zone again.

My own thoughts:

1. Is this the sound of clipping?
2. Is this the metal tweeter on the 805s?
3. Is this amp unable to open up the speakers enough?
(Krell generally has plenty of headroom - even the KAVs)
4. Have I hit the wall with what my speakers can do?
judit

Showing 1 response by nighthawk

nighthawk
259 posts
 
Judit, put a Rowland Model 10 on your list of amps to try out. I am a brass freak, having played trombone for many years, and this is an amp that gets brass reproduction right. For me, the acid test is jazz big-band at high volume. The Model 10 still sounds clean at high volumes where a lot of other SS amps don't.

Also, you may want to look into speakers with soft-dome tweeters. Metal domes have resonances that seem to be excited by brass instruments more than other types which makes them sound harsh.

As someone else mentioned, the room is probably also being overloaded. So, to get the sound you want, you may need to address several things. Each contributes to the whole.
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