Reclaim sound from the past?


The best sounding system I've ever had was almost ten years ago and included the following: CJ 14,12s,DR1,Da2b with Wilson WITTs. The speakers were almost 14 ft apart with lots of toe in (room size was 21 x 14 x 8). The sweet spot was huge and female voices the best I've ever heard. I moved out of this home and sold this gear. I purchased a pair of Revel Salons and have run numerous electronics (Pass 600,Proceed AMP5,Krell 400xi,Cary Slam 100s,VTL TL 85, Mac 275s but nothing seems to bring back the magic of the old system. Is it the old CJ tube gear I'm missing or the Wilson's or neither. Thanks for your opinions.
tommy

Showing 2 responses by iplaynaked

The formula of trouble-shooting your system/room, is to change one variable at a time. By process of elimination, can figure out what is doing what - and that included acoustical treatments.
I would suggest working with what you have, and making sure tha the acoustics are right, first. Larger spaces may be easier to get sounding good, long wall setup's, etc, rather than smaller spaces. If so, you might need some acoustic treatments to come into play. Then, once you know your acoustics and setup are secure and balanced properly, you can start swapping out gear.
On that note, I would start with cheap fixes like cabling. Then I'd adress preamp and amp combo's. The speakers are a large change, and will likely have the most dramatic impact on sound. But then, you do already have those, and need to set the room up around them first. So, I'd likely change those last, if I couldn't get the sound I wanted after doing the following, first:
Acoustics check, setup check, speaker wires and cables check, tweaks check, preamp check, amp check, then speakers as a last ditch.
Of course, you could just start with another pair of speakers, but sounds like that might not be your biggest issue. Probably acoustics, setup and system matching.
good luck
Ok, then change out your Revels for the Wilsons ONLY. Then, keeping your existing equipment in place, you can compare to see if it's the speakers that are or are not doing what you need!
At that point, I would still see if your Wilson's are sounding good or not. If not, then you can assume it's a setup/acoustics, or associated equip problem, obviously.
I'd still start removing or fixing one variable at a time to see what changes. Otherwise you're never going to know what's doing what, and the complete formula you're working with.