Lowrider:
The phase is good. As evidence, I did not mention that the Hawks' bass response is nothing short of amazing. Tight, yet extended. Especially impressive for the drivers' diameter. Also, FYI, no issues with the mids either. In the bass and mid frequencies the Hawks outperform any speaker I have previously owned.
I DID slightly (7 pounds) mass-load the speakers with a mix of sand and multi-sized ball bearings, for safety (tipping hazard) mostly. Forgot to mention that. Totem tech support had no issue with this when I consulted them. |
Erik:
Thanks for your thoughts. I particularly appreciate the brand recommendations. Any particularly great models among those you would recommend? Interested in great value for money, and am likely to seek used gear.
I'm pretty in touch with my hearing loss. It's minor to date, and I listen some to friends' systems, so I am confident the hearing loss is a minor element in my situation. I get my hearing tested every couple years and I wear hearing protection when playing.
I am am fascinated by your comment about listening as a player. I probably do that, unconsciously. I do seek to resolve the instruments I play, when listening--it's where a lot of my attention goes.
-B |
Also, my second system has a Creek 100a integrated amp, which has pretty darn decent tone controls--I do try to play most recordings with the bypass engaged, though. It IS handy for some recordings, though. Years ago, I entered the audiophile world via PS Audio "passive" pre-amps, so I try to minimize the gear and circuits in the signal path when feasible. The tone controls on the Creek help sometimes, and sometimes they add harshness and grain. Depends a lot on the recording, I've found. |
Lowrider:
Thanks for the comments.
The room is not overdamped as far as I know. No damping on front and back walls, just on one side and carpets.
I bought the Hawks new, and they have always sounded as noted.
Nearfield listening experience is the same.
Thanks for the comment on classical. My experience is similar, as noted.
B
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Shadorne:
Thanks. Tweeters are not blown because classical recordings come through quite nicely. I may have inadvertently employed a bit of hyperbole to describe my issue, which frustrates the heck out of me. An example is I love how Dire Straits first album sounds on friends' systems, but there is little hi freq. drums (cymbals, hi-hat, snare) getting through to listen to on my gear.
Erik: Thanks for the additional insights and recommendations. Super-useful.
All: you are giving me a lot to think about. Thank you! Please continue to offer your thoughts.
Q: does anyone think the issue may be a different piece of gear than the speakers? I have a couple dicier amps I can try to test if the issue is the Sim Audio gear: Bryson 2B, and Dared 2a3c, and the (less dicey for this setup Creek 100a. I could swap one if these in for the Sim Audio gear. Thoughts? Thanks again-your reflections are most appreciated.
My suspicion is the Sim and Totem gear may play less well together than previously claimed.
B |
Lowrider:
Interesting. I do have power conditioning in place I will bypass and report back. |
Thanks again to All who have participated--a few reflections on the latest input:
kalali: no one is more surprised than me at the letdown in the highs. Thanks.
Chayro: Lacking an equalizer (good idea though) I will swap in my amp (see above) with tone controls. The Creek lets one take the treble pretty far.
grinnel: Thanks.
mb1audio: 99% confident the speakers are in-phase, but I will try your suggestion anyway. Will report back.
nonoise: I had not considered that the Hawks are not burned in enough. I have run them for (estimate here) about 90-100 hours so far. They were brans- new in the box when I got them.
dougsat: I keep wishing it was the cables--the anticables are pretty affordable (an understatement). I may try them.
Every/Anyone: Could the Marantz SA8005 be sending out a messed up signal, and hence be the issue? I have tried it (as noted) with and without DAC, with little audible difference. My prior experience with Marantz CDPs is pretty positive--very neutral sound (not over-warm, highs not rolled off). Thanks.
-B
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onhwy61: Wow. 500 hours? I could do that--the cost is reasonable at least :-). I was being a teensy bit conservative when I said 90-100 hours, previously. It is quite possible I have 100-150 hours on the speakers. I tracked time in use at the start, but failed to keep it up.
beernut (and onhwy61): placement is something I have messed with quite a bit. It makes no major difference with this issue. Also, as noted, near-field listening does not sound any different than standard couch listening. I would add the Hawks are designed as somewhat "positioning indifferent," for the listener and speaker placement. They make a big thing of this in their marketing materials, and I find it to be quite true. The quality of sound changes very little with these speakers as I move them and myself around. |
All:
I recognize the burn-in issue is likely legitimate (though I have read of folks who loved their Hawks' sound out of the box). Ideally, I should stop posting, burn the speakers in for another 350-400 hours or so, then post results. I'll make that part of the process, but I will also try some of the other "low-hanging fruit" ideas that you have suggested.
I just switched polarities on one speaker (mb1audio). When switched, the sound in the mids became super-forward (soundstage) and loud, while the low bass became muddy. Upper-bass became more forward in the soundstage, too. I did not notice much difference in the highs, if any. Possibly some of the mid-highs came out more volume-wise. Most of the highs still felt buried. The top end of the highs remained muted, for example. I switched back and forth several times to confirm my impressions. I conclude I had the speakers in phase alignment on my original setup. Whew.
Thoughts?
I will next reset the gear to take out all power conditioning and surge protection, per suggestion--this one is not immediately intuitive to me, but it's relatively easy to try. Stay tuned. -B |
Update: with the power conditioner and surge suppresser removed...no difference. Maybe a tiny bit cleaner and tighter overall sound, maybe not. Definitely no breakthrough in the highs. I will put back in the power conditioner, but not the suppressor--it's a cheap Monster one, in any case (I'll use a short thick gauge power strip into one of the conditioner sockets to handle all the power plugs that won't fit directly into the conditioner. We have pretty clean power where I live, so I did not expect a result on this test.
pokey77: Those are interesting reflections on the room, thanks. When I auditioned Hawks at the dealer, they too sounded incredible. I thought "I'm buying that sound." More detail on Room characteristics: I have a flat 9' ceiling, painted wood, and the back wall is not treated, nor is the left wall. The right wall has window treatments (textile) which are absorbent, and the floor is low-pile carpet. No treatments on front wall either. I know what you mean about cranking the treble on anintegrated--it can have a big effect. It just seems so "un-audiophile" to have to crank treble nearly all the way up. One thing I can easily do to liven the room is to pull back the window treatments. I'll report on that soon. It's an easy trial.
ghosthouse: I had several speaker sets. They all sounded brighter, but lacked the Hawk sophistication in mids and bass. Here is a list: Celestion SL-6 (sweet, balanced), Linn Index (yech), Spectrum 208a (probably should have kept those--boring form factor, solid sound).
Next up (maybe in a day or so): swapping in the Creek 100a (with tone controls).
Please continue to offer reflections and suggestions. Thank you.
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Quick "shot in the dark" question on a vintage speaker: does anyone have any thoughts on Dali Royal Towers for meeting my needs? I've always been drawn to their geometry. They rarely come up for sale in the US. Thanks.
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Update: (the one where I make progress, I think):
Room/Space Treatment Gurus (you know who you are): I opened up the window coverings on 100% of right wall: ~125 Sq ft. of glass is now reflecting into the room, rather than the textile window coverings that were closed over the wall. The good news: I could hear more highs. The bad news: the difference was quite small--I was reather pleased I could detect it.
Power Conditioner (and anti-so) folks: I have now got the power amp directly in the wall, and the other gear in the power conditioner. There is no longer surge supression on a separate (Monster) power strip. Just one thick gauge power strip running off one socket of the conditioner. The other three conditioner plugs have CDP and Pre Amp and DAC in them. It's a cleaner hookup, and the difference from taking out everything (and running off the wall directly) has persisted, I think.
Near Field People (you are wise, soix et al): I followed the advice of several of you (finally). I stuck my ears at the center of the bass element and then the tweeter on the Hawks, while listening at very moderate, then slightly louder levels to Sultans of swing. Range 1-2" from the plane of the speaker housing (or tweeter dome). I think this is a serious finding: Left tweeter almost nothing coming out, with nothing in the upper-highs, and maybe nothing in the mid-highs. a little low-highs. No distortion at all (I think this is important--I listened very closely). Right Channel: Interesting--I heard the lo-highs, mid-highs, and hi-highs--all of them, but overall the signal was very very attenuated from what I might expect. It was not the case that "if I had both speakers firing like the right one it would be great. The right tweeter was, on an absolute level, was attenuated.
Please comment. Thanks.
I'm thinking, after the amp swap-in, I'll contact the dealer about Hawk service possibilities. I may also try sticking some other, much lesser speakers into the system to test: Axiom M3 v3. I will have a lot more data than.
ghosthouse and others who think it's the speakers: I think we are homing in. Thanks. It could still be the Sim Audio Moon P-5/W-5. Hope not. The speaker swap-in I mentioned above should help.
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Good suggestions folks! Thanks you.
In particular I will try the following:
1. Speaker-channel swapping (great idea).
2. Non-music source signal--I was having frustratingly large hassles telling what was going on.
3. Binding posts: I will try the upper pair and variations.Good concept. My jumpers may be an issue, but I have been playing with those, and nothing seemed to change when I swapped in jumpers of digfferent types.
4. Also: I ordered anti-cables Level 3 speaker cables as well as their Level 3 Jumpers. (Paul gave me a fine discount--what a cool guy). I think this will be a more "refining" move than something that solves my issue, but it's relatively inexpensive to try this approach. |
lowrider--you are a smart person. I have been looking for the brass jumpers from the factory. Also--on the binding posts, I was using lower, but I'm now in the upper (yes the highs improved a tiny bit--most discernible to date, but still on the small-difference side) difference so far. I will also try diagonal configs (read this has an effect here on a thread somewhere). I will continue to seek the factory jumpers. Frustrating.
I am "totally up for" getting some test tones/pink noise sounds. I am thinking of downloading WAVs if possible. Can anyone point me to a free source. I'll burn it onto an audio CD, I guess, Or download and I can run it through my DAC using my Mac Air USB (that's my lo-quality listening component for mp3s etc.)
As always, please reflect--I appreciate the tone and usefulness of this thread. Thanks again.
PS-We made into "Top New Discussions" this week. Cool. You folks are great. |
A quick Thanks for the continuing advising. I am planning to implement the next measures sometime this week. Since I'm a public school teacher, work beckons heavily this week as my semester winds down. Thanks again to All, and I will post replies to various advice this week, too.
Hoping to work through at least several more of the action items soon.
-B |
Updates coming soon on results of suggestions I plan to implement this weekend! Stay Tuned. Thank you all for the advising to date. There remains a lot to think about, but my experiences with room conditioning and cabling (having now messed around extensively with both those variables) is that the main issue lies with the amp or the speakers, with a slight chance that the source is not giving a good signal (Marantz SACD8005). Again, my gratitude for the excellent reflections and suggestions received to date. Report on latest trials coming very soon!
-B |
New and engaging news:
But first...
Lowrider: I have used the stock brass connectors for bridging the speaker inputs on the hawks. I mislaid them, as previously noted (keeping my eye open, though). I have thus also tried some simple 12GA OFC jumpers, some shotgunned higher-end OFC (in both cases bare wires). I am presently using the 6" jumpers (Level 3) provided by Anti-Cables, which I like because they appear to radically reduce any chance of a short (spades), which I am paranoid about with the bare wires (stranded). Note that I have detected no differences in sound across ANY of the jumpers except that the non-stock ones I mentioned above all sound a little bit better than the stock brass plates provided. I tentatively plan to stay with the anti-cable jumpers. They are also really solid. Note: I remain convinced that the upper inputs give me a slight (ever so slight) edge on the high end over the other three possible combinations (bottom inputs, 2 diagonals). These differences of which I speak are not the types of differences that offset the deficit in high freq. output that I have been describing.
Here's the Really Interesting News:
I switched the speaker wire channels at the amp. The problem with few highs stayed with the left speaker. Reminder: I think the highs are muted on both sides, but they are close to inaudible on the left.
I was thinking it was the amp (Moon Audio W-5) and am kind of relieved it appears not to be that item. I still plan to swap in the Creek 100a for the P-5/W-5 and have a listen for confirmation of my impressions.
Anyone have any thoughts? I am thinking I need to take the pair of speakers in to repair service and ask a pro to determine if the tweeter or crossover is bad, at least on the left.
Thanks.
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Further update:
Today I schlepped the Hawks to my friendly neighborhood hi-end dealer, Hermary’s in San Carlos, CA, where they hooked them up to a system comprised of a nice Parasound pre and a Mackintosh 1520 power amp (yum). Source was a recent PS Audio server providing WAV and FLAC files.
Surprise! The speakers sounded fine. No differences in high freq. response between speakers, even switching channels. The Hawks sounded like many of you gentle experts have suggested that they should sound--rather amazing, with no issues on the high end. Even a slight tendency towards brightness without harshness--so cool, to hear them as they are supposed to sound. That’s the good news. The bad news is my amp, pre-amp, or CDP are now suspect. I am thinking I may take the power amp in for work/diagnosis first, and would like the advice of you, the cognoscenti, on this matter. Thank you in advance for any pearls of wisdom you may wish to offer.
B |
Hey Erik (et al):
Some updates. First for Erik, Hawks have 6 ohm impedance, FWIW. I have not encountered an amp that had trouble pushing a lot of sound through them, though SQ is another issue.
Quickie recap: In our last episode, I took the Hawks to Hermary's (local dealer) and tested them on a McIntosh Power Amp/Paradign Pre setup. Source was a high-end Audio server. Sounded great. I've now swapped out the Sim Audio Moon P-5/W-5 for my Creek 100a, and the sound is better, but ONLY because (IMHO) the Creek has tone controls, with which I have been pushing the treble way up (setting of 6-9/10). But it sounds good. Current cables are Audience AU24SE (ICs) and Audio Art SC-5SE(R) on speakers. I tried some anti-cables, and retain them as the bridging conductors between speaker posts (well-designed design for that).
Insights/Action/Questions:
(1) My hearing is worse than I thought. Specifically, owing to the geometry of my setup, for near field listening (including a process per Erik's suggestion above) I was using my left ear on the right-speaker and right ear of the left-speaker. Oops. I have major high frequency hearing loss in my right ear (now that I stop to seriously listen for that). I was diagnosing the left speaker incorrectly. I switched to listening near-field with only my left ear, and things improved some. Not sure what action item this portends, except I am toying with getting a "Hear One" device for use in-ear. I'm mostly interested in that for use as an inexpensive hearing assist-device (in my classes), so I'm far from counting on this to make a difference in music listening.
(2) The Moon P-5/W-5, while truly a pleasure to operate, and possessed of stunning aesthetics (IMHO), has a couple issues--notably (in my specific case) no tone controls, which I apparently need. Also, from an audiophile perspective, the bass (my low- and mid- freq, hearing is fine) was "too extended" in the Moon + Hawks setup. The Moon pre/amp put out a bit more than the hawks could readily resolve--seriously low frequencies--well beyond the (admittedly brilliant) ability of the Hawks smallish drivers. This resulted in slightly "loose, boomy" bass at times, depending on the recording. The Creek amp, solved this issue (speculation: by simply not going there as powerfully on the lowest frequencies). The result: audibly tighter bass. Still plenty of low-low frequencies, too.
(3) The system I heard at Hermary's listening space was driven by an expensive (>$5k, I suspect) server. I got the brand wrong--not PS Audio, so that remains a mystery for now--sorry about that. The point: the source was top-notch, far above the Marantz SA 8005SACD I'm using. Even with a modded Eastern Electric DAC (discrete Op Amps in for ICs, pulled out tube) the Marantz is simply not as good as that server pushing out FLACs and WAVs. Having the Parasound pre and the McIntosh Amp in the loop could not hurt either. I am wondering now about the quality of my source material (CDs) and the Marantz SACD 8005.
(4) Actions Items (planned and prospective):
-I'll take the Moon W-5 (power amp) in for service--I have a couple minor issues that need attention (loose speaker binding post, intermittent power LED). I'll have the service guy go over the whole unit. Everyone I talked to, however, told me power amp problems are generally much more "catastrophic" by nature--subtler issues like "muted highs" are not on people's radar for this type of gear.
-My wife (whom I adore) has said I can have a belated Xmas gift of a component of my choice. If I sell the Moon Pre- and Power-amps, I'll have plenty of $ to get something that hopefully meets my needs better. Having spent an inordinate amount of time validating the speakers, I wonder where I might turn next. Open to constructive suggestions. Let's keep single component cost at $5500 or less, please. Less is more ;-).
-Having, in the course of this exploration, done a whole bunch of cable-swapping (anti-cable/Audience/Audio Art/Better cable/vintage Monster M-Sigma 2000/others) I now firmly believe that once one has decent quality cable in the system, differences are absolutely minimal. My not so subtle way of saying I am done exploring cables for now. I'm thinking (from the visit to the dealer) of looking at a used McIntosh power or integrated amp. Other ideas (including replacing the CDP) are welcome. I'm quite open to new or used top-quality gear--there's a lot of McIntosh available out there--it's confusing, actually. Thank you all for your thoughts.
-B
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Lowrider: I'll try that idea on the ICs, but not too optimistic. Already attempted a couple variations along those lines, with little result, but I'll dig deeper into my cables (BJC or Better Cables or old vintage Monster seem likely candidates). Stay tuned for a report.
Erik: Thanks for the insights. After 45+ years of playing percussion, and several visits to the audiologist, my knowledge of my condition is as stated above. When playing, I now religiously use hearing protection (isolating Shure ear buds, currently). I run them thru a multi-output pro headphone amp (presonus) with volume controls for each output. I try to keep the levels reasonable when playing with my combo in-studio, and I use more mundane ear plugs for live gigs. This all helps, but the damage to right side hi freq. is real.
All: I think much of my issue is reflected by the tension between seeking neutrality in the gear, and needing brighter highs given my story. Put differently, and more usefully, I wanted to avoid listening fatigue, which I get from overly harsh highs, so I overcompensated (a lot) by inappropriately combining gear that ALL boasted "laid-back sonics," per Lowrider's comment on cables. In my case, the Sim Audio, Marantz, Audience, and even the Totem Hawks (though less so) combined to over-soften my highs. The result has been muted highs that are a particularly poor fit to my personal situation. Please comment.
Other miscellaneous news:
(1) Took the Moon W-5 in for service today. It needed a couple minor fixes anyway. The senior tech was deeply skeptical of the high freq. issue residing in the amp, as I previously noted in an earlier post, though he admitted a messed up capacitor could conceivably play a role.
(2) Room conditioning fans: I added bass traps to the corner nearest to and opposite the speakers. So far, some minor differences are apparent (better clarity at the low end, but it's pretty subtle). I need to listen more extensively following this tweak. No effect on highs detected so far. I used 72" of cloth covered medium density foam cylinder. Actually looks ok.
Thanks to to all for hanging in there with me on this issue.
-B |
Zamdrang: Thank you for weighing in on the Dali Royal Towers. I was initially engaged by them because of their highly refined look, having never had a chance to listen to them. I have also had difficulty finding reviews online because they are getting pretty "vintage" as far as their age goes. I really appreciate your thoughts, and indeed, may act on them. Update for others following this thread: Having switched to near field listening while doing tests, and using only my left (undamaged) ear consistently from speaker-to-speaker, I am perceiving that the highs are coming through, and maybe - I am not listening to good sources (music CDs and CDP), which accounts for a lack of clear highs,
- The combination of Simaudio Moon P-5/W-5 and Hawks may be over-softening my high frequencies too much for my particular needs,
- Swapping in the Creek Evo 100a has some effect in the direction I need, but having to crank the treble all the way (or nearly so) doesn't seem to be a very "audiophile" solution, and I still miss some highs.
This has led me to contemplate the following possible actions (I am thinking to implement 1 or 2 of these ideas, not all three--costs are a factor. : (a) switching to different speakers (as noted above the Dalis come to mind, or the Thiels which a number of you kind people have mentioned as likely able to meet my needs, (b) switching to a brighter amp/pre-amp combo. My experience with the Creek has led me to believe that the integrated amp market has come a very long way in a good direction since I switched to all separates, (c) getting into a better source (a disc player with music server capabilities, for example. Any suggestions along those lines would be most welcome. I am a total noob (as my kids say) in this realm of gear. I am especially interested in hearing about gear that delivers top caliber sound quality without breaking the bank. I am aware that music servers tend to be expensive. I have a dedicated MacBook Air (2011 vintage) available, if that helps. Thanks again to all who have advised me on this issue. I hope to hear from you on these questions. Best, -Bruce |
So, Lowrider: point taken.
Maybe I should be asking
"what's a great integrated amp or pre-amp with 'wonderful' tone controls?"
B |
Update:
So, I had the amp (Sim Audio Moon W-5) maintained, diagnosed by some pro techs. There were some minor fixes, but nothing major wrong. The tech commented he had rarely seen such a well-built power amp. Sonically, his work translated to a minor improvement, but nothing along the lines of what I had been looking for. I subsequently found a couple of good buys on equalizers on eBay, and went for it (lots cheaper than a McIntosh pre/amp solution). I ended up with a dbx 1231 graphic eq, and an Ashly PQ-26 parametric. Both are pro-level gear (studio). The dbx arrived first, and it clearly made a difference, but the difference I got was an improvement, but not understated/subtle/natural sounding. Some harshness/fatigue/artificiality was present. Still, I considered this a promising step forward.
The Ashly PQ-26 was another story--significant differences were possible without incuring harshness or over-brightness. Wow. I still need to get the parametric eq dialed In a bit, and I wish it had "shelf" settings, but again, wow. Natural-sounding improvements are the hallmarks of a good parametric, and the Ashly did not disappoint. I put the Ashly between the power amp and the pre. It’s amazing. Recordings of music I love, but which have serious sonic quality issues were improved greatly. I’m really getting what I have been seeking at this point. I’ll either sell the graphic eq, or put it into another system in a different room. The Ashly is a keeper. Ran as much of the cabling as possible through balanced cables (Audience 24se and totem). I am deeply pleased with results so far. The Hawk speakers are responding beautifully.
Before trying the eq approach I read a bunch of cogent threads, so I established preferences before buying. My insights:
1. Eq is ok for meeting my particular needs--some hi Freq. hearing loss, and the quality and nature of my many recordings (CDs) have huge variation, suggesting some eq may be appropriate at times, and the Ashly has hardware bypass for purists.
2. For any eq gear intended for audiophile use, choose pro (studio) gear over consumer-grade gear. The I/O options are different (1/4" TRS instead of rca), but the balanced (XLR) option provides wonderful sound.
3. Parametric eq gives more control and has far less of a negative impact on fidelity vs graphic eq.
4. Though I thought about "tuning the room" with the eq, I decided to go with my ears over quantitative analysis via an RTA. RTAs give you a balanced/flat sound at one point: where you put the mic. I often listen from several spots in the room, so the RTA route made little sense (there seems to be some consensus in the forums on this--I agree strongly). The Hawks are also designed to be good for listening from multiple positions in the listening space, from what I’ve read.
5. I spent a lot of time on cabling, using swapped cables as expensive tone controls. Mistake. I needed to achieve big differences in hi freq. sound, and an eq gave me what I needed to achieve this, surprisingly, without destroying the quality of the listening experience, for example, by introducing harshness, overly bright highs, or quick-onset listening fatigue. Cool.
Thanks again to to all who advised me on this issue. Please feel free to comment/reflect on this development.
BH
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@onhwy61
Sorry for the massively delayed response.
A couple caveats before I reply to your request:
1. I tuned the EQ to work with my ears (lots of high frequency hearing loss). YMMV.
2. So these settings may be best for someone with similar issues. They are not good settings for people with no high frequency hearing issues.
3. I was wrong: in a previous post I mentioned that the Ashly had no "shelf" functionality. Oops. I have shelf settings, which happen to be very useful. They are included below.
4. I adjusted both channels identically (L/R).
5. The settings given are for my "average" listening experience. Really shrill CDs, for example, have necessitated different settings in the highs (much less gain).
6. I have had good luck with these settings on an SACD I tried (classical), but the vast majority of my listening is to redbook CDs, which are also vastly improved.
7. The bypass functions are really nice, but the cables are still going through an extra box, which noticeably degraded the "bypass all" signal compared to no EQ box in the signal path. I put the EQ box in between the pre- and power amps.
8. Since the Ashly is pro-gear, I used all balanced cables in the hookup of the EQ.
9. It took a few days of messing around to get the settings dialed in. There is a lot of personal preference involved.
Ashly PQ-26 Parametric EQ settings for a person with hearing loss in the high frequency range:
Master volume: -3db (gives me some headroom).
Shelf-low: 60hz, +5db (no Q adjustment)
16-800hz: 16hz, +3db, Q=1 octave
50hz-2.4khz: 1.6Khz, +6db, Q=1.5 octaves
160hz-8Khz: 500hz, +3db, Q=3 octaves
500hz-24Khz: 24Khz, +15db, Q=3 octaves
Shelf-High: 14.5 Khz, +12db (no Q adjustment)
"Shelf" refers to setting a constant horizontal line starting at a particular frequency and gain, with no Q (for High Shelf all frequencies above the set freq. are increased/decreased by the amount of gain set--there's no "curve" or bandwidth envelope. Great feature, especially for my needs.
I tried not to mess too much with the mids, because they were OK to begin with, but that wasn't the case once I started tweaking the low and high frequencies--a lot of presence and soundstage went away. The highest gains are set for higher frequencies to deal with my hearing. The bump to the bass is likely not necessary (certainly not needed for my hearing impairment) but when I tried it, the music sounded more lively, and I could hear the "attack" much more crisply in the lows. On the highs, you would think that setting the shelf up the way I have it would make the fully parametric setting (500hz-24Khz adjustment) redundant, but since I have bypass switches for every frequency adjustment (a great feature), I tested the combinations of these high freq. settings, and having both engaged gave the best results.
Hope this is interesting to some.
Best,
-B
Other gear: Marantz SACD 8005, Eastern Electric MiniMax DAC (set on Solid State and modded--tube removed, nice op amps swapped in instead of ICs), Simaudio Moon P-5 Pre-Amp, Simaudio Moon W-5 Power Amp, Totem Hawk Speakers. Audience Au24SE cables throughout.
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