Just bought the Moon P-5 & am finding the sound too dry & the treble is sounding too crisp/high. Mind you I dont like warm tube like sound, I like fast & neutral, yet I am not liking the sound of the MOON P-5!!!
My system Bryston 4B-ST, Sony SCD-C555ES SACD player, Energy Veritas 2.4 speakers, Kimber Silver Streak Cables.
The Moon has been run in already, so thats not an issue here.
Before I had the same setup but was using my Yamaha RX-V800 home theatre receiver as the pre-amp. The Bryston was running the main 2 front channels. Honestly it did not sound bad. Now I get the moon and I am not too happy, actually I am totally lost!!!.
People please help me out, do I need to change my CD Player though I need to have a SACD player due to my SACD collections. Maybe I can keep this player & get a seperate CD player or get a DAC. I am not changing the Energy Veritas I have decided on that.
Timf Thanks, its really hard when one looses a job & I didn't really mean to go off topic. I was wondering to myself that I needed some good cables, which really is my next priority on my never ending quest for audio tweaking.......of course after I secure a good job:)
Sorry to read you lost your job. Not on topic I realize- and maybe a little strange, but I know it can be hard. hope you are holding up & good luck finding the job you are looking for.
The JC1 & Moon P5 are a good match, though the JC1 needs very properly matched powercords & balanced cables. With the right cables the JC1 can sing. I havent invested in any new power or balanced cords which I need to.
I recently lost my job, so I havent got the money & neither the inclination to listen to music, my priority is to get a decent job. Infact to save electricity I keep all my equipments off, specially the JC1 which consumes a lot of power. So I really can't do any critical listening as I dont have enough time to warm up my gear.
If you compare the specs for the JC1 & W6, I think the JC1 is a little better. Also the JC1 has got stellar reviews, so check it out. The JC1 used price on audiogon is not huge, cause some snobs beleive that Parasound is not upto the level of ML, Krell, Jeff R & all the other hugely expensive power amps which is of course a gain for some people who dont have to mortgage their house to listen to music!! Of course not all Parasound is great...I would only buy the JC1 though IMHO.
Good luck........also either way both are good amps
Are you still liking the P-5 / JC-1 combo? My local dealer had me listening to the P-5 / W-6 monoblocks with the Nova CD and it sounded very nice. I asked him about his thoughts on the W-6's versus the JC-1's and he hadn't listened to them and couldn't comment. The W-6's are at home with me now (demo). Using my old Yamaha DSP-A3090 as a pre, Analysis Plus Oval 9 SC and Anaylsis Plus Copper Oval In IC from Pre to Amp and my old MIT Terminator 2 IC's from CD (Adcom GCD-750) to Pre.
Speakers are Nautilus 805's. I know Monoblocks are overkill for now, but I am looking into floorstanders next. New JMlab Electra 927's or maybe Dynaudio 3.0 or 3.3's...
I'm a big fan of Argent Audio's Brujo HC power cords on my Wavelength monoblocks. In my system they sound detailed, dynamic, coherent and open, with very good bass.
Ric at Argent will also make you a set of balanced Pursangs if you twist his arm. Those are some tasty interconnects!
Sometimes we get so obsessed with the sound & changing different gear that we for get to the main thing...music!!
Well I hope someone can give me some ideas on power cords & balanced cables. I am trying to get a good match for the setup I have. I have a few Gutwire PC but I need 2 identical ones for the 2 JC-1's, so wondering which one to get
Hi all.........well I went & bought a pair of Parasound JC-1's the dryness is gone, this amp is liquid. However now I feel the bass slam is slightly lean. Matbe needs more break in. Now I want to get 2 power cords & some balanced interconnect between the P-5 & the power amp.
I need help again guys. Thanks. Anybody has any thoughts about the JC-1, I had nailed it down to Pass Labs X-350 & the moon W-6, I hope I didnt make a mistake going for the JC-1?
If I may suggest, check out Analysis Plus Solo Crystal Oval interconnects. I am using them on a Pioneer Elite Unviersal Player(DV-47A) going to a Perreaux Radiance R200i Integrated and I have been pretty happy with them. They definitely bettered a pair of Kimber Hero ICs.
Some of the attributes that reviewers gave this cables(and I would agree) that in term, prompt me to audition them were superb tonal color, and really powerful bass/midbass. Maybe that would cure the dryness you are talking about.
I know the P5, it is very transparent. I also know the Bryston sound since I own a 4B-ST. I think your problem is that the Sim Audio P5's transparency is revealing the dryness of the Bryston power amp.
Thanks everybody, I really didnt expect so many answers.
The Sony SCD-C555ES SACD player does not have an IEC so can't experiment with power cables, also the Sony rests on Nordost Pulsar Points. My whole system rests on Atacama Equinox shelves which have spikes for all the shelves, so vibration is not a problem I presume.
I did manage to get a Gutwire Pure Clef not the SE version for the Moon P-5 & I think the glare is less. Speaker cable QED Bi-Wire Original MK2 bought those 4 yrs ago when I had less money (sigh) & havent changed them since. I would say they are no where close to esoteric, but not bad either.
I am willing to change speaker cables too, any suggestions? Some of you have mentioned interconnect change & I am willing to do that also.
I am also considering buying the Moon Eclipse CD Player though its a bit beyond my budget right now. I am also thinking about 2 Sony players, the SCD-1 or SCD-XA777ES any comments on their Red Book performance. You guys have any other suggestions for a CD player or should I just stick to my current player & upgrade the cables?
I know these are a lot of questions, sorry but I need to get this problem sorted out.
While a cable swap may help, let me suggest that you live with the P-5 a bit. If your personal reference has been the Yamaha, you may need to adapt and learn how the P-5 sounds over time.
My P-5 also sounds a bit dry, but not egregiously so. I agree that some cable swapping is in order. My suggestion would be to try either Wireworld Gold Eclipse 5 or Acoustic Zen Reference Matrix II in XLR configuration out to the amp. Borrow cables if you can, from dealers or friends, to sii if they might change the sound in directions you like.
The suggestion of trying a used passive in place of the P-5 is also a good one. It might be less expensive than buying new cables. I bought a transformer based passive, and it sounded noticebly warmer and more musical than the P-5. But given that the P-5 is such a capable preamp, it's really worth trying to bring it on song first.
Seems I wrongly thought of poweramp instead of preamp. This case is quite simplier: You can get passive preamp and compare with P-5. There are lots of them on the market in sub-$500 range. You'll be completely stoned.
I have to agree with the first two posts. You might want to try some different interconnects. The P-5 appears to be the strongest part of your system right now, and you might have to play around a bit to get the sound you like. Try a good balanced XLR cable between the P-5 and Bryston (assuming it has XLR inputs) and maybe take out that Kimber cable, at least to try some other interconnects. Also, you might want to try borrowing a decent power cord from someone to try on your SACD player. Sometime they can tame the too-crisp highs.
The most common brightness problems in solid state gear is handling high impedance loads that usually occur above the highest crossover point. I'd start talking of your speakers, if I didn't hear myself the same problem with Merlyns when I heard setup at CES. That was one of the worst sounding rooms IMO. So speakers probably maynot be a culprit. The other story is that Bryston is indeed truely well-engineered SS gear that may compete with much higher-priced models.
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