If this amp has you WOW'ing then why would you want to revert to your old amp? Just listen at a lower volume setting, & you should still feel the players in your room. |
At a low volume I dont get the same slam and detail in my music. I need that to get into the groove. The Arcam did provide that slam at around 10 o'clock on the volume knob but it also sometimes hard harsh highs. Those are my tradeoffs. |
You may want to consider some room treatment. Check out the Rives forum on audio asylum. The room is often the most overlooked piece of the system. |
No Im trying to get satisfying sound on the cheap so no expensive room correction. Im just trying to find either the right speaker for the Arcam A65plus or the right amp for the JM Lab Chorus 706. |
I agree with Nutella with the room treatments and I'd also like to add that you should play around with the speaker placement. |
I didn't mean room correction per se. I was referring to simple adjustments such as placement of furniture, curtains, an area rug, etc. to help absorb or diffuse some of the reflected sound in the room. These sorts of things helped tame my listening area and cost next to nothing. |
Thanks for the advice Nutella but the system is in my bedroom and Ive done so much rearranging there its nuts. I do have curtains and Ive hung heavy tapestries behind me to absorb sound. It has worked but this amp seems to image behind the speakers and without more room it seems like I wont be able to hear this system at its best. |
Ok, ok. Just try the integrated, as you don't need the giant dynamic swings anyway. The imaging/scale/WOW is more about the Chorus/room setup than the electronics. So turn it down, get a smaller amp, or suspend a couple of tissues over those JMLabs tweeters if they're a little hot for you. No kidding...they're on the bright side, and if you can't dampen the sidewalls this might help take 'em down a dB. |
It sounds like what you are missing is "life" at low volume. The amp is a factor here, but so are the speakers. Some don't come alive until you crank things. Are you saying that with the old integrated, you got this sense of life at low volume? |
I've got to admit that I don't understand the problem. What you describe is something that a lot of audiophiles spend a lot of money for, but never seem to achieve. What am I missing? |
To give you guys a little more info. There is no soundstage depth only width. The sound is not as coherent as with my little integrated. I dont know how else to describe it. |
Actually the amp presents the image as being behind the speakers and since Im in a small room I cant pull the speakers out further out into the room. This results in a sort of incomplete sound. Ive switched over to my old amp and everything is more or less better. Thanks for the suggestions everyone. |
Toe the speakers in more, and try sitting a bit closer.... |
This is just guessing,I might just offer this I think weak link would be the B and K.I know its good,but I doubt its the in the same arena as J.M. stuff.A upgrade in the amp would make a difference.I would not go to a lower wattage amp,but then again the Arcam 65 is very good sound and might be better to use then the B and K. |
It's probably not the best match for the room. However, I have a small room with a big sounding system in it (smaller than yours) and what you can do is use absorption, more than normal. Because in a small room like yours the reflections happen much quicker and more often so the room is filled with much more sound which will cause brightness and aggressive sounding midrange. So you would need mid to high frequency absorbtion (4 fiberglass panels will do). You will lose some ambient information, but will have a more intimate (like in a studio) experience, which is far from "bad sound".
Rives gave me this input, and no one else seemed to have this advice. It just goes to show how little information there actually is on acoustical environments.
Rob |
Try those wall hangings on the wall behind the speakers not behind you (the listener) |
THe size of the sound has nothing to do with electronics. The speakers are the key. I used to have electrostatics and their sound was so large they made me feal I was inside soloists mouths and inside the piano. That was due to the physical size of the panels. I'm not familiar with your speakers but beside the advise you've received previously about speaker placement you need a speaker system where the tweeter and midrange are not physically very far apart in the cabinet and not large arrays of midrange speakers. You might find a pair of very high grade bookshelf speakers supplemented by a sub woofer would be easier to place and give you better imaging and not overload the room accoustically. That's another thing, I have a 16x 40 foot living room but if I play music loud the imaging goes away due to reflections and standing waves in the room. I've yet to start of the room treatment path but need to. |
