Time for a Pre change? Need the wisdom...
I've heard some complain about some Mc's being bright to harsh, but first, room acoustics and speaker placement. If you have bare floors between the speakers try covering them up with pillows or rugs as an experiment. Next, try crossing the tweets far behind your head, or far in front. Knowing what kind of speakers you own would help this. If you are listening with your back to a wall, cover it with something as well. |
I cannot remember if you told us what amplifier you are using. I don't think the Parasound P6 preamp is going to be better than the McIntosh preamp. It is definitely newer. Oh yeah, you're using that Crown Class D amp. ---- When looking at current generation amps, the McIntosh will actually have pretty good resolution on the high frequencies, but it will be laid back in the midrange for sure. The Parasound will have softer and rolled off highs in some speakers, but it will have good attack and slam in the midrange. The choice between these two becomes a factor of personal taste and synergy between components. ---- As I said, my cousin has the Aerial 10T. He has a very high resolution Krell preamp with silver XLR interconnect cabling. Currently, he has Emotiva XPA-1 monoblocks, which we had to upgrade with Isoclean fuses to "take the edge off". We also had to switch the speaker cables to solid-core Audioquest Type 8 with gold-plated spades. This further helped that harshness. As I have said, I am bringing down my Parasoiund JC1 amps (fully loaded with Furutech fuses) to see how they sound on the Aerial 10T's tomorrow. I can send you my results. ---- I think the harsh edge on your 10T is due to two things. One is the metal dome tweeter, which has a breakup/distortion slightly above the 20khz point. This causes enough of a problem where the high frequencies can sound harsh/bright. The second problem is the kevlar midrange, which also has a cone flex/breakup characteristic which can cause harshness/distortion in the low high frequencies. I would keep your McIntosh C41 preamp for now and experiment with solid-core speaker cable and a different amp. |
@erik_squires "I've heard some complain about some Mc's being bright to harsh, but first, room acoustics and speaker placement. " Have you yourself heard a Mac to verify this? McIntosh is not bright or harsh sounding. If anything, they are more laid back. If you haven't heard the McIntosh equipment yourself, then you really don't know what they sound like. I would love for some other McIntosh owners to chime in. |
@captbeaver - The 7T are COMPLETELY different speakers than the older 10T. The 7T use soft-dome ring radiator tweeters and a paper cone midrange. I would probably put the 7T as a "Sonus Faber" type of sound. I think the 7T would really shine with a very high resolution amplifier, but of course it's all up to your taste. There are a hundred different directions you could go. It's difficult to say if the Parasound would mate well with the 7T or if it would be too warm (unless you like that slightly warm character). |
captbeaver Your AA 10T’s at 86db and with an impedance graph that looks like this, I’m with Stereophiles John Atkinson’s opinion of: "Its plot of electrical impedance (fig.1), however, reveals that it sucks quite a lot of current from the partnering amplifier to achieve that sensitivity. The magnitude drops to 3 ohms or below in the midbass and mid-treble, and is coupled with a demanding electrical phase angle some of the time. https://www.stereophile.com/images/archivesart/A10fig1.jpg I’d say amps of >100watt at 8ohm that can come "close" to doubling that wattage for 4ohm and again 2ohm. This will keep the bass rich and full and take away from the harshness (mid treble above) you hear probably at 3khz (3ohm) that the present amp/s you have are having trouble driving. eg: plus/minus 15% or less 8ohm=100w 4ohm=200w 2ohm=400w This will do current to maintain what JA said " that it sucks quite a lot of current from the amp". Cheers George |
I actually have used those 10awg Beldon speaker wire from Blue Jean. It makes an okay subwoofer speaker cable, but they overall lacking in my opinion. They lacked the high frequency resolution and made the system sound "low fidelity" in a sense. Even the normal 12awg stranded OFC copper "Monster Cable" speaker wire were higher resolution than the Beldon. The Beldon is a bundled copper - I don't think it's even OFC. Just so that you know. I guess if you want to roll off the highs, that's great, but it won't give you the "air" and "depth" that other speaker cables will. |
Have you yourself heard a Mac to verify this? McIntosh is not bright or harsh sounding. If anything, they are more laid back. If you haven't heard the McIntosh equipment yourself, then you really don't know what they sound like. I would love for some other McIntosh owners to chime in. One of the worst sounding systems was with Macs, but also Triangle speakers. Absolute ear drills to me. I did not follow up, but from time to time I hear this comment about some components. << shrug >> Best, E |
Sorry, let me restate. I have never paid a lot of attention to Mac's so I personally don't have a strong opinion, but one that I have heard from others. That the one time I did any critical listening with Macintosh gear and it was terrible does not mean they are or that they all are. My recommendation to the OP was to look elsewhere for just such a reason. I find my current Class D amps exactly as bright as Parasound A21/A23 amplifiers. I apologize if I gave anyone the impression I felt I knew a great deal about the sound of Macintosh gear because I really don't. Best, E |
I've had VMPS RM40 ribbon speakers that are highly detailed and transparent. I went the same route as you seem to be going. Changed to Teo Game Changer II ICs. Then went to double Teo GCII ICs. Each change brought more organic sound and more beautiful. The double ICs are simply freakin' awesome. They WILL change your mid about the importance of cables in the system. It is as big a change as a major component upgrade. Lastly, I went to Cerious Technology Graphene Extreme speaker cables. It took the sound a little further in the same direction. On all the wires, I had silver wires from Darwin and Amadi on all the ICs and SCs prior to this. They were much better in all ways than several different cables I had used previously. Cerious has now come out with the Matrix version of the CTGE speakers cables that is even better as all frequencies, but it is now silver wired--that MAY be a problem in your system. By the way, I have Nuforce Ref 9 V3 SE mono amps that are Class D and sound beautiful in the system. They have the TDSS level 3 upgrades done to them. |
I dont have a great deal of monies to invest in speaker wire...whats the feeling in the Anti-cables solid core. I could spend that... I do like making my own so any help with this would be so kind. I thank all of you for the help I am getting here... I feel at this point the Mac is fine so it’s on to the cables and amp. This means a lot to me.... thank you |
mattmiller.... thank you. I needed that. I have always wanted Mcintosh gear since I heard and saw the first set in 1971 when I was at Andrews AFB... will never forget that day... that's when it started. lol I have contacted AA but nothing yet. I also contacted my friend who is a rep in the business to see if he has some cables I can borrow to hear what I have done to myself... don't forget, I know everything...lol until I come here and get schooled! :) |
I have Mac 601 monoblocks with a C-2300 tube preamp driving Sonus Faber Guarneri Evolutions. All high end SR cabling. In a search for "detail" I went to the Rollerblock isolation technology and my system got so bright it was almost unlistenable. Quite a feat when you consider those components as none are considered bright, in fact the opposite. What I discovered was all the detail especially in the HF range was overpowering my room. With lots of research and the help of GIK Acoustics we treated side wall 1rst & 2nd reflection points with absorption as well as immediately behind listening position. We used difusion on front and back walls as well. Results are incredible...soundstage off the charts with lots of detail but no harshness or glare.....very musical. I have a few pictures on virtual systems. You might give your room treatments a closer look. Happy listening! |
Duelund speaker wire is very good and affordable. For a 10 foot pair either 16 gauge ($120) or 12 gauge ($240) from Parts Conexion. Look up user grannyring or Acoustic BBQ if you want a premade pair. It probably won't hang with a $$$$ set of wires but can compete against anything <$1k, some may sayer higher. |
I agree with @treebeard1. I use the duelund, made my own pair and it was super easy and a great investment. For some details see this link (with more links included). A number of threads around here to... http://www.hifihaven.org/index.php?threads/more-duelund-fun-this-time-speaker-cable.3156/ |
The 10T's aren't a harsh speaker, but electronics can certainly cause any speaker to sound poor. The 10T's are one of the most listenable speaker that I've heard and I've lived with them for about 10 years. They do need a quality electronics, especially the amp, to sound their best. I'm not a fan of Mac and own JC1's so I'm probably biased but I think you will find that your 10T's become much more enjoyable with the A21/P6 combo. Don't listen to the JC1's unless you're ready to buy a pair, they are a perfect match for the 10T's. |
Don't listen to the JC1's unless you're ready to buy a pair, they are a perfect match for the 10T's.Excellent advise, as I said and explained in my first post captbeaver OP these speakers of yours need current, the John Curl designed Parasound Halo JC1's in high bias mode will sound majestic. If you can't afford them get the smaller Halo stereo A21+ or JC5 or a used older A21. Cheers George |
