UPDATE: By posting here so many years later, I hope I am not breaking any forum rules around resurrecting old threads. Perhaps it may be better to post as a new thread... It’s not anything special for me to say that much has happened in my life since my last post in 2008; however, one thing that has virtually remained the same is my system! Without getting into much detail, since early 2010 until this summer, my system has pretty much been in storage. I remember during those couple years before 2010, I was extremely satisfied with my system. I think the only additional tweaks I made were replacing my ICs with Kimber Silver Streaks and settling with Mullard 4024 tubes in my TAD-150 sigs*, both of which brought incrementally significant improvements to my system. The next thing on my list, at that time, was a new turntable. (I was sad to learn of Paul Grzybek’s* passing and to hear Eastern Electronics is no more) Fast forward to 2020, I found myself spending significantly more time at home and with the need to set up a "home office". This was my cue to bring out the system. Unpacking my system felt a bit like opening up a personal time-capsule, stirring up old memories and bringing back latent knowledge. This room is the smallest (11 x 11 x 9) I’ve had to work with. I started with diagonal placement, as I did with my room from 2008, but the standard straight wall placement just sounded better, especially for low freq. I suspect a lot of this has to do with the placement of windows in my room. After some research, I added simple first reflection treatments to the side walls, ceiling, and behind the speakers. These made significant improvements to clarity and especially to the sound stage. I am a novice in room treatment, but I am eager to learn more. A significant change to my system has been the recent addition of a Lumin D2 unit (streamer / DAC) with Sbooster PS. Adding this unit has been the single most important change that has re-ignited my fire for this hobby. Yes, the unit is great, but it’s what it has enabled that brings the biggest value for me. The 80’s-2000’s marked a period of my life full of exploring and discovering new music. This is what led me to the audiophile world (I’m sure this is true for many of you). Unfortunately, the day I packed up my equipment in 2010, also marked the day I stopped listening to new music. With the streamer, I listen to new music everyday, which in turn has let me appreciate my system even more. To summarize my thoughts over the past 14 years, the following is what has so far helped me on my journey to extract more from my Vandersteens (In order of magnitude of impact): - Supplementing the speakers - adding sub and cross-over
- Placement & sound treatment - getting to "know" my speakers, experimenting with positioning, and treating first node reflection points
- Improving source component & content - easy access to hi-res content has been a blessing, Lumin D2 is a wonderful little unit
- Finding tubes that fit your taste - tubes make a difference, but I didn’t truly know until I started "rolling" them first hand
- Speaker cables and ICs - finding my "value" sweet spot is key here (perceived improvement to system vs. how much I am willing to pay)
----------------------------------------- My Vandersteen 2CE Signatures sound better than they ever have. I’ve owned them for close to 18 years now. This being said... my quest to extract more from my Vandersteens has been re-booted. As always, I welcome any suggestions or comments. I am currently entertaining these ideas: - Moving up in the Vandersteen product line (Treo, Quatro)
- Considering replacement speakers that match small rooms and are good for near-field listening
- Additional SMc Audio upgrades to my DNA-1 Deluxe Silver
- Continue tube rolling for TAD-150 Sig
- Replacing my TAD-150 Sig
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Soundbit,
The last thing, component-wise that I changed/upgraded when I first got into this hobby was my source component (in my case, a CD-player). I thought, "a CD player is a CD player, can they really be all that different from one another?"
All I can tell you is that, it definitely does make a difference, IMO as much as an amp or preamp. Although the rest of my system has remained generally the same for the past few years, a few different CD players have come and gone in my system. The ones that I've tried are Rotel rcd-02, Rotel 990, Shanling, older Rega Jupiter, and now the Eastern Electric.
Go out and see what's out there. You'll be surprised and hopefully happy with what you hear. |
Probably not as sophisticated as many here, but have a pair of Vandy 2c driven by Myryad MI-240 integrated, use anticables for speaker wires and also to my Marantz 4300 (yes - cringe - a carousel) CD player. The Myryad replaced my old NAD 3020 and it is much faster and more accurate. Any tips to improve or balance this system?
Thanks. |
Drewyou
Glad to hear you are enjoying your upgrades, I have my TLC-1Dlx scheduled for the Gold upgrade along with having the Carbon wire installed. They told me it would be after the first of the year before they could get started on it. I have pair of DNA-1 Golds that I use to drive a pair of 3A Sig with awesome results. I just added a 2Wq with the X-5 crossover a couple of weekends ago and Wow what an improvement but then again you already know this. I'm not sure if you're using the X-5 or the X-2 but I can tell you this much the X-5 will add a whole new meaning to the word clarity to your system. I haven't been home the past two weeks to be able to pinpoint exactly what all the improvement are but that will be the fun of it listening to all that great music. If you get the chance try the X-5 you will be amazed at the what your system can actually present to you.
You should post your system on the system board, I have plans to do that here in the next coming weeks as the cold sets in. |
Get the Stereophile Test CD (#1). I use it to adjust the subs, physical placement,Q and db settings, it's a huge help!!! You only need a Sound Level Meter( digital) from Radio Shack for db level readings. There are also other simple test that help in the evaluation of your system. |
Diagonal placement was fairly commonplace at RMAF, and there are theories supporting this kind of placement. Good and affordable room treatment can be had at acoustimac.com |
Update: My system was out of commission for the past 6 months, due to the left channel going out in my McCormack amp. After some discussion with the folks out at SMcAudio, I decided to have my amp fixed there and upgraded to "Silver" (similar to the older Rev B upgrades).
Oh man, what a difference the upgrade made to my system. EVERYTHING improved. Clarity, soundstaging, bass response/tightness... let's just say I am now a very happy owner of a decent reasonably affordable stereo system. Now I wonder what could have been if I had taken the Gold or Platinum upgrade, but being recently married, my budget was capped.
Another issue I've been dealing with is room size as I have moved to a new place, and my dedicated listening room is approx 13 x 13. After some ordeal, I ended up setting up my system diagonally. This seemed to be a great improvement over setting up along one of the walls. 2wq sub placement was difficult indeed. I pretty much slid the sub above every square foot of the room to find the best performance. I ended up placing it in a corner along the foundation wall of the house.
I'm looking to get into room treatment... anyone have any suggestions? |
Drewyou- Now for the icing on the cake: Replace the 6922 tubes in your CDP with a pair of Siemens E188CC's, 7308's or CCa's. If you shop for the CCa's: be certain they are from the 60's(grey plate below getter support), as the later versions are very strident. I've got a matched NOS pair of ECC801S tubes that I'm willing to let you try in your TAD, for an opinion(no risk, or charge). E-mail me if you're interested in the experiment/experience. |
Two subs is unquestionably the way to go with 2s and 3s; eseentially what you get when you buy Quattros or 5s. |
I have 3A sigs and one sub was "OK" but two are so much better, the speakers open up in this configuration, it was as if they were holding their breath then exhaled and took a relaxed breath and started breathing normally! If you can afford the second sub get it the improvement is well worth the price! |
When I had the 2ce sig the sub was a huge improvnment! NOt only did it really tighen up the bass it helped with the ighs since my amp had to supply less power. I highly recomend it. if you can't afford qutros. |
Congrats! Drewyou... adding a second sub also fixes bass nodes in your room and will require way less bass traps. Stereo Subs are the way to go! |
Cityside,
I added a single 2Wq to my system, and it definitely enchanced the mids and highs, while providing bass I had never heard before in my system. I am thinking of adding another to my system. |
I added a pair of 2Wq's to my 1Cs. Major improvement in dynamics and smoothness, especially at high volumes. They are amazing subs that are audibly invisible until called upon. Then they hit you in the gut with clean, tuneful bass that is not boomy at all. All this with the temporary x-overs. In-line filters now on order. |
Go for it. Get 2 if you can. You won't be disappointed. |
No one here mentioned adding a sub. (i care because i am contemplating one)
Some of what i read tells me that adding a sub even to 2CEs will enhance the mids and highs. What do you smart folks think of that? |
I have both shotgunned biwires connected to the Cardas posts. I tired putting both on the barrier strip, and although the sound seems fine, I was worried about not having a secure fit with the screws. One thing I experienced was that putting both hi and low connections on either the Cardas posts or the barrier strip was better than separating out to each. |
Drewyou - Now that you have them sounding better, which connections are you using on the back of the DNA deluxe? I have the same amp and speakers and I (accidentally) found that the barrier strip connections sounded better to me than the Cardas posts. I have a true biwire set up with cables I made. I tried several permutations of connectors and putting high/low on one or the other amp connections and found that it sounded best to me with all the speaker leads connected to the barrier strips. If you're looking for one more thing to try..... |
I replaced the MIT 2 biwires with Kimber 8TC (shotgunned and biwired). The sound improved tremendously. In comparison the MIT's were in fact darker sounding, perhaps contributing to the "veiled" sound. The Kimber really opened up the music. Hi-end extention was greatly improved, and the bass tigthend up as well. These cables are definitely more forward-sounding for lack of a better description.
I moved my system to the short wall. The room is approx. 25X15. I also reset the tweeter and woofer contours back down to 0db on the vandersteens. To my ears this setting seems to best complement my system with the room.
So after 6 months of pondering, researching, listening, and necessary (financially affordable) adjustments I am now pretty happy with my system. The Vandy's can sound "veiled", but I think after my little journey here in the past few months, I realized that with the right setup and proper matching, they can be made to reproduce wonderfully clear and dynamic music.
Now I am thinking to...
add a 2WQ subwoofer to my system, maybe in a stereo setup. Woundn't that be nice... |
I have heard the McCormack DNA 0.5 and 1, both Deluxe and non-Deluxe versions. While a good amp with a nice bottom end and good dynamics, I felt that it was a little rolled-off in the highs. I own a Vandersteen 3A Signature and confirm that the setup is very difficult for these speakers. I would expect the same with the 2CE's. Tilt-back is very important and it will take a considerable trial and error before you get things right. I agree with the strategy of making the cheaper changes first: setup, then cables, then amp, then speaker. I think interconnect between preamp and power amp is more important than speaker cables. As far as speaker cables are concerned, I like Kimber 4TC. It is a bargain and if you don't like it, you can resell it easily. It is very neutral and full-range and I've used it with very good equipment and it doesn't seem to lack for transparency, smoothness, or anything else. Also, don't forget the power cord on the amp. Sometimes, this can breathe life into a system which is too dark. Also, upgrades to this amp by Steve McCormack are widely purported to take the amp to another level. You could consider the upgrade path, assuming Steve McCormack is still in that business. There are plenty of posts on what upgrade levels are available and what the sonic benefits of each are. This might be cheaper than buying a considerably better amp. Since your budget is kind of limited, check on the cost of the upgrade and what this does to the resale price of the amp. My recollection is that you might be able to get the price of the upgrade back in reselling the amp, or at least that was nearly so a few years ago. If amp replacement is on tap, it would be great if you could borrow some equipment before committing to making any purchase.Don't be afraid to move the speakers around after each change. |
I have the Vandy 3 Sigs. I've had various McCormack amps on them.. 0.5, then a pair of 0.5's, then a 1 RevA Gold with every update. Then I tried a Channel Islands D200. It was like the speakers had a blanket over it the whole time and then removed. Sold the McCormack and never looked back. I don't know about other class D amps, but for me this is the right combination. They are capable of much more. I don't think cables alone will bring that out. |
Germanboxers: Great contribution! |
A month ago I would have agreed with many of the original statements regarding that perhaps the Vandersteens are veiling the overall sound. I would have been making that statement based on my past experience with the Vandersteen 2C's (and subsequent incarnations) and from experiences with my 1C's going in and out of my main system over the last few years.
However, after selling my Magnepan MG3.6r's and while I wait for my Ridgestreet Audio Designs Sason LTD's, I once again inserted the 1C's into my my main system and I have been immensely impressed with the sound of the 1C's. There is a great deal of air and hf extension through the 1C's (not on par with the Magnepan's, but certainly not "rolled off" sounding either). The 1C's are not what one would typically mate with the rest of my gear, but I think the results indicate that the 1C's (and I would certainly assume the 2CSigs even more so) will play glorious music if fed a good signal. My main system:
Esoteric UX-3 with GNSC Statement mods
BAT VK51SE
Atma-Sphere MA1 MkII.3
1m Purist Museaus XLR from source to pre
7m Purist Museaus XLR from pre to amps
2m Purist Museaus speaker cables.
Incidently, this same system with the exception of Parasound JC1 SS amps in place of the Atma-Sphere's was not as extended with the 1C's and, surprisingly, the bass was not as realistic either. This was surprisingly true on the MG3.6R's as well. My friend and I both agree that the insertion of the Atma's resulted in an amazing amount of natural detail (from lows, mids, to highs) being passed to both the Maggies and now the Vandersteens.
Drew, I think you should be able to get the Vandys to sound VERY good without spending a great deal. I would join in on recommending some experimentation with gear and cables in the same price range you currently have. It may be that what initially drew you to the Vandys (BTW, I too was drawn to them upon first hearing them ~20 years ago and still enjoy what Richard's speakers do today) was their way with the mids and lower hf? If your choice for cables and equipment were influenced by that, you may be guilty (I've done this before) of trying to overemphasize a particular freq region through cables and equipment and lost the balance the Vandy's are capable of producing? Anyway, sorry for being so verbose. Good luck!
Jordan |
So I hear Audioquest good, and Audioquest bad.... a new pair of Quatro Wood speakers are on the way to my dads and I hope Audioquest sounds good, it will be a real bummer to have to replace 3 month old Mont Blac speaker cables and Niagra IC's. |
This is a very interesting thread. I have a pair of non sig 2ce's and have been noticing the same Veiled sound and lack of calrity in the highs..
So far I have not been able to solve it with several interconnects... I am working on a new pair of speaker cables but still need some parts. I also am going to try another amplifier I have to pick up next week.. its a pass labs Aleph 3.
Anyway.. I have the same problem and I am very glad I did not take the time to upgrade to 2ce sigs as I am guessing it would not have helped all the much. The new 2ce II's are an exciting proposition however.. all 3A sig components but the woofer. This is a fun hobby but you need to be analytical and patient unless you have tons of money.. Oh I rebiased my Threshold 400a and it helped a bit.. I frankly think this is a game of small gains in several areas that add up to what you are looking for. I think the Vandersteen 2ce and 2ce sigs are probably the best speaker you are going to find for a smaller sized room under $2k used. Its my opinion based on a zillion other opinions here that I have ready that you need to move up a whole class to really see gains unless you want to take the time to get your cabling; and amplifer right.
I'm rambling now but maybe someone will make some sense out of what I am trying to say.. patience and logic... TRY stuff.. I am building the "Home depot" extension cord speaker cables.. why not? Will cost $25.00... google it. |
Try switching your source to another CDP, or at least audition another. I've got a feeling this is the limiting part of your system. |
My suggestion, since you are noticing a difference for the better with different IC cables, is to try to lay your hands on some Virtual Dynamics cords - you can "rent" them from the Cable Company. They really let the music through and I'm pretty sure will solve your "veil" issue, especially if you also bi-wire your speakers with Virtual Dynamics instead of MIT. Once people try them, they have a tendency to not let them out of their system, myself included.
I have no connection to Virtual Dynamics other than being a happy customer. |
UPDATE
So initially I started out by playing around with speaker placement, including toe-in and tilt and such. Toe-ing increased a bit of brightness and proper tilting also helped.
I set up my second system in the same room and interchanged components. I also decided that comparing headphone sound to the sound from my main system was pointless as it was impossible to make objective analyses between the two.
I maxed out the midrange and treble controls on the back of the speakers and noticed that it sounded better than when they were at 0db. Perhaps others have experienced the same? I'm thinking this result varies from room-to-room.
After exhausting all my "free" options (assuming time isn't money), I wasn't still satisfied with my system. Yes, improvements were made, but still I sensed a bit of a veil. Yes, the ugly word reveals its ugly head again.
So, I went out and tested different IC cables. The local hifi store had Tara Labs (forgot the model, $200 range). I demo'ed them and returned them the next day. I borrowed some Pursit Musaeus and Audioquest from a buddy of mine. IMO the AQ sounded worse, but the PAD cables were an improvement, especially with the imaging. Then I came upon a great deal for Kimber silver streaks. Wow, what a difference. High FQ resolution was improved, although the bass was a tad thinner.
Anyways, I'm looking to change my speaker cables... still using the MIT2 bi-wire at this moment. I was thinking two separate runs to each of the vandies (bi-wiring) may be an improvement. My McCormack does have two binding posts for each channel. I can play around with that a bit.
So continues my quest to extract more from my vandersteens. |
Haven't seen this thread for a while but, I have since gone to EH6CA7s in the AMP and changed out the speaker cables from the Tara Labs that Steve has to some Yang Wings that a local dealer from my audio club sells. Totally different sound. Sound stage opens up as the volume is turned up, more detail, highs are more extended air and background cause the image to spread out. I tried some MITs on my system and while it was an improvement over the Tara Labs it did not open up my system as much as the cables I wound up buying. I won't say what I paid but, they were 1/2 as much as the Tara labs but, remember that they are Chinese.. |
I am using Tara RSC Prime Biwire with my 2Ces with excellent results. No haze, great highs and details and solid lows powered by a Rogue Cronus. |
I'm a Vandersteen dealer and used to sell MIT cables and McCormack amplifiers. The Vandersteens can sound very lively and transparent with the right gear, but MIT cables are the wrong choice, especially partnered with the also darker sounding McCormack amplifier.
You have three things all tilted in the same direction. The 2Ce Sigs are ever so slightly leaning toward the warmish side of neutral, the McCormack even more so, and the MIT cables are the most skewed.
Start by changing to a neutral solid-core conductor cable with no networks or filters of any kind. That will bring some life back into your sound. Then you can consider the amplifier next if needed.
Good luck. |
This is an old thread but I had to add that Mr. Vandersteen contradicted many here in his own Q&A section.. he mentioned that the 2ce's can be made less dark with cables.. just read his Q&A.
I am wondering what the original poster ended up doing. |
Pubul57: Thanks for pointing out what i've been trying to tell people for a long time now. I just get tired of repeating the same mantra over and over : )
Due to the geometry that the flat series of Alpha-Core Goertz cabling uses, the impedance that they present should be an ideal match for such an installation. As far as i know, they offer the best power transfer characteristics over the widest frequency range of any cable on the market. As such, high frequency response should be improved and transient energy should be increased. On top of that, they typically bring a certain "natural" or "musical" presentation to a decent system.
Whether or not an end user likes the sound of the system with Goertz boils down to personal preference. If it sounds bad to you, don't blame the Alpha-Core's for what you're hearing. These speaker cables are simply letting you hear what your components really sound like. Sean
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PS... One could go the other route and purposely introduce cable colourations into the system trying to band-aid the situation. If such is the case, the use of something along the lines of Nordost might give you what you're looking for. Whether or not you can live with that type of sound in the long run is obviously up to personal preference. |
When I owned the 3A Sigs, I used Audioquest for a while, and the system sounded very good. I then tried Alpha-Core Goertz silver and thought the system sounded better yet. Don't what the pricing is for Goertz anymore, but it was very reasonable at the time. Just another cable to explore, but one I ofund to work very well with Vandersteen. |
I have Vandersteen 5A's and they are anything but fuzzy, cloudy, etc. I am using all top Ayre components. I tried all kinds of cable. Audioqest silver rediculously expensive, and Anti-Cables rediculously cheap are the best matches. Try using differnt cable - I bet that works. Vandersteens are really very good. |
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You can't design a product with very obvious technical pitfalls and then try to correct all of those problems after the fact with some type of network or correction circuitry. This is akin to designing / building an obviously sloppy circuit that will pass signal and then trying to make it "world class" in measurements by band-aiding the errors with a gob of negative feedback. The end result is something that is less than technically correct or natural sounding and the ear / brain interphase recognizes this. Sean
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One can't say what would be a more drastic change i.e. swapping the speaker cables or the interconnects, as it would matter what make / model for each that you intended to go with. Even then, some of that would be guesswork, especially with IC's, due to system synergy and the impedance related issues. As such, speaker cables would be the easier route to go, but even then, there are still quite a few variables involved depending on the choices that you make.
I think that Richard uses and recommends Audioquest cabling. Whether or not you go this route is obviously up to you. Most of this will boil down to your personal preferences, system goals and system synergy. Unless one has an identical system with very similar sonic preferences, the only thing that you'll get here is recommendations based on one's own personal preferences within the confines of their system.
There may be some technical issues involved in why some speaker cables work better / more uniformly than others in most SS installations, but all of that has been covered in the archives. Whether or not one likes the sonics that the technical advantages that these speaker cables bring with them boils down to personal preference. In most cases, people "band aid" their systems using cables as a tone and transient control, making such changes and recommendations a crapshoot at best. Sean
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Have not had the same system, but had assembled a system with a Theta Transport, Muse D/A, Krell pre, Aragon amp and Mirage M3si speakers. I was very unhappy becaue there was little sonic difference between this system and a home theater setup I had using an inexpensive Sony receiver and NHT Super Ones and Zeros (plus sub). Your story interested me because my description of my own sysyems sonics at that time was that it sounded like listening to a good system from another room, or as if there were a blanket between me and the speakers.
At the dealers recommendation, I was using MIT MI-330 Series II ICs and MH-750 Biwire SCs. I was (and am still) taken with some aspects of the MIT cables, but they were the culprits in that setup. Replacing the ICs and SCs really opened the system up (no more blanket). |
My guess is that switching speaker cables would have more impact, but, switching both would help. |
Thanks for all your input guys. I'm gonna first try testing various speaker positions, toe-in/out, vertical angle and such, and see what improvements I can get for free.
What do you think would have more impact? Switching IC's or speaker cables? |
Dave,
I have a pair of 2CE sugnatures that were sold to me by Audio Concepts in Houston. I currently have Tara labs usc Prime wires that were sold to me with the speakers. Can I do better at a reasonable price point? I am using a Tubeaudio design Amp and pre.(made in chicago see the reviews) They reveal some wonderful qualities on the Vandy's but, I may be short on highs a bit. I have a set of Aural Thrill siver ICs coming to brightten thngs up also... |
I also agree that you should consider changing out the MIT cables. I am a Vandersteen dealer and used to sell MIT cables. They are a nice band-aid for bright systems but aren't helping your system. Go with something that is simple, uses good high purity copper or silver and doesn't have network boxes like MIT or Transparent.
I also used to sell McCormack gear and while that is a nice amp, it is somewhat dark sounding- especially when not left on continuously. The McCormack amps of that era seemed to need more warm up to sound good than most other amplifiers, so turn it on and leave it on permanently.
The signature version of the 2Ce is a very neutral and revealing speaker. They are not veiled, but they will reveal things about the rest of your system. Many people who haven't heard Vandersteens lately don't realize just how open and transparent the latest generation has become.
I would also take the time to insure that your 2Ce's are set up properly according to the manual.
Good Luck. |
Ralph aka Atmasphere is right on the money. Loose the MIT's and pick up some cabling of the appropriate impedance.
On top of that, Vandersteen's cause loading problems with most amps as frequency climbs. You need a very stable amp at high frequencies, otherwise treble response will dip by a EXTREMELY MINOR amount above appr 10 KHz or so. Using speaker cables that are less than optimally designed in terms of broadband power transfer will only compound the problem. Sean
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Drewyou,
In response to your question about high- FQ roll off. I am still in the process of tweaking the cable mixture to find the best math. I got a pair of DIY from someone at the Houston Audio Club. I connected it to my TT and from the pre to the amp. More extention at the extremes and nice detail. I have a pair of Aural thrills air silvers coming from a purchase that I made from Ebay. I will also be trying some interconnects and speaker wire...
Right now the sound is very listenable but, can still be improved a bit. I would look at the 3A signatures except the room that I am in is a it too small..
Eagleman |
One of my employees has NHTs and I've heard Vandys with our gear many times (showed with them once at CES as well...).
Vandys are not 'veiled' next to NHTs. Something else is going on, and I have to say if I were you I'd loose the MITs- I've not seen them work with the smaller Vandersteens. Audition other cables so you can sort that out.
BUT- have you considered bringing the other system into the same room and comparing apples to apples?? Being in two different rooms its unlikely that either system is being treated fairly with regards to the other. I'd do that first- you might be surprised at the results!
Good Luck! |
You could also find a pair of 3A Signatures for ~2k. Improved mid driver and tweeter, bigger bass driver, and upgraded crossover all make a difference. They sound more like series 5 speakers then 2s. Check out a pair if you get the chance, at least.
greg |
Drew,
I just went through a process of trying to find a replacement for my 2ce's (non-sig). I listened to about 8 pairs of speakers (which is not a lot, but all I could find in my area). The only one I could imagine myself I liked better than the vandy's were Totem Forrests. Just a really nice speaker that retain the strengths of the vandys (a big, rich, natural sound) while adding more detail (without sounding forward or fatiguing). Try to listen to a pair. You can pick them up used for under 2k. As an added bonus, they are smaller and more attractive than the rather homely looking vandy's. |
I run the same system with respect to pre & power. Other pieces are a Jolida CDP & Snell Type A speakers. I'm not noticing any veil at this point, but this is always subject to change I suppose. One large step I experienced toward clarity & transparency was the addition of VH Audios silver ICs (DIY). Big change for the better. I'd agree with treating the room. You have a large room & no doubt have some acoustic issues to deal with. With the $2K you have available you, you could "do" the room and probably have some money left...depending on your approach & extent of the work. Consider it an large-positive investment in any system you run now or in the future. Here's a few references to get you started: This one is for a home theater, but his approach is fairly typical. http://www.sbrjournal.net/journalsite/archives/acoustics/acoustics.htm This next one is a great resource, scroll down to the bottom for research links: http://www.bobgolds.com/AbsorptionCoefficients.htmHere's a DIY approach to bass traps: http://forums.studiotips.com/viewtopic.php?t=535Ethan Winer is a great resource (he hangs out over at the Rives forum on AA). He sells "Real Traps", but also tries to educate people...never met the guy, but he looks to be an interesting fellow: http://www.realtraps.com/articles.htmHere's a white-paper...blue-paper I guess that he wrote that can get you started: http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.htmlAnd his home page: http://www.ethanwiner.com/That should keep you busy for a while. There are many sources for room-treatment panels, corners, diffusors...do a search on A-gon & you'll find them. Or find a consultant and see what he/she thinks. This is one area transcends equipment mixing & matching & makes anything sound better...and it's logical why this is the case. |
One aspect to keep in mind when positioning is the vertical angle. I can't stress this enough as it's what made the real difference for me. If you have them tilted back as recommended then remove most of if not all of the tilt and start from there.
Oh yeah, and keep us updated on progress. |
