Why my system has detail but no body & warm vocal?

I agree with the others that have stated that you have selected components / cabling / speakers that are all on the lean side of neutral. Having said that, work with what you have, especially speaker placement. This can really sway the tonal balance but would affect soundstaging and imaging at the same time. It is sometimes hard to obtain the tonal balance that you want with good soundstage & imaging when having to go this route though.

My first suggestion would be to go for some of Jon Risch's DIY cables. The specific model i had in mind was the Belden based 89259/89248 Solid Stranded Twisted Pair ( SSTP's as i call them ) interconnects. Obviously, you would have to build these, find someone to build them for you or someone that was selling a used pair. Match these with a pair of Goertz MI-2 Veracity ( available from Alpha Core on a 30 day trial basis ) and you would have a system that offered full bodied sound with great transparency.

Bare in mind that ALL cables are system dependent and open to personal preferences, so my suggestion is no better than anyone else's and it might not be to your liking with those specific components in the system.

Another combo, without being specific, would be to use some Tara Labs or Cardas cabling. I think that the Tara would be better suited to what you are looking for, but that is a matter of opinion.

If you don't feel confident with a DIY based cable and / or want specific model recommendations from an unbiased source that carries many brands, you might want to try contacting UsedCable.com and see what they suggest via their on-line technical questionaire. They typically have a very good assortment of used cables that won't break the bank and seem to have their act together in terms of working with customers & making good suggestions.

Once you've reached this point, you can continue on and investigate the AC side of your system should you choose to do so. Depending on one's location, this can make noticeable differences in most cases. It may be well worth your investment to experiment in this area, especially if you live in a highly populated area, an apartment / condo or near an industrial area. Those that live out in the boonies may not have as much of a problem with highly tainted AC and may not experience as much of a benefit from such tweaking.

I only mention the AC part as i've found that "dirty" AC can add a layer of glare and harshness which can easily be interpreted as added brightness. Getting rid of this tends to smooth out the presentation and can result in what one considers a warmer presentation with improved "inter-transient silence" ( blacker background ). Sean
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Audioengr: My old Perreaux's use zero global feedback ( according to the manual ) and are anything but "thin" sounding. The bass on these things "pound with authority", hence my use of them for subwoofer amps. If you do a search in the archives pertaining to Perreaux PMF-3150's, you'll find others using them for woofer / sub-woofer duty on several low impedance multiple driver speaker arrays. On top of all of that, these are Mosfet designs, which are typically not known for being "bass hounds". Sean
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Newbee: While i know that your "invitation to debate" was made to Bob & Mejames, i'm going to butt in ( what else is new ??? ) and throw some thoughts your way.

If you know what passive components go into building a tone control or filter ( and i think that you do know ), then you should know how other passive components like cables can alter the tonal balance of a system. All of these do the same thing i.e. they alter the load that the circuit in front of them sees and the electrons respond accordingly to those changes. There are differences though.

Tone controls or filters offer predictable results due to their presence being factored into the total impedance / conductivity of the circuit. The variables entered into the equation with different components and their various electrical characteristics responding to various cables contributing their individual and quite random electrical characteristics throw all formulas to the wind. This is why cables can tend to produce different results when paired with different components. The levels of stability and impedances / loads encountered with different combos can be quite varied. As such, the presentation from system to system is a combination of all of those factors combined.

I would suggest looking at the various waveforms / different transient responses / loading characteristics that can be experienced when substituting various speaker cables into what is an otherwise consistent system. The article / test results that i'm referring to can be found at Pass Labs under the title of Speaker cables: Science or snake oil.

After viewing the test results and reading the information that Nelson documented while doing this research, I would also look at the differences in frequency response of an amplifier itself as the load that it sees is altered. Some results can be found in an article titled Questions of impedance interaction that was printed in the January 1994 edition of Stereophile. Bare in mind that you are looking at the frequency response of the amplifer itself as the load changes, NOT the frequency response of the speakers connected to the amps in question. One should note that many of the amps share common loading characteristics with certain speakers, which is why some speakers seem to have a very specific sound to them whereas other speakers can be "chameleons" when different amps are substituted into the system.

Now if you take into account that one could simulate different loading conditions by altering various aspects of inductance, capacitance, impedance and reactance using passive components, you can begin to see that cables CAN play a role in how components sound / load up. On top of this, just as an amplifier responds to the load that is presented to it by the cabling / speaker, components respond to the load that is presented to them by the cabling and component(s) that they are loading into.

I specifically remember Frank Van Alstine working with Julian Hirsch on this subject. Frank actually demonstrated to Julian that some components were 100 times more susceptible to cable loading than other, more stable designs. The funny thing about all of this is that Frank is basically a "cable naysayer" yet he knows what he does about loading variables, etc...

While some would say that "all designs should be stable" and i agree, unfortunately, this is not the case with every component known to man. As such, one must "experiment" with various components / cabling to see just how they do respond to changes and if the changes are both discernable and beneficial to the reproduction and enjoyment of music. Sean
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Newbee: I agree with your clarification whole-heartedly. If you notice, the first part of my original post stated that i thought that the components selected could result in such a problem as Yxlei was describing. I also stated that Yxlei should try to optimize the speakers and room placement prior to doing anything else. If everything is set-up as good as possible and the problem persists ( and it probably will because of component selection ), THEN more drastic steps should be taken. Suggesting cable changes as an instant "cure-all" is kind of like saying that one should fill a gaping wound with sand in order to stop the bleeding. Sure, the bleeding will stop, but you've got one helluva infection that you'll have to deal with at a later date. The more appropriate approach would be to get to the root of the problem. In doing so, one may become as healthy as possible without having to deal with gross side-effects getting there.

Ron: Good basic and inexpensive suggestions and is an excellent "quick & dirty" approach to finding out how much room treatment one needs and where it would be most appropriate. Whether or not it has a very high WAF or Martha Stewart approves is another story : )

Using Ron's temporary approach above and you find out what you need, a good source for "inexpensive" ( by "audiophile" standards at least ) sources for room treatment materials can be found at Markertek. They also have a good variety of other audio / electronic related items, so folks that are not familiar with them should take a look at the website when they get a chance. Sean
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Your speakers are too close together unless you sit right on top of them. Unless you do sit nearfield, this also tells me that you need to spend more time experimenting with placement. Changing the stands can also affect tonal balance. What you hear will depend on the speakers' height above the floor and the angle of the speakers' trajectory. Obviously, toe-in, distance from back and side walls, etc... all come into play also. This is not to mention the acoustics of the room itself.

If you change components, you will effectively change the tonal balance of the system. Problem with this is that you may not like the match that you have with your current cables. Since you've already tried out several different cables, i'm assuming that you did hear a difference in them and realize that you may have to do this again after changing components. Sean
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