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Not happy yet

I have recently discovered "hi-fi" and have been replacing a few parts of my system. But I have not yet got the involving sound I am looking for. My judgement of the sound: the bass is too loud relative to other sounds, and the voices aren't prominent and involving enough. The loss of tone controls in my new higher-end pre-amp and amp (replaced older receiver) means I can't throttle the bass back as I used to do.

Any advice on where to go next? Here is the equipment:

Yamaha CDX-410u CD player (older single-play player)
Classe CP-35 pre-amp
Rotel RB-981 Power amp
Celestion S300 speakers
Cabling is generic

Room is about 12' x 25', with 8' ceiling. The speakers are at one of the room, several feet from back and side walls. Bare hardwood floor, bare ceiling, fairly sparse wall decoration.

Music is mainly Jazz, older rock, folk. I notice the well-recorded jazz sounds pretty darn good, very good highs, decent voices on the best recordings. Jazz tends not to be bass-heavy to start with.

Any ideas on what the next upgrade or change (room treatment?) should be? I have to go one thing at a time, but I expect to replace almost everything (except possibly the pre-amp and speakers) along the way.

Thanks for any advice...
ehart
glen's avatar
glen
714 posts
 
Dump the yamaha cd player first. Try to get your hands on a decent theta or classe transport. Add an out-board dac CLASSE DAC1 or theta pro-gen III IV or V. Begin upgrading your cabling start with a AES/EBU from the transport to the dac. Then go balanced to the pre-amp. Then balanced to the amp. This will start to open up your sound stage. Next dump the rotel for a classe 201 balanced amp. Up-grade your speaker cables to match your inter-connects. I recommend mit 330's for interconnects and mit shotgun 750's for speaker cable if your on a budget. (NOW YOUR COOKING). Now apply for another credit card and dump your speakers for a pair of Thiel's or Martin Logans This should clear up that bass problem nicely.Enjoy:~)
sean
6,231 posts
 
Ehart, i am not familiar with your speakers. Are they floorstanders, "bookshelf" units, monitors, etc ??? If bookshelfs or monitors, how do you have them situated ?

What type of "equipment holder" are you using ? Rack, entertainment center, desktop, etc ????

Am i correct in assuming that you're using some type of zip / monster type speaker cable ??? Sean
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j_thunders
173 posts
 
Three things hit me when I read. The room. The CD player. Cables. Not in that order.

I have nothing to offer about the room, just looks like it could use some.....something, like I said, I got nothing.

The CD player.....is about like the room, I once told a guy I thought he could stand to upgrade his player (which I believe would have made a big difference) and he went off with his tail between his legs. You might want to think about that upgrade, it'll probably make a big difference toward providing you with the sound you are looking for if you choose carefully.

The last and really only the second suggestion I have for you (counting the CD player) has already been hinted at by at least two others above. This would be your cables. Recent cable changes for me have made the largest single differences in sound that I can remember, especially with tightening up bass. I might even try this before I did anything about the other two areas I mentioned, since I don't know exactly what to tell you about those.
leafs
414 posts
 
Your Cd player has a retail used valur of 40.00.
How much money do you have to spend.Forget the cables.Dont even consider this untill you have put your last available $ into a CD player upgrade.
Once you have listend to the system for a month or 2 them its time to see how much money you have to take the next step and go from there.
One other thing,you need to put a heavy area rug down.Need to tame the room slightly.
Dont try to do it all at once.One component at a time and slow and easy.
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
You will have to experiment, but what you describe can sometimes be caused by dirty AC power. Try a AC power conditioner. Ones that work well for not too much cash are: Monster HTS2000; Vansevers Super Companion; Audio Power Pack II; Panamax 1000. My favorites are the Vansevers and the Audio Power.
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