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Help. System sounds thin and bright or harsh

Hope this isn't redundant tried to post in Tech Talk

Just moved my system to a new home/sound room and it still sounds harsh and a bit thin despite supposedly "warm" sounding Harbeth 30.1 speakers. This issue is not new and I had put the blame on the old listening room.  Can't figure out what the problem is. I listen loud at 80dcbl or higher and sit nearfield about 8 feet from the speaker plane. (sound is thin and bright from afar as well) I have experimented in both homes with speaker placement, toe-in and the like. Speakers are placed a lil over 3 feet from the rear wall and about two and a half feet from side walls.  I feel something is off. Perhaps a component or two that is known to be tipped up in the highs and a lil bass shy?? Also, I leave all solid state components fully powered up 24/7. (not the tubes)

System:

Modwright/Oppo BDP 105 disc player  (all mods with tubed power supply and pricey NOS tube upgrades throughout)  Looking to replace once the harshness/bright issue is nailed down.

Parasound JC2 Preamp

Pass Labs X250.5 Amp

Harbeth 30.1 stand mount speakers

Puritan Labs PSM 156 power conditioner. (less "edgy" sound with it in system)

System is run all balanced with fairly costly Cardas interconnects.

All input is welcome. Thanks in advance.

Happy listening.

 

 

cymivka
cymivka OP
46 posts
 

Update.

Seems like the bright sound gremlin was lurking in the Pass Labs amp.  After new dac and preamp I finally unhooked the Pass and stuck in my older Nuforce V3 monoblocs that were just collecting dust.  I'm very surprised how good they sound with the dac and pre It;ll be interesting to see what a difference a repaired Pass amp can make..  Oppo 105 is acting as a transport..  Not done by a long shot yet.  Chasing a warmer bigger sound.  Pro Ject Transport may be next as its gotten lots of praise in these forums. 

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
4,352 posts
 

What’s broken in the amplifier that causes it to sound bright?

cymivka OP
46 posts
 

A dealer suggested a failing power supply. Something is off with it for sure.

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
4,352 posts
 

Did you call Pass Labs? 
I owned the X250.5 for many years with 3 different speakers and the only way I was able to make it sound less than excellent was by using crappy components upstream. It’s transparent enough to show you what each component is doing. 
So this sounds odd to me but I’m there and I don’t hear what you hear in your system. 

cymivka OP
46 posts
 

yeah audphile 1 it is puzzling to me as well. I found the same degradation in sound quality again with the pass labs replaced after a couple of hours listening. I have called pass labs or Reno hifi where I purchased the amp from (back in 2014) and they tell me I would hear something different if the amp was to blame, like clicking and that both channels would not likely degrade at the same pace. 

I can't figure out what goes wrong...just some distortion and less meat on the bones. Felt new pre and dac fixed it but then it came back (bad sound) so I took the pass labs out of the mix and things sounded pretty good still using an Oppo bdp 105 as a transport via coax cable from DH Labs. I'm bypassing the tubed output stage using digital out.

There are only two components left the Oppo and the Harbeth 30.1 speakers. Also wondering if there some type of electrical bugaboo in the house that's only 5 years old.  I am using a Puritain 156 conditioner for all components except for the pass. I felt the Puritan really made a big difference and even tried it with the pass but pass labs recommends plugging straight into a wall socket with stock cord. 

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