2. cables
  3. 1110314707

Degrade in sound over 48 hours. What happened?

Retermination of all connections, complete with Kontakt Electrical cleaner on all terminations and RCA plugs. System is vintage/new combination. Yamaha CR220 15 w/ch receiver 1979. NAD C520 CD player 1999. Bang and Olufsen S35 Type 6311 2-way loudspeakers. AQ Viper RCA 1 meter to CD. AQ CV-4, AQ Type 4 (single run of each, 17.5 feet to speakers). 30" Paradigm Premier metal stands. Monster Gold-Pin connectors (twist type) at receiver. Standard B&O speaker (2 pin) plugs. Result on Saturday was open, very wide soundscape with low lows and clear highs--almost a reverb effect in sound. Monday sound is noticably harsher with muddy bass and distorted highs and loss of quality sound imaging. Only have a basic 6-outlet power strip without any filtering, ect., and all components are non-IEC cables. Any ideas on what caused the sudden loss of fidelity? Seems that the receiver needs more volume than before to get the same sound level a few days ago. It's loud now but not as clear.
rodargent
fatparrot
1,314 posts
 
If you do use a volt meter to check you line voltage, remember that the SMALL slot is HOT, and the BIG slot is NEUTRAL (ground). ALWAYS insert your neutral (black) probe first!
tripper
223 posts
 
Use headphones on tuner. Then CD. This will rule out interconnect problems. Twist-on connectors are not 100%, the HP test will bypass the speaker cabling. If both speakers exhibit the same problem, see Gs's answer above. 25 is old in electronic years.
rodargent OP
28 posts
 
I thank you all for the advice. Not sure what might be the culprit. I mainly listen to CD's so this pathway is the one I am concerned with. The radio and the record player are unchanged. However, all CD's that sounded fine on Sunday sound tinny and distorted today as the low end just disappeared. For a remedy, I like the idea of trying a different NAD C520 CD player (I have another one) to compare CD sound output. Then, if no change in output, I can try another new amplifier in the mix. Overall, my terminations in cables and speaker cable appear to be tight and clean. Plus, the power appeared clean on Sunday with a very dark background and an extended bass as a result. A few years ago I tried a Wireworld Electrifier power strip and an Audioquest AC15 IEC power cable with this system. There was no audible difference to the old power strip or to plugging everything into the wall outlets. Can the clean power I had just die out that fast without some component failing? As far as for reburning in the cables and speaker wires, they have been used almost daily for five years and more often than not the receiver and the CD player remain on 24 hrs a day. Audioquest said it takes about 60 hours of play to burn in new cables or IC's (not active for over two weeks is like new). Again, thanks for the great suggestions--something should work here. If not I will upgrade all components and retire the vintage 1970's pieces as 25 years is a long time indeed for anything to last! A new pair of Paradigm Monitor 3 v.3 speakers and a Marantz PM7200 Class A amplifier are ready for "the next phase" if needed.
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