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Natural and Neutral could be boring ..

Hello Guys,

First .. Happy New Year to everyOne!

Building my hi-fi setup I have always searched for "Natural & Neutral" sound and so I have added every piece of my rig thinking and searching in this direction...
Yesterday night , during a listening session , I was thinking about this and theoretically I couldn't be happier about the result

Here my gears:

The loved phono section:

TW Acustic Raven One
Graham Phantom MKII / IC70
Benz LP
Whest Audio PS30 RDT SE
Mogami Neglex balanced to the preamp

The not so loved CD rom session:

Philips CDD 882 (transport)
Philips DAC 960 (converter)
Mogami Neglex balanced to the preamp

Pass Labs X1
Parasound Halo JC1's
IC cables Mogami Neglex balanced

Thiel CS 2.4
Speaker cables Cardas Golden Reference

My room is quite a large room (36 ft. x 20 ft. 10ft. high) and Thiels are pratically in open air :-)) 7,5 ft. from the wall and more from side walls.

Well , I think to have reached an hi-fi setup that sounds pratically Natural and Neutral .. maybe not the 100% but IMHO I'm not far from that.
Yesterday night I was philosophize with myself , during a relaxing listening session , about how much could be boring this Natural & Neutral research.
It's true .. by a large majority .. the Audiophiles are searching for this result .. "Natural & Neutral" .. and the end justifies the means.
But when you get this or you're almost near .. the pleasure is only perceived or obtained by the software .. aka LP's or CD-rom's .. aka Music.
And sometimes the Music could be boring ...
So which is the solution?
Sincerely I dunno .. probably it's into the Tube world that's is often on the romantic side .. even at neutral and natural cost
I have been a great Tube fan some years ago when I had Jadis JA 80 and Klimo preamp .. I sold them when I decided to try Solid State and probably that was a pity!
Now I don't want to re-change all my hi-fi setup buying all tubes .. further I should be compelled to sell my Thiels too
But I could try adding a Tube Preamp .. just to aromatize the rest .. this could be a good idea .. isn't it?

But which tube preamp?
There are lotsa tube preamps that strive for the Neutral and Natural side .. I'm thinking to ARC , CJ , BAT etc.. and I don't need one of them .. I already own a very good natural and neutral preamp!

A good choice could be a Air Tight , Shindo , Supratek , Joule Electra .. but I have to pay attention to the "electrical marriage" with my two Parasound JC1's..

What do you think about my thoughts .. and any other idea about an Aromatic Tube Preamp.. Guys?
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shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,467 posts
 
I'm in full agreement with Onhwy61, natural and neutral should be anything but boring - adding coloration only helps if the setup is inadequate. If everything is setup right then all you need to do is crank it a little for some exhilaration. Percussion re-produced realistically is energetic & dynamic & very loud.
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,890 posts
 
Definitely optimize the speaker placement in the room for bass response if not the case already.

Placement near rear wall should boost low end but may not be the only way to get a natural and neutral sound.

It is generally tougher to get it though with smaller speakers/drivers in a larger room especially if placed away from wall.

Some designs including omnis and planars may function optimally for bass as well as typical imaging and soundstage as much as a third or so into the room, but generally not too far from sidewalls.

It all really depends. You have to experiment to know for sure.

Definitely get the speaker placement optimized if not already before changing anything though...
nilthepill
842 posts
 
Agree with Opus88. In real life, neutral and natural are two different things. Neutral is a audiophile concept, Natural is well, natural as in non amplified live sound.

Ideally Neutral is supposed to emulate natural but *it almost never does* in real life. Enter additive or subtractive coloration via (fill in a blank). One obvious no cost one is what Onhwy61 suggests
opus88
530 posts
 
Nilthepill, my complements to you for saying it in a much more succinct manner than I did.
andromedaaudio
170 posts
 
No in my opinion its just the opposite , if components are not "reasonably"neutral and constantly influence the sound on whatever recording you play than songs will not vary so much in performance they will sound more the same .
A neutral set will allow performers to show of what they have and will present each recording more as a complete different event .
A speaker with a 7 db drop at a 1000 hz will in the long run sound very boring.
Also its important that your set up has enough power /current delivery for the speakers to make it dynamic /meaning not boring , the krells in my case might be a bit oversized but what the hell, this is just my opinion.
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