Coming soon to a system near me... Rubies

[Hawkwind16]

I think you were correct Insider.

The Ruby's might be an upgrade too far for my music collection, all my early Motown definitely sounds rank. Whilst I adore the clarity, detail and delicacy of the Ruby's I do not adore the thinness and brightness. I am finding it fatiguing to listen to with accuracy replacing musicality, this current set-up definitely doesn't boogie.

Not sure if a change of speaker would cure this but am open to suggestions, guess I'm looking for something with a little warmth to it. Standmount preferable as I can't accommodate floorstanders without a total rethink of my layout.

Interesting - I thought the Rubies would be warm sounding. I thought that was the 'Marantz sound' ?

 

[Hawkwind16]

Ps I Have QED XT400 cable, which certainly adds weight - sounds great

 

[insider9]

Sorry to hear this Doug. Brightness could be cured with speaker positioning. Thinness is usually a combo of speakers and source. No boogie hopefully is just a warmup issue or may be sound signature of source or amp or both. But thinness and brightness both could be warmup too.

I have to ask this as it may be crucial. Do you switch off your gear and how long after switch on do you listen to it? Have you tried leaving it on for a few days? Both my amp and CD player are always on. They just sound terrible when cold.

 

[Deleted member 108165]

Sorry to hear this Doug. Brightness could be cured with speaker positioning. Thinness is usually a combo of speakers and source. No boogie hopefully is just a warmup issue or may be sound signature of source or amp or both. But thinness and brightness both could be warmup too.

I have to ask this as it may be crucial. Do you switch off your gear and how long after switch on do you listen to it? Have you tried leaving it on for a few days? Both my amp and CD player are always on. They just sound terrible when cold.

Cheers Insider. Always left on stand-by mate, once out of standby then listening is next on the list.

 

[insider9]

I'd give it a try not to turn it off for a day. Keep it on, not in standby. See if there's any difference.

I had a few amps that were going from awful thin, bright and not musical to absolute bliss after a week plugged in. Differences could be heard quicker. Densen was one of them and I still miss it.

 

[12th Monkey]

The Ruby's might be an upgrade too far for my music collection, all my early Motown definitely sounds rank. Whilst I adore the clarity, detail and delicacy of the Ruby's I do not adore the thinness and brightness. I am finding it fatiguing to listen to with accuracy replacing musicality, this current set-up definitely doesn't boogie.

I did a spot of Motown listening this afternoon, having considered this. They are odd recordings, and ones that I seldom listen to 'properly'. There's not a whole hill of bass* to distract, and percussion and vocals do sound far from ideal - I have no idea how to begin describing what seems to be wrong with lead vocals in particular. (*Your speakers are standmounts? How are they in the bass department?)

On this plus side, I think if you can get the system to your satisfaction with Motown, it should be happy with pretty much anything you throw at it. Hope you can get to a point where you are happy.

 

[Deleted member 108165]

I did a spot of Motown listening this afternoon, having considered this. They are odd recordings, and ones that I seldom listen to 'properly'. There's not a whole hill of bass* to distract, and percussion and vocals do sound far from ideal - I have no idea how to begin describing what seems to be wrong with lead vocals in particular. (*Your speakers are standmounts? How are they in the bass department?)

On this plus side, I think if you can get the system to your satisfaction with Motown, it should be happy with pretty much anything you throw at it. Hope you can get to a point where you are happy.

With my previous amp bass was not an issue. The PMC's don't do deep bass as they're too small, but they are excellent at tight, punchy bass. They always surprised me that such bass could come out of such a small speaker. We are talking small speakers here, their front panel is smaller than a sheet of A4 paper.

And thank you.

 

[12th Monkey]

If you don't, do you have room for larger speakers or floorstanders? Don't get me wrong, I'm hoping you won't need to go that far - but whilst they weren't great recordings to my ears, they are listenable and do have 'groove'. I am wondering if what bass the recordings have does help to some degree.

The closest I can get to describing the vocals is still not very close, but some of them sound a little like they are being played on a Dansette portable record player in the soundstage. It must be a deliberate 'sound' though, as other recordings from that era can be very good and very natural indeed.

 

[Deleted member 108165]

Stop Press... Might be onto something...

Had a trawl of the net regarding speaker positioning and there was one thread which said to try toeing the speakers inwards towards the listening position, or even crossing over before the listening position. This sounded counter-intuitive to me as I always thought that toe-in would increase the HF making them sound brighter, so I almost dismissed it... I've just increased the toe-in so the cross over point is 1 metre before the listening position and almost a voila moment, HF is nice and clear and the bass depth is back with abundance, (doesn't sound artificial), and warmth is back. It's narrowed the soundstage but I can live with that for the moment as long as I'm back tapping my feet.

As it initially took me weeks to get the positioning sweet spot sorted I'll spend the same time on this again. Got next week off work to rig-up the new kit properly so I'll play with this some more.

Never thought that a change of amplification by the same manufacturer would require a complete rethink on speaker positioning. You live and learn I guess.

 

[insider9]

Excellent news!

 

[12th Monkey]

When I've done things that have aided stereo focus, they have also benefitted the very highest frequencies. I think when the latter isn't properly locked in place it can sound harsh. They are still not the best recordings, but that shouldn't stop feet from tapping so good news indeed.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Hi Doug
Nice to hear you got some of Ken's last designed amplifier and CD player i recall it took a month to run in a Marantz PM8005 but after that the amplifier was fine .

 

[bigfish786]

Stop Press... Might be onto something...

Had a trawl of the net regarding speaker positioning and there was one thread which said to try toeing the speakers inwards towards the listening position, or even crossing over before the listening position. This sounded counter-intuitive to me as I always thought that toe-in would increase the HF making them sound brighter, so I almost dismissed it... I've just increased the toe-in so the cross over point is 1 metre before the listening position and almost a voila moment, HF is nice and clear and the bass depth is back with abundance, (doesn't sound artificial), and warmth is back. It's narrowed the soundstage but I can live with that for the moment as long as I'm back tapping my feet.

As it initially took me weeks to get the positioning sweet spot sorted I'll spend the same time on this again. Got next week off work to rig-up the new kit properly so I'll play with this some more.

Never thought that a change of amplification by the same manufacturer would require a complete rethink on speaker positioning. You live and learn I guess.

I’m sure I ended up moving mine out wider, more toe in, and further away from the wall. I know it took a few goes to get it spot on. Enjoy the process, you are sure to find that new sweet spot.

 

[Hawkwind16]

Well I might be about to join the KI Ruby club - ordered a pair on home demo.
In shimmering silver gold

 

[Deleted member 188516]

Well I might be about to join the KI Ruby club - ordered a pair on home demo.
In shimmering silver gold

may i ask what speakers and cables will you be using ?

 

[Hawkwind16]

may i ask what speakers and cables will you be using ?

I have Harbeth SLH5+ (will go soon as too big for the space) and Stirling Ls3/5a's, QED Xt400 cable

 

[Deleted member 188516]

I have Harbeth SLH5+ (will go soon as too big for the space) and Stirling Ls3/5a's, QED Xt400 cable

thanks for the answer - always interested to see what systems others have !

do marantz supply an interconnect with their units ?

 

[Al ears]

Well I might be about to join the KI Ruby club - ordered a pair on home demo.
In shimmering silver gold

Nice one, wish I had your budget unfortunately I don't until I can sell my current system.

 

[Deleted member 108165]

thanks for the answer - always interested to see what systems others have !

do marantz supply an interconnect with their units ?

You asked me the same question but my system is in my signature, why don't you do the same?

Yes Marantz do supply an interconnect and I intend to try it.

 

[Deleted member 108165]

Well I might be about to join the KI Ruby club - ordered a pair on home demo.
In shimmering silver gold

Would be really interesting to compare notes.

 

[Deleted member 188516]

You asked me the same question but my system is in my signature, why don't you do the same?

Yes Marantz do supply an interconnect and I intend to try it.

i asked what actual cables you use - your signature does not state make / models.

my system, which is temporary, is a laptop playing music via youtube into a pair of m-audio av 40 powered speakers i'm lending from my brother.

cable is a 10m long jack to phono effort that cost about a quid off ebay.

the speakers / system is hardly something i am going to shout about as they only cost £100 !

 

[Deleted member 108165]

I'm not into exotic cables, never heard a cable make any significant difference to SQ.

 

[Deleted member 188516]

I'm not into exotic cables, never heard a cable make any significant difference to SQ.

me neither and i have tested a few...

(i tested a russ andrews pbj attenuated cd interconnect 20 years ago but that's another story...)

i was just interested to see what exact interconnect / speaker cable you used - nothing sinister !

 

[MUSICRAFT]

I'm not into exotic cables

I'm just using basic unbranded 79 strand speaker cables.

 

[Deleted member 188516]

I'm just using basic unbranded 79 strand speaker cables.

i thought you used / recommended basic 500 strand type ?