Cyrus System with Spendor s6e

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I'm no expert but I do have Cyrus CD6s, 8VS2 Amp, PSX-R Power Amp and 8 POWER units. I
also have a pair of Spendor S6e speakers. The speakers are bi-wired. It is in a
smallish living room of about 14’ x 13’ bay window, with carpets and 3 sofas and
curtains.

I find that the system,
primarily from the CD6s CD player, sounds trebly, harsh, brittle and over bright
notably so on quieter more acoustic music or some rock CD’s. It has the detail
for sure and it is lively but some music almost hurts to listen to it and is
made all the more annoying because you can’t adjust bass and tone etc. For a
£5000 system it doesn’t have a warmth and depth to the sound that I had expected
and hoped for. The speakers are not close
to the walls and are about 7-8 feet apart. The power amp is connected to the
bottom bass and the integrated amp is connected to the top tweeters on the
Spendors. I tried wiring it so that the power amp is connected to the top
tweeters and the integrated amp is wired to the bass but that sounded dire and
muffled as if I’d done something wrong.

Any help or advice you can give would be really appreciated.
 

jaxwired

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justix,

That sounds awful. Did you listen to the equipment before you purchased it? How did it sound then?

Try taking the power amp out. Then single wire from just the integrated amp. See how that sounds.
 

chebby

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The speakers are quoted by Spendor as being able to be used close to walls due to the 3D linear flow port.

Have you attempted re-positioning them closer to the wall yet?

Have you also tried just single-wiring the power amp only to the S6E's (using the 8VS2 purely as a pre-amp) to see if it improves things?
 

matthewpiano

Well-known member
justix55:
I'm no expert but I do have Cyrus CD6s, 8VS2 Amp, PSX-R Power Amp and 8 POWER units. I
also have a pair of Spendor S6e speakers. The speakers are bi-wired. It is in a
smallish living room of about 14' x 13' bay window, with carpets and 3 sofas and
curtains.

I hate to say it, but if you were looking for warmth, Cyrus was the wrong way to go. I put the blame firmly with the Cyrus stuff rather than the Spendors.

Try it without the power amp or PSX-R. I've heard a few Cyrus owners suggest that their systems actually sounded more musical before they added all the extras.

Otherwise, it could just be that an all Cyrus system isn't right for you. It might be worth booking some time with your dealer to try your CD player with alternative amps and your amp with alternative CD players.

Finally what cables are you using and what sort of music do you listen to primarily?
 
A

Anonymous

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I assume you did not demo the system before the purchase. Cyrus kit is not kown for "warmth" but the Spendors are a good match for them. I don't have dissimilar kit from you and am very surprised to read your comments, which bear no resemblance to what I experience, and I have a wooden floor with no sofa or curtains in my listening room. Questions:

1. What interconnects/speaker cables are you using?

2. Do you have more than one 8 Power amp? (not clear from your post as you said "8 Power units")

3. Do you use the pre-outs from your integrated amp, and connect all the the speaker cables via the power amp (or amps), or do you connect two pairs of cables to the integrated and two pairs to the power amp. And have you connected the cables as per the User handbook?

4. Have you tried using another source (friend's CD player) to see whether your CDP might be faulty?

5. Which component have you connected the PSX-R to? Have you tried the system without the PSX-R to see if that is faulty?

6. What about taking out the Power amp(s) and use the integrated 8VS2 on its own to see if the Power amp(s) are faulty?

Just a few thoughts....
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
I would suggest trying three things:

1) Put the PSX on the CDP as I believe this will add some finesse and reduce any glare and sibilance.

2) I don't know what speaker wire you have but you could try some Kimber 8TC. Very good all copper wire. It's not cheap but you can try a 60 day home trial from Russ Andrews.

3) I've found that not toeing in speakers can help with a bright system. This may have just been a function of the room I was in and the speakers but it's got to be worth a try.

Keep us posted.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
hi, sounds like yours is fairly similar to mine. I've had it a year now so i guess it should be. Is yours wired the same as mine?
 
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Anonymous

Guest
thanks I'll try that. when you single wire do you just wire to one set of terminals on the speaker - top or bottom does it matter?

I did listen to it first but the room was larger sound attenuated and seemed to make a lot of difference.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
thanks and ihave tried them closer to the wall and it doesnt really help. I'll try your suggestion, cheers
 

chebby

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justix55:
thanks I'll try that. when you single wire do you just wire to one set of terminals on the speaker - top or bottom does it matter?

I did listen to it first but the room was larger sound attenuated and seemed to make a lot of difference.

So long as the connecting bars (or whatever Spendor use) are back in place, then it should not matter but refer to your documentation to check.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Worth checking but are you in the triangulated recommended distance from the speakers? And their distance apart - and they are not in the corners?
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Cyrus is forward and dynamic in the first place so do not expect warmth. Its going to be punchy and detailed.

The Spendors will calm it down but you still have to be careful how you set things up.

As far as I know the CD6 has no PSX-R port and messing about with whether the 8 is on the top or bottom will make little difference.

I think that the only way you can calm it down is with cables and interconnects. What are you using currently (a couple of the guys above have already asked and I haven't seen an answer to this). You should be looking at copper speaker cables such as the Kimber 8TC or the cheaper 4TC (both easily sourced from ebay 2nd hand). Interconnect wise try Missing Link but again forget anything that is silver plated.

Also, what is your CD player sitting on? Some would argue that a glass rack may make it sound even brighter (although I can't see the logic in this). You could try putting a bit of pipe insulation under it or placing a heavy weight on top of it to see if it will make a difference.

An upgrade to CD6SE may also make a difference.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Grimaldi:As far as I know the CD6 has no PSX-R port and messing about with whether the 8 is on the top or bottom will make little difference.
Yeah, good point, was forgetting this. Shame.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
i am using QED SILVER 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION speaker cable (i assume these arent copper!) and Van den Hul MCD 102 MkIII interconnects (dont know if this is silver plated?)

CD is on glass
 
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Anonymous

Guest
I would recommend at least changing the speaker cable - it will affect the sound more than the inter connect and I would think it would be particularly bright with the Cyrus kit.

VDH are usually more on the mellow side but I think this particular model uses some silver plating on the conductors.

It may be an idea to get down to Richer Sounds and pick up some Gale copper cable or other cheap cable to see if it makes a difference to your ears. An alternative is to borrow some interconnects from a dealer but sticking to copper. I think the most neutral alternatives will however be:
- 8TC / 4TC Kimber speaker cable available from Russ Andrews on trial (could always try it from RA and buy on ebay if you like it :p)
- Missing Link Alaqeia (although this is silver plated I think however so many Cyrus owners recommend it) also available on trial directly from Missing Link

As I mentioned you could try placing something heavy or perhaps something softer under the CD player, however I am really not sure what sort of difference if any it would make - some do seem to think that just because glass is zingy when you ping it a CD player placed on it will respond similarly :p
 

Mike_Schmidt

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What about a tube amp then. The spendors should have really tamed the cyrus kit but if that didnt do it, if you have silver interconnects find all copper as well. The cardas line is really musical
 
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Anonymous

Guest
I note that you have what is now a £400 CD player, coupled to £2500 or so worth of amplification - a touch imbalanced? I would suggest borrowing a CD8SE (or even CD6SE) to compare that to your current source - there was a significant step up in quality with the new range of players.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Sack the QED pronto!! I've found silver coated cables and cyrus do not mix. Definately try some cheap copper to see if that is the problem then once that's established try the Kimber as mentioned or Atlas Hyper should definately calm things down.

juls.
 

chebby

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jules153:Sack the QED pronto!! I've found silver coated cables and cyrus do not mix. Definately try some cheap copper to see if that is the problem then once that's established try the Kimber as mentioned or Atlas Hyper should definately calm things down.

juls.

According to Spendor their speakers are internally wired with silver plated cables.
 

chebby

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jules153:Sack the QED pronto!! I've found silver coated cables and cyrus do not mix. Definately try some cheap copper to see if that is the problem then once that's established try the Kimber as mentioned or Atlas Hyper should definately calm things down.

juls.

According to Spendor their speakers are internally wired with silver-plated copper cables.
 

crusaderlord

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My former system originally seemed bright to me and i managed to calm it down using Chord Silverscreen (which is actually copper based) instead of QED cable.

So i would agree that changing speaker cable may be a good first step.

However as mentioned by others Cyrus is generally known for its brightness and dynamic presentation which just may in reality not be to your taste.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
I have recently bought Mission Audio RS 8 and Roksan Kand K2 amp and CD. From the reviews, I really wanted the Cyrus system components, but was left very cold on listening to them. Exactly what you describe - cold, tinny, flat. When I auditioned 'my' system, however, it was expansive, warm, detailed etc. Frankly, I really really wanted to like the Cyrus, but upon listening, I really can't imagine who would like to listen to Cyrus. I did speak to people prior to the demo and they said that Cyrus used to sound this way 10 years ago, but now sound different. My experience was different. If you really want beautiful HiFi that you can immerse yourself in, Cyrus is not it. I want beauty and musicality, an expansive soundstage and detail. That's what I now have. O, and the RS8s are fabulous. I have a 20msq room and I was worried that they'd be bassy, but they are not - they are amazing!
 
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Anonymous

Guest
bowiebexley: Frankly,......, I really can't imagine who would like to listen to Cyrus.

Imagine harder
emotion-4.gif
Seriously though, if everyone has the same taste in "sound quality", the world would be a greyer place.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
bowiebexley: If you really want beautiful HiFi that you can immerse yourself in, Cyrus is not it

PS... I also listened to the Roksan Kandy K2 combo, but I preferred the Cyrus kit. However I would not make a similar statement about Roksan like yours about Cyrus.
 

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