Cyrus tonal balance issues

[admin_exported]

Cyrus 7 Amp

Cyrus daD 3 (without Q module)

Rega Jura Speakers

Van den Hul D102 MKIII interconnects

Hello Folks

I'm newly registered with What HiFi and my current set up is giving some grief regarding tonal balance. My past systems have always had an amp with tone controls, and this, I have always found useful when needing to take “the edge” off bright or harsh sounding recordings.

I do like the characteristic clarity, control and sound stage that are hallmarks to many Cyrus products, but have found listening to my current set-up a little difficult at times. Sound can be overly bright with particular genres of music, for example rock, and okay with others like reggae.

I've also noticed that tonal balance is better with older AAD mastered CDs', where-as the newer DDD recordings almost always sound too bright/tinny for most genres. As I've just recently bought the amp, second hand off ebay, is there anything I can change to counteract this problem (other than change the amp)?

 

[plastic penguin]

Where's the skip? Welcome BTW.

Depends, to a certain degree, on room acoustics. But as a safe bet Dynaudio speakers are a fine sonic glare-tamer. They are a great match with Cyruses upfront presentation.

 

[matthewpiano]

I had a Cyrus 7 for a while which I purchased second hand and I never really got on with it for the reasons you outline. I tried a few different speakers with it and just found the sound consistently thin and lacking in any real body or warmth. I don't think it is one of Cyrus' best efforts.

Having said that, it would be well worth trying some different speakers as well as trying alternative amps and then choosing which change makes the most difference for you. I'd also avoid silver cabling so if you are using silver at present try some decent copper multi-strand cable. You don't necessarily need to spend a lot of money - Audioquest G2 is excellent and less than £3 per metre.

 

[Frank Harvey]

I wouldn't say that anything in your system is inherently bright, but put a couple together and this can become an issue.

As good as Rega speakers are, they're not the smoothest of loudspeakers, and coupled with the more forward Cyrus sound (althought the Cyrus 7 was a little warmer than more recent Cyrus amps), are probably going to highlight roughly mastered CD's. By the sounds of it, half of the problem is the CD's themselves.

The problem with using tone controls to 'take the edge off' is that you'll also lose 'air', if you know what I mean, and you can lose the leading edge of instruments, both of which gives believability to the whole experience. You're better off staying away from tone controls and hearing things as they should be. Reigning in the treble to get rid of a bit of roughness is going to make smoother sections of the music too smooth. Ive had people wanting to change their speakers because of the ocassional bit of brightness with some CD's, but when they find a speaker that achievto this, they found that they sounded a bit dull. I'd rather have the occasional bit of roughness and keep the normal sections sounding ok. I hope you understand what I mean.

 

[alchemist 1]

I wouldn't say that anything in your system is inherently bright, but put a couple together and this can become an issue.

As good as Rega speakers are, they're not the smoothest of loudspeakers, and coupled with the more forward Cyrus sound (althought the Cyrus 7 was a little warmer than more recent Cyrus amps), are probably going to highlight roughly mastered CD's. By the sounds of it, half of the problem is the CD's themselves.

The problem with using tone controls to 'take the edge off' is that you'll also lose 'air', if you know what I mean, and you can lose the leading edge of instruments, both of which gives believability to the whole experience. You're better off staying away from tone controls and hearing things as they should be. Reigning in the treble to get rid of a bit of roughness is going to make smoother sections of the music too smooth. Ive had people wanting to change their speakers because of the ocassional bit of brightness with some CD's, but when they find a speaker that achievto this, they found that they sounded a bit dull. I'd rather have the occasional bit of roughness and keep the normal sections sounding ok. I hope you understand what I mean.

Yes a ''a bit of rough'' can do you the power of good, now and then.

 

[matthewpiano]

I suppose it depends whether listenability and enjoying the music, or exposing every last detail is the aim. For my own personal taste, systems that expose less than perfect recordings to the point that they become less enjoyable to listen to, are as good as useless. A huge amount of the great music out there suffers from far from ideal recording quality. However we are all different and that is why there is choice!

 

[shafesk]

Hi and welcome to the forums. Well I think some advice from dealers is in order. With systems that point to a certain direction, careful speaker matching is a must. I would suggest you go for warmer speakers. If you are reluctant to change speakers then a cable and interconnect change can be a viable alternative. Again, ask your local dealer, you don't need to spend much on interconnects to change your system's tonal balance.

Hope this helps,

Shafin

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the good advice and warm welcome folks!

I've changed my speaker cable for a copper type - Rega Quattro, and it's made a significant difference to tonal balance. The expansive soundstage is still there (with the high pitch treble) but bass, and to a greater extent, midrange has increased. The overall "mix" sounds much better. Next, I will try some alternative speakers; Dynaudio to start with. Thanks again.