Help me get the sound I crave...

[Franklioni]

Hi,

I have been saving my hard earned pennies to upgrade my AV Reveiver and Speakers to go with my newish Cambridge 640C v2 CD player in order to have a system that can do my home cinema stuff but also handle music well.

I eventually went with the NAD T744 wíth the B&W 685 bookshelf speakers as tried them in the shop and they sounded fantastic. However, got it all home and set up and the rough warm sounding NAD had turned into an overkill monster and was just too heavy.

This brought another trip to the shop and an exchange for a Denon 2307 which lacked the same roar initially on the rock tracks but still sounded sharp. I've got it home and set up and am, for the most part, happy. But the question remains...is there anyway to get it near that NAD growl I crave? I've hooked up my B&W PA1 sub which helps a little with the bass but it's not quite there.

Cheers!

 

[Anonymous]

Frank, let the kit run in for a while; use good speaker stands and make sure their solidly placed on spikes; review speaker cable and interconnects; Ask the shop exactly what they used to demonstrate the kit; including whether they used a mains purifier! I asked the shop I bought from to exactly replicate what they demonstrated in the shop and I got all the exact components, apart from the mains purifier and I could tell the difference. If it is a good sales man they'll know exactly how to make the kit sound good! Good luck.

 

[Clare Newsome]

Hi there,

To add to the excellent advice from Gorge above,i'd add that you should consider the effect your room is/isn't having on your sound.

If your room is rather full of furniture, bookcases etc, it'll absorb sound (and can have a softening effect) far more than a more minimalist room. A system can sound different in a room with wooden floors to one that's carpetted, for example.

Also experiment with speaker positioning, as this too can affect the overall sound.

But this does sound a case for some serious accessorising....

 

[Franklioni]

Hi Gorge/Clare,

Thanks for getting back to me with the great advice so soon.

I have already purchased some new interconnects QED Quinex 3, and some speaker cable, QED XT Silver anniversary which is giving me some noticable (well I think) clarity improvements....especially with the bi-amping. I need to purchase another run of the speaker cable though to replace my antique Gale cable on the second set, I want it all to match up.

Living in Sweden the wooden floors are a pre-requisite for any apartment but the shop, where the NAD sounded so wonderful, was much more spacious and carpeted...and with a lot less furniture so I guess there's a point there.

While on the subject of my new receiver and speakers, I have been trawling the net for further write-ups/reviews etc and cannot find anything of substance. Do you have any knowledge on either the Denon 2307 + B&W 685's? Or even the NAD T744 I binned in favour of the former?

Cheers.

 

[Clare Newsome]

There's a full test of the B&W 685s in our next, September issue - on sale in UK on July 26th....