MA Bronze 50s making music screechy and intolerable

thinkpaduser

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Hello,

I've bought a Denon DCD-600NE CD player, Denon PMA-600NE amplifier and Monitor Audio Bronze 50 speakers. The sound is very shrill/screechy or harsh in the mid and upper frequencies. It makes my ears uncomfortable. What can I do to get rid of this shrillness and make my music warmer? I believe the speakers are giving the music this shrillness.

Should I get new speakers? What speakers do you suggest for a warmer sound that isn't screechy? Or do I need to get a new amplifier/CD player as well?
I have Sennheiser HD650 headphones coming in soon, so I'll be able to test whether the amplifier is screechy on the headphones as well. They're meant to be warm and smooth headphones.

Also, the DCD-600NE CD player makes a high-pitched noise that can be heard even from 3 metres away when listening at low levels. Is this faulty?

I'm using The CHORD company C-line RCA interconnect cables and CHORD Sarsen speaker cables. The cables are flowing in the right direction.

Any help would be much appreciated.
 

Tinman1952

Well-known member
Hello,

I've bought a Denon DCD-600NE CD player, Denon PMA-600NE amplifier and Monitor Audio Bronze 50 speakers. The sound is very shrill/screechy or harsh in the mid and upper frequencies. It makes my ears uncomfortable. What can I do to get rid of this shrillness and make my music warmer? I believe the speakers are giving the music this shrillness.

Should I get new speakers? What speakers do you suggest for a warmer sound that isn't screechy? Or do I need to get a new amplifier/CD player as well?
I have Sennheiser HD650 headphones coming in soon, so I'll be able to test whether the amplifier is screechy on the headphones as well. They're meant to be warm and smooth headphones.

Also, the DCD-600NE CD player makes a high-pitched noise that can be heard even from 3 metres away when listening at low levels. Is this faulty?

I'm using The CHORD company C-line RCA interconnect cables and CHORD Sarsen speaker cables. The cables are flowing in the right direction.

Any help would be much appreciated.
Hi. How long have you had the speakers? Are they fully run in...minimum of 40 hours?
The CD player could well be just the sound of the CD drive. Some are more susceptible to this than others... I know I am!
 

thinkpaduser

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I've had the speakers for about a week or so. They're new. So they've probably been played for 15 hours. Do you think the shrillness will be lowered after the 40 hour mark?

Yes, I think it's the CD drive too. I find it irritating and I might take it to Denon in an attempt to get it repaired. Denon didn't say whether it was faulty in their email to me.
 

Tinman1952

Well-known member
I've had the speakers for about a week or so. They're new. So they've probably been played for 15 hours. Do you think the shrillness will be lowered after the 40 hour mark?

Yes, I think it's the CD drive too. I find it irritating and I might take it to Denon in an attempt to get it repaired. Denon didn't say whether it was faulty in their email to me.
Yes I thought they may be new speakers. My experience is that they do take at least 40 hours to run in. My Monitor Audio Silver took about 100 hours to really settle down. You should find the treble sounds smoother, the bass is deeper and tighter, and the soundstage widens....🤞
I would get the Denon checked out to ensure there is no fault with the drive....
 
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abacus

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The cables won’t make a difference unless they are faulty or badly designed (No matter what the con artists claim (Ask them to provide verifiable evidence and they can’t) however I have to ask the question, Did you hear the system before purchase as you should have noticed this problem during the demo, if there was no problem at the demo then possibly one of the items is faulty, but it could also be the room (The room makes the biggest difference to the sound) if it has a lot of hard surfaces.
For the speakers, place them 1m apart facing each other and connect one of them out of phase, play some mono pink noise through them (Be careful not to overdrive them) for about 30m to 1hr and you’re done, (This is how speakers are run in professionally) you can then place the speakers back in the normal position and wire them back in phase.

Bill
 
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The cables won’t make a difference unless they are faulty or badly designed (No matter what the con artists claim (Ask them to provide verifiable evidence and they can’t) however I have to ask the question, Did you hear the system before purchase as you should have noticed this problem during the demo, if there was no problem at the demo then possibly one of the items is faulty, but it could also be the room (The room makes the biggest difference to the sound) if it has a lot of hard surfaces.
For the speakers, place them 1m apart facing each other and connect one of them out of phase, play some mono pink noise through them (Be careful not to overdrive them) for about 30m to 1hr and you’re done, (This is how speakers are run in professionally) you can then place the speakers back in the normal position and wire them back in phase.

Bill
the issue in a lot of cases is that the speakers you demo in a dealers have probably been well run-in, the ones you take home in a box haven't....
 
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manicm

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Any reason you went for the Bronze 50 instead of the 100?

‘Also, the DCD-600NE CD player makes a high-pitched noise that can be heard even from 3 metres away when listening at low levels. Is this faulty?’

The CD player may well be faulty or you may have a grounding issue. Try getting a mains conditioner.
 

thinkpaduser

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The cables won’t make a difference unless they are faulty or badly designed (No matter what the con artists claim (Ask them to provide verifiable evidence and they can’t) however I have to ask the question, Did you hear the system before purchase as you should have noticed this problem during the demo, if there was no problem at the demo then possibly one of the items is faulty, but it could also be the room (The room makes the biggest difference to the sound) if it has a lot of hard surfaces.
For the speakers, place them 1m apart facing each other and connect one of them out of phase, play some mono pink noise through them (Be careful not to overdrive them) for about 30m to 1hr and you’re done, (This is how speakers are run in professionally) you can then place the speakers back in the normal position and wire them back in phase.

Bill

No, I didn't do any demos. I just bought them new.

Ok, I might try this pink noise to run them in.
 

thinkpaduser

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That shouldn't happen. How long have you had it? Other than when the CD tray is operated, all you should ever hear from a CDP is a fair whirring if you are very close and there is no music.

The CD player, amp and speakers are all new. The CD player makes this high-pitched noise when the CD is playing. When the CD isn't playing the CDP doesn't make noise.
 

thinkpaduser

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Any reason you went for the Bronze 50 instead of the 100?

‘Also, the DCD-600NE CD player makes a high-pitched noise that can be heard even from 3 metres away when listening at low levels. Is this faulty?’

The CD player may well be faulty or you may have a grounding issue. Try getting a mains conditioner.

I thought the Bronze 50 would be good enough because my room is only about 5x6 metres.
I'll look into the mains conditioner.
 

thinkpaduser

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Do MA still use the same gold metal tweeter? If so, I think mine were described in reviews at the time as needing a longer run-in than most speakers. That seems like the logical (and cost-free) first course of action.

Yeah, the Bronze 50 has a gold metal tweeter.
Did you get ear discomfort from your speakers when they were new? Did they sound shrill?
 
I thought the Bronze 50 would be good enough because my room is only about 5x6 metres.
I'll look into the mains conditioner.
Yeah, the Bronze 50 has a gold metal tweeter.
Did you get ear discomfort from your speakers when they were new? Did they sound shrill?
I own RS6s and they aren't shrill or harsh with any genre.

How and where do you have the speakers placed?
 

thinkpaduser

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I own RS6s and they aren't shrill or harsh with any genre.

How and where do you have the speakers placed?

I have one speaker on a heavy electric heater (heater is covered in a blanket) and another speaker on a heavy wooden cabinet. They're placed in one corner of the room and are quite close to two glass windows. The two windows have a blind and curtain. The room has two couches, lots of blankets, cushions and clutter, two wooden cabinets, a wooden coffee table. I also had the speakers on two less heavy wooden tables but they were still shrill.

And it's good to hear you don't have any shrillness!
 

thinkpaduser

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That very much sounds like it is faulty - don't spend any money on anything new - it needs looking at.

Do you think I should send it back to the store where I bought it and ask for a refund? Or send it to Denon to be repaired? Denon recommends not sending it by courier but it would be a 4 hour drive.

I'll put off buying anything for now then...
 
I have one speaker on a heavy electric heater (heater is covered in a blanket) and another speaker on a heavy wooden cabinet. They're placed in one corner of the room and are quite close to two glass windows. The two windows have a blind and curtain. The room has two couches, lots of blankets, cushions and clutter, two wooden cabinets, a wooden coffee table. I also had the speakers on two less heavy wooden tables but they were still shrill.

And it's good to hear you don't have any shrillness!
This isn't helping the sound. They should either be on dedicated stands or wall brackets, otherwise you will never know how good your system can sound.

Re: your CD player, agree with 12th Monkey get it back to the dealers for either an exchange unit or a refund.
 

Tinman1952

Well-known member
Any reason you went for the Bronze 50 instead of the 100?

‘Also, the DCD-600NE CD player makes a high-pitched noise that can be heard even from 3 metres away when listening at low levels. Is this faulty?’

The CD player may well be faulty or you may have a grounding issue. Try getting a mains conditioner.
Surely a ground issue would be a 50Hz 'buzz' not a high pitch noise......?
 

abacus

Well-known member
The golden rule when buying Hi-Fi is to try before you buy (Hence my question) as not all equipment works well together, also sound is very personal so what is bright to one person can be soft to another, (Hence the try before you buy rule) which is why reviews and others opinions should only be used as a guide.
Hopefully when the CD is changed it fixes the problem otherwise it will be back to the dealer to listen to different combinations to find one more satisfying.

Bill
 

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