More depth

[Macspur]

Hi,
As much as I love my set up (see below) with it's clarity, detail and tight base, I would like a bit more depth.
Which of my components would I need to change to attain this? and to what? would adding a DAC help, or is it a case of changing the speakers/amp?
Cheers

 

[True Blue]

And get a Chord Chameleon.

 

[True Blue]

Add a HiCap / Teddycap / Avondale TPX thingy

 

[Anonymous]

Have a look at this website, guaranteed to improve depth down to 300m 😉

http://www.uboatworx.nl/

 

[Anonymous]

Hi, As much as I love my set up (see below) with it's clarity, detail and tight base, I would like a bit more depth

What is depth to you? Low-end frequency extension? Detail? 3d-soundstage?

 

[Macspur]

Hi, As much as I love my set up (see below) with it's clarity, detail and tight base, I would like a bit more depth

What is depth to you? Low-end frequency extension? Detail? 3d-soundstage?

By depth, I mean a deeper sound stage from back to front, with more air between instruments and vocals.

 

[True Blue]

Hi Cap then

 

[shooter]

I've had 3 different CDP's in my system over the last few years and all of them gave a different presentation with instrument seperation and staging.

I had a CDS3 and XPS2 which gave a very flat soundstage narrow stage with okay instrument separation. When i got it i bought it off a chap using Shahinian Obelisk and the Naim sounded good with those speakers so so good with mine though.

I had a MF Nu-Vista 3DCD which gave a very wide (touching the walls wide!), deep (in my lap to back wall) and instrument seperation was first class, but after living with it for some years the lack of bass just made it a bit thin sounding. If it had the bass weight of the Naim i would still have it, it went sometime back as the prices were reasonable.

And lastly my PS1, which i'm now on my second one and is my main CDP at the moment. This give a a good stage, not as wide as the MF and not flat like the Naim but it okay. Instrument separation is mediocre but can be bettered with mod's but i'm not bothered by it at all. To be honest it's not the best CDP out there but everytime i spin a disc it puts a smile on my face unlike the two above, probably down to the cost of it!

So it could be the disc spinner or it could be a combination of boxes in your system, the only way of finding what you want is to do some demoing.

 

[Anonymous]

By depth, I mean a deeper sound stage from back to front, with more air between instruments and vocals.

I have no experience with your kit (other than the Sugden), so this will be generic advice.

From my experience, instrument separation and placement depends mostly on your room acoustics. Really. Make sure your speakers have room to breathe and are not hampered by reflections. More specifically: have plenty of room behind your listening position and make sure you don't have direct reflections (side, floor, ceiling). Second to that, you need a good source to isolate different instruments in the mix. Others have already recommended that you upgrade your CDP, try it and see where it takes you.

 

[oldric_naubhoff]

I too would say that the culprit is the source. try other CDPs or DACs. I jumped from TEAC PD H-600 to Pathos Digit and the difference in especially soundstage depth and micro dynamics was staggering. also instruments separation and timbre definition improved. it doesn't sound bloated too with better bass control.

 

[malthus80]

I would definitely say that a Flatcap 2xs or or hicap is the way forward. I know that adding a Flatcap to my setup really improved my cd5x. Make sure you try a hicap before you buy as I have read that on my cd player it can make the presentation too forward. Have you tried Naim amplification with your cdp? Worth looking into. I wouldn't get rid of your cdp yet as getting a new one would be more costly than upgrading what you have.

 

[Anonymous]

The problem could be the speakers. They're very good speakers (I have them too), frequency response is great for the driver configuration, but I've never found them to image as well as many other speakers I've heard. I have the same CD Player too, I don't think it's that.

 

[Macspur]

The problem could be the speakers. They're very good speakers (I have them too), frequency response is great for the driver configuration, but I've never found them to image as well as many other speakers I've heard. I have the same CD Player too, I don't think it's that.

Hi monstrous,
Must admit, was inclined to think it's the speakers, I really do like them and it took me ages and many home demos to find a speaker that didn't boom in my rather small listening room 13ft by 8ft. Do you think the D18 would be much better? or what's your opinion on adding a HiCap?

 

[True Blue]

Why not try a TeddyCap mk3, about 1/3 price of a hicap.

 

[Anonymous]

The problem could be the speakers. They're very good speakers (I have them too), frequency response is great for the driver configuration, but I've never found them to image as well as many other speakers I've heard. I have the same CD Player too, I don't think it's that.

Hi monstrous, Must admit, was inclined to think it's the speakers, I really do like them and it took me ages and many home demos to find a speaker that didn't boom in my rather small listening room 13ft by 8ft. Do you think the D18 would be much better? or what's your opinion on adding a HiCap?

I personally don't think that the power supply will help the imaging anymore than it is just now. Not with the ProAcs anyway.

The D18 could be an option, I've only heard the D15 which did image better than the Studio 130's. Try get a home demo 🙂.