New hi-fi set up not happy with sound...

[matthewpiano]

In 1999 Hi-Fi World said of the Heylettes - "Better suited to Classical than Rock or Heavy Metal. Smooth and refined sound will appeal to many."

 

[BigH]

One check for in-phase is to play some mono music, try Stones Paint it Black. does it sound right, if out of phase it won't. You could try switching the wires around either on the amp or one of the speakers, make sure you switch the amp off first.

As review says more suited to classical I don't think you will get that much bass from them. Speakers that should make a difference you could try Kef R100s but they are £600 new or £500 if you shop around or Epos Epics are a bit cheaper, how much can you spend?

 

[Crocodile]

Can't hurt to try the "A" terminals on the amp & make sure the speaker selector is set to A only & not A+B.

Do you have headphones try?

Have you had the grilles off the speakers to check the condition of the drivers? If not check how the speaker cone is attached to the frame & if it all looks good. Not sure if late 90s drivers would still have been prone to the foam rot that killed many 80s speakers?

 

[JamesMellor]

Hi Tom ,

If the speakers are in phase , and it seems you must have checked a dozen times how are they positioned in the room , how far apart and how far away from you , and most important how far off the back wall ? .

Looks to Me they are quite small rear ported , try them at maybe a foot off the back wall moving out to maybe 16 inches at a guess with everything set flat on the amp and see if that helps , also are they blu tacked to the stands , are the stands stable , have you / can you fill the stands with dry sand . Killing any movement in the stands or speaker cabinet can really help . After that try toeing them in and straight forward .

Hope this helps

James

 

[Overdose]

I decided to finally upgrade from my horrible cd player and bought a DENO-PMA720 amp and DENO-DCD720 and also a PROJ-ESSENTIAL turntable. Having got everything setup, I'm not happy with the sound at all. I'm new to this and wasn't sure what to expect sound quality wise, but there's no depth to the sound. I have the bass setting to almost maximum all the time, and even then it's not enough really. I'm using some old speakers of my dad's they are Heybrook Heylette speakers. I wondered if perhaps the speakers were the problem. I have some decent Atacama speaker stands and I bought some decent enough speaker cable from a local shop. Does anybody have any idea what the problem might be? Thanks for your help in advance. Tom

You could try positioning the speakers differently, this can make a big difference.

Failing that, the problem is either the equipment or your expectations. See if you can loan another amp and a pair of speakers to see what difference either of them make to gain some sort of reference.

 

[matthewpiano]

I decided to finally upgrade from my horrible cd player and bought a DENO-PMA720 amp and DENO-DCD720 and also a PROJ-ESSENTIAL turntable. Having got everything setup, I'm not happy with the sound at all. I'm new to this and wasn't sure what to expect sound quality wise, but there's no depth to the sound. I have the bass setting to almost maximum all the time, and even then it's not enough really. I'm using some old speakers of my dad's they are Heybrook Heylette speakers. I wondered if perhaps the speakers were the problem. I have some decent Atacama speaker stands and I bought some decent enough speaker cable from a local shop. Does anybody have any idea what the problem might be? Thanks for your help in advance. Tom

You could try positioning the speakers differently, this can make a big difference.

Failing that, the problem is either the equipment or your expectations. See if you can loan another amp and a pair of speakers to see what difference either of them make to gain some sort of reference.

This is good advice. No point rushing into another purchase without trying first.

 

[Blackdawn]

Probably just me, the last photo of the Denon amp. B, left channel (could be the pic or my screen) why do you have cable running as if its between positive and negative?

The speakers don't look that old but you may feel larger standmounts or floorstanders to be better with pop, rock, blues, soul etc. Looks like the Heybrooks are best for classical, seeing the review on HiFi World.

 

[BigH]

Probably just me, the last photo of the Denon amp. B, left channel (could be the pic or my screen) why do you have cable running as if its between positive and negative?

Well spotted that could be the problem.

 

[Blackdawn]

Just tried a cd with the levels flat and it sounded tinny. I pressed in the loudness button and it made a difference, but still didn't sound full enough to my ears. Pushed the bass right up and it came alive a bit, but I feel like it should sound great without doing those things... The bass part of the speaker is working, but didn't seem that powerful. Volume level was at about a quarter by the way...

Theres quite a big difference between speakers that are not functioning properly and ones which just don't sound that good. From your description, it seems as if you still have a functionality problem/kit problem. As someone else said try using the A terminal on the amp and wire it up again. You'll find bass will increase closer to the walls. What do voices and mid range sound like? If its still very unnatural or tinny you must have a kit problem. Maybe some of your drive units are not working properly. Try taking the grills off and put your ear to each in turn at low volumes. I found that my main drivers on some spare speakers were not always outputting music properly at low volumes. This gave the impression you describe. Can you borrow some equipment/have spares?

 

[Overdose]

That's just the wire tail, it looks a bit close to the next terminal, but connected + and - output terminals on an amp would be somewhat more noticeable than the speakers not being particularly bassy.

 

[sodracir]

Try to hear a different equipment with a similar price level (at somoene's house or at a dealer). If you find the difference in sound is really important, that means that you have a technical problem. If the sound is not so different, that means that your expectations were too high for your equipment. If that's the case, I recommend you to change your speakers, as speakers make the higher impact in the final result. The Denon kit should be OK with a good pair of speakers.

Again, try to hear the speakers before buying so that you're sure that you're getting what you want. And then don't forget that they will not sound the same at home. And positioning is extremely important. For example, when I'm sitting in my coach, if I lean forward or back the sound changes (the bass is a lot more powerful when I lean back).

Hope this helps