.....Not quite magical.....

[phab]

Hi everyone,

So I have spent the past few months putting together quite a serious (for me anyway) HIFI system using a whole host of bits and bobs and whilst it sounds 'good', it sadly doesnt have the sparkle and real head turning quality I was hoping for. Its very much a work in progress and I wouldnt mind changing bits and bobs in and out so please any suggestions are very welcome. If I were to describe it at the moment id say it was slightly heavy handed with bass (ive tried the speakers in different positions with little improvement) and also ever so slightly muddy in the treble even when its fed 24bit FLACs. Its not mesmerising essentially! If anyone can see any areas crying out for attention please state your case!!

Amp: Meridian 557

Dac: NAD M51

Speakers: B&W XT4

Interconnect: Chord Cadenza Reference XLR

Speaker Cable: QED Silver Anniversary.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[kingsap]

From my experience ( very low) i reckon the room is theproblem. Try some room acoustic. I have a semi high end system that sounds like crap and after some room treatments, start tosound superb. What is your room dimension?

Muddy treble maybe the cause of excess reverb and echo in the room. May be more helpful if youdescribe your room. After moving my speakers 1 meter from the backwall, bass improve tremondously

 

[Tarxman]

And as silly as it sounds, moving the speakers around can have a big difference to the sound. I recently moved mine slightly closer together, but further from the rear wall and suddenly the imaging is far better than it previously was. Speaker grills are well worth removing for listening sessions too.

 

[Vladimir]

1) The front tower speakers need the center speaker to play full range. Even better with sub or full HT set. But center is a must.

2) They are B&Ws. They have an upper midrange FR dip, or also known as the "presence" region. This is intentional voicing to have them sound very good while played loud and very forgiving on badly recorded/produced music.

If you can't get used to it, this is easily remedied. Download JRiver MC19 media player and set them to your liking in the DSP settings - Parametric Equalizer. Add a setting for +3db (or +4.5db) at somewhere between 2000Hz and 3000Hz. Experiment and set them to your liking depending how you enjoy your music.

 

[phab]

Thank you for all your suggestions guys, I will try all the above and see where I get to....