My gear as follows, NAD C352 amp, NAD C542 CD player, speakers B&W 685 speakers.
I recently posted a thread about the same gear but with the baby 686 speakers. I decided to sell them and try the larger 685's instead.
First the positives, sound stage is absolutely huge and the detail is staggering compared to what i have heard before. I now have what i term the 3d wall, which i havent heard that often certainly never in a hi-fi shop on a demo.
The problem is that half my CD's either sound amazing or terrible! Recordings like Amy Winehouse which can sound a bit hard and edgy are refined and balanced and so amazing. Other stuff thats sounds good are as follows - Corinne Bailey Rae - First album Paul McCartney - First solo album Mcartney Tracey Chapman - Let it Rain Lloyd Cole - Anti Depresent These all sound nicely balanced between sounding warm, but also some weight and a crisp edge to the sound
However on a lot of rock/indie stuff like Cast, The Charlatans,Oasis etc it sounds like the band are playing an acoustic set! The soundstage and detail are still there but every is too smoothed out and the treble loses all its crispness and its too warm. The Bass is also loose and soft/muddy - a sound a really despise! I am really want the sound to harden up and get crisper,
It seems like getting the balance right on speakers with different recordings is like ironing the crease in your shirt, you iron out one crease and then turn over the sleeve and you have created another the otherside, where before it was smooth! Some recordings that didnt sound great before sound good now, and others that did dont sound as good!
Is it that a really good system is just showing up all the poor recordings? Or is possible to balance the sound to neutral to attain a more even balance?
Before i started faffing around changing my hi-fi gear I had a pair of older Castle Durahm speakers dating from about 1989. Even though they were a fairly big speaker about 40-44 cm high there was no attempt to accentuate the bass and although it could so a bit flat at times overall it sounded more natural.
So are there speakers out there that wont try and smooth things over too much? All the ones i have tried under £ 400 seem to do that.
I want a balance between my old Castles and the B&W's so that i can play all of my CD's!
Where as most people seem to want to dampen down the treble because its too hard my system is the opposite and I want some edge!
btw the way I use silver anniversary speaker cable and qed connects tried all the faffing trying different cables never heard any diference so please nothing on cables and connects.
I recently posted a thread about the same gear but with the baby 686 speakers. I decided to sell them and try the larger 685's instead.
First the positives, sound stage is absolutely huge and the detail is staggering compared to what i have heard before. I now have what i term the 3d wall, which i havent heard that often certainly never in a hi-fi shop on a demo.
The problem is that half my CD's either sound amazing or terrible! Recordings like Amy Winehouse which can sound a bit hard and edgy are refined and balanced and so amazing. Other stuff thats sounds good are as follows - Corinne Bailey Rae - First album Paul McCartney - First solo album Mcartney Tracey Chapman - Let it Rain Lloyd Cole - Anti Depresent These all sound nicely balanced between sounding warm, but also some weight and a crisp edge to the sound
However on a lot of rock/indie stuff like Cast, The Charlatans,Oasis etc it sounds like the band are playing an acoustic set! The soundstage and detail are still there but every is too smoothed out and the treble loses all its crispness and its too warm. The Bass is also loose and soft/muddy - a sound a really despise! I am really want the sound to harden up and get crisper,
It seems like getting the balance right on speakers with different recordings is like ironing the crease in your shirt, you iron out one crease and then turn over the sleeve and you have created another the otherside, where before it was smooth! Some recordings that didnt sound great before sound good now, and others that did dont sound as good!
Is it that a really good system is just showing up all the poor recordings? Or is possible to balance the sound to neutral to attain a more even balance?
Before i started faffing around changing my hi-fi gear I had a pair of older Castle Durahm speakers dating from about 1989. Even though they were a fairly big speaker about 40-44 cm high there was no attempt to accentuate the bass and although it could so a bit flat at times overall it sounded more natural.
So are there speakers out there that wont try and smooth things over too much? All the ones i have tried under £ 400 seem to do that.
I want a balance between my old Castles and the B&W's so that i can play all of my CD's!
Where as most people seem to want to dampen down the treble because its too hard my system is the opposite and I want some edge!
btw the way I use silver anniversary speaker cable and qed connects tried all the faffing trying different cables never heard any diference so please nothing on cables and connects.
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