Sonic misery, diagnosis required!

[admin_exported]

Hi all. My system consisted of Rega Planet > Cyrus 2 > Castle Harlechs and gave me much pleasure; it was rich, mellow, very easy to listen to if not the liveliest of set-ups. The Cyrus didn't have enough inputs and the input selectors were getting flaky so I decided to replace it, deciding on a fairly powerful integrated for simplicity's sake. Tried a Cambridge 840a as it seemed to fit the bill but it was a disaster - very detailed but with a harsh edge to vocals and slurred sibilants. Back it went to Richer Sounds (who were great, by the way), and so I tried what I thought would be a safe bet: NAD 372. It is certainly smoother, but that grittiness on vocals and sibilance, almost to the point of distortion, is still there. It's setting my teeth on edge.

Through headphones things are still fine, so the problem is power amp / speaker related. Currently the speakers are bi-wired with QED Silver Anniversary. The harshness is diminished if I single wire, but I also lose bottom end definition. Everything is plugged in to a dedicated ring main.

So: is it just vinyl-era speakers, not well suited to the digital age, that are being exposed by modern equipment where previously they were flattered? Is the amp simply too powerful and over-driving the top end (unlikely I would have thought at normal listening levels)?

Any thoughts welcome.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Could it be that the amps you have tried were factory-fresh, and needed some running-in?

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Andrew. The Cambridge was possibly not run in but the NAD is ex-demo so I wouldn't have thought that was a problem. It's odd: I'm listening to it now, all is sweet except the vocals which sound like they're from a different system, 't' and 's' sounds slurred and a really gritty timbre, especially on volume peaks.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Strange: not a sound I'd associate with any of the components you have.

 

[Anonymous]

(sigh) Yes, I think there is actually something wrong here. I've checked and double-checked the wiring, all OK. It is actually distortion, S sounds become Zs.

 

[Anonymous]

Dave_Targett:(sigh) Yes, I think there is actually something wrong here. I've checked and double-checked the wiring, all OK. It is actually distortion, S sounds become Zs.

try speaker placement (move them further from the back wall) ... if that does not help, try a different speaker cable (without any silver) ...

 

[Anonymous]

Hmmmm...

I'd like a picture of your speakers, please. If I'm thinking right, you may have damaged tweeters (which would cause the nasty treble).

You could well be right on the idea that they are being shown up by electronics that previously flattered them. Try the amp etc on some other speakers (they don't need to be fantastic, just enough to hear if something's wrong - by the sound of it, it'll be obvious).

I'm convinced it's the speakers.

 

[Anonymous]

the statement where the s's become z's ....

I bought a box full of old speaker cables ... tried them all and found I had the same problem when using silver speaker wire ... changed to copper and was sorted ...

was especially very noticeable on Prince's Purple rain track ... not sure what speaker cable the OP is using though

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies.

@ HifiAddict - there is a slight dent in one of the tweeters, but I don't understand why the problem should be so apparent with a change of amp. I think your idea of trying another pair of speakers is a good one.

@dim_span - interested in what you say about the speaker cable; again not sure why it should suddenly be a problem when it's not a variable, but worth a punt.

 

[batonwielder]

Castle Harlech's are amazing speakers and I would think that any of the amplifiers mentioned should compliment them well.

You must borrow some cables and try them again. Be sure to take the links out if biwired.

 

[Sliced Bread]

Could it be that your Cyrus simply out performed the other amps?

 

[Anonymous]

@ JohnNewman: fair point, the Cyrus is simply a better amp, but I'm not talking about the sound being subjectively less good - there is something wrong here.