Toning down the brightness

Clarkey_71

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Oct 12, 2007
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I've recently had a bit of an overhaul of my system.

I auditioned various bits and bobs and settled on my upgrades.

My recent upgrades were the speakers and cables.

I previously had a pair of KEF 105/3's and used Van Den Hull interconnect and speaker cable.

The speakers were great, but a house move forced the sale. I always found the VDH cable quite bland, but it served its purpose.

However, having put them all together the results are a little bright.

To give you an indication of my equipment, I have

LP12 (Lingo), Ittock, Lyra Argo i

Audio Research SP 9 pre amp

Musical Fidelity power amp

PMC OBI 1 speakers

Chord Odyssey 2 speaker cable

Chord Chameleon silver plus interconnect

My cables were very bright, but have settled down signifcantly over the last month.

I've tried plugging the speaker cables into both the bottom of the 3 inputs as well as the top. I've also used some of the Chord cable to replace the interconnecting bars.

I've spoken to a friend who has said that the phone stage on the amp may need looking at to ensure it is working at it's best with the cartridge.

The system is not as bright as it was, but maybe after having the same system for 10 years it's maybe just a different sound I have to get used to rather than a bright sound.

Anyway, if anyone can give me some advice, that would be great.

Thanks.

Paul.
 
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Anonymous

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the chord chameleon silver is the brightest interconnect cable i have ever heard. It's a good cable with lots of weight but the top end was a bit ott to my ears.I demo'd it recently and did not buy it for that reason and i like a slightly bright sound. I demo'd odyssey 2 before i bought my x tube cable.Odyssey is also a little bright.The combination of those 2 cables is very likely to be what's causing the brightness.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
they are excellent cables.If you liked a slightly bright sound they would be bang on. I would maybe think about changing the interconnect first. Odyssey cable is good and i have heard it used on mon audio speakers ( which you may know can be a tad bright) and it worked well.That was with a neutral interconnect though such as van den hul integration hybrid or dnm reson. Not sure what would be a good alternative to the chameleon as it has a v good bass performance to go with the brightness. You could get a similar priced cable thats not as bright but may not have as good a bass performance. I went for a chorus mark 1, but thats cos i got a 2nd hand one on e bay cheap. You could maybe try atlas or ecosse. Not heard them but i do know that qed silver spiral is a bit bright and van den hul cables won't give you the bass to match the chameleon.Process of elimination really or just go for a chorus mk 1.Its a stunner and they pop up on e bay quite often
 

Andrew Everard

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Far too many variables in that system to pin the blame on the cables, and those sonic characteristics don't sound like any Chord cables I've ever heard - and believe me, I've used a lot.

On a wider point, trying to use cables to tune the sound of your system is pretty futile - the best, most neutral cables will only let through more of the sound of the rest of your set-up, so what you think is a less bright cable is probably one that's softening the treble to some extent, which is hardly ideal

FWIW I'd stick with the cables you have, run them and the system a lot more, and let it all settle down - as an OB1 user I know these speakers take a long time to fill out and sound their best. Oh, and if you're going to single-wire the OB1s, use the top set of terminals.
 
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Anonymous

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[quote user="Andrew Everard"]
Far too many variables in that system to pin the blame on the cables, and those sonic characteristics don't sound like any Chord cables I've ever heard - and believe me, I've used a lot.

On a wider point, trying to use cables to tune the sound of your system is pretty futile - the best, most neutral cables will only let through more of the sound of the rest of your set-up, so what you think is a less bright cable is probably one that's softening the treble to some extent, which is hardly ideal

FWIW I'd stick with the cables you have, run them and the system a lot more, and let it all settle down - as an OB1 user I know these speakers take a long time to fill out and sound their best. Oh, and if you're going to single-wire the OB1s, use the top set of terminals.
[/quote]

I did a direct comparison, lasting near enough a whole sat evening, between the chameleon,qed silver spiral and the van den hul integration. The chameleon was brighter in the treble,even compared to the qed, and had deeper bass extension than the vdh. I was looking for a way to get a bit more bottom end , which the chameleon gave over the integration, but it was just too bright. I also spent some time in a shop and then at home demoing odyssey cable against xtube 350 and 400. The odyssey sounded a touch bright compared to the other 2. I had some real issues with my sound as i had put down laminate flooring and i spent ages demoing different cables to see if i could sort it rather than change my amp,cd or speakers.
 

Andrew Everard

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[quote user="Fraziel"]I did a direct comparison, lasting near enough a whole sat evening, between the chameleon,qed silver spiral and the van den hul integration. The chameleon was brighter in the treble,even compared to the qed, and had deeper bass extension than the vdh. I was looking for a way to get a bit more bottom end , which the chameleon gave over the integration, but it was just too bright. I also spent some time in a shop and then at home demoing odyssey cable against xtube 350 and 400. The odyssey sounded a touch bright compared to the other 2. I had some real issues with my sound as i had put down laminate flooring and i spent ages demoing different cables to see if i could sort it rather than change my amp,cd or speakers.[/quote]

All of which says to me that the Chameleon was simply more revealing.

Cables are passive, not active, components, and as such can't make a system sound more bright or give it better bass - all they can do is reveal what's there in the rest of the system.

A cable able to make the treble sound smoother while apparently giving more bass, while possibly desirable in some systems, is thus poorer is absolute terms, as it clearly isn't delivering all the components upstream of it are doing.

In theoretical terms, then, it is further from the high-fidelity ideal, which suggest a cable should pass a direct representation of the signal coming from the component it is connecting to the next component.

In other words, don't blame the cable!
 
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Anonymous

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My money is on the speakers. I like a bright sound myself.
 

Andrew Everard

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[quote user="Keith McAlpine"]My money is on the speakers. I like a bright sound myself.[/quote] .

Sitting here listening to a pair of OB1s, I reckon if that's so they're not fully run-in yet
 
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Anonymous

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i'm convinced the brightness is in the cd's. why some sound brighter than others played on the same rig? the industry still makes cd's thinking about boomboxes and not about us music lovers.
 
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Anonymous

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I have the same issues with my CDs. The better your system gets, the less CDs you can play as the equipment shows up shortcomings in the recording. I can never understand why we have to put up with bad recordings when the CDs are all the same price.
 

Andrew Everard

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[quote user="Paul Clarke"]

Is it possible to chat outside of the forum as I would like to seek your views on a couple of issues?

[/quote]

Sorry, but I spend far too much time on the forums... If you want to email via the usual website address I'll reply if I can find time, but no guarantees.
 
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Anonymous

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[quote user="Fraziel"][quote user="Andrew Everard"]
Far too many variables in that system to pin the blame on the cables, and those sonic characteristics don't sound like any Chord cables I've ever heard - and believe me, I've used a lot.

On a wider point, trying to use cables to tune the sound of your system is pretty futile - the best, most neutral cables will only let through more of the sound of the rest of your set-up, so what you think is a less bright cable is probably one that's softening the treble to some extent, which is hardly ideal

FWIW I'd stick with the cables you have, run them and the system a lot more, and let it all settle down - as an OB1 user I know these speakers take a long time to fill out and sound their best. Oh, and if you're going to single-wire the OB1s, use the top set of terminals.
[/quote]

I did a direct comparison, lasting near enough a whole sat evening, between the chameleon,qed silver spiral and the van den hul integration. The chameleon was brighter in the treble,even compared to the qed, and had deeper bass extension than the vdh. I was looking for a way to get a bit more bottom end , which the chameleon gave over the integration, but it was just too bright. I also spent some time in a shop and then at home demoing odyssey cable against xtube 350 and 400. The odyssey sounded a touch bright compared to the other 2. I had some real issues with my sound as i had put down laminate flooring and i spent ages demoing different cables to see if i could sort it rather than change my amp,cd or speakers.[/quote]

They must vary then (most probably different people's hearing does) cos i recently purchased the Chameleon because it was NOT as bright as my VDH, the opposite in fact.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
[quote user="chiefbrody"]They must vary then (most probably different people's hearing does) cos i
recently purchased the Chameleon because it was NOT as bright as my VDH, the
opposite in fact.[/quote]

which vdh was it? i had an integration hybrid and the chameleon definitely added emphasis to the treble over the vdh.It was a bit much to listen to.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
[quote user="Fraziel"][quote user="chiefbrody"]They must vary then (most probably different people's hearing does) cos i
recently purchased the Chameleon because it was NOT as bright as my VDH, the
opposite in fact.[/quote]

which vdh was it? i had an integration hybrid and the chameleon definitely added emphasis to the treble over the vdh.It was a bit much to listen to.[/quote]

VDH D300111. May be it is very bright in comparison then?
 

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