My system is bright? I need help. thanks


Hi. it is my first time here in this forum. i would appreciate input and help from all of you. No sacrasm or bad langauge please. I had bad experience with other forums in that aspect. music loving people and audiophiles should be an elite, high caliber and classy community. This is rare to find today. Ok Down to the point.

My system
Musical fidelity kw 500 sacd player. I use the tube output.
Musical fidelity kw 500 integrated amp.
speakers:eggleston andra (not andra 2)
speaker cable: satori acoustic zen
interconnects: Nordost baldur and nordost quatrofil RCA
USe a dedicated 20 amp line with regular power cords(came with the gear) and a panamax 20 amp surge protector and filter.

This is in my family room so there is little room for treatment and moving things around.

problem: bright. the highs are killing my ears, after 1-2 hours of listening my ears start to hurt,sometimes 3 minutes. I have to turn the volume down. I tried postioning, it got a little better. I will try acoustic zen silver ref II may be it will help. The sound is otherwise phenomenal, i could be happy with more bass, but overall it is very good. Depth, tranparency, acuity and soundstaging are great. As for mids, i can see the person infront of me,I can hear the articulation of the tongue in the mouth before the words and tunes comes out. no kidding, but not for long because of fatigue.

I would really appreciate your input.
Scientist73
scientist73
Scientist73,

Cello made high quality and expensive products. Probably very few here have ever heard them, and even fewer with the Eggleston speakers. I'd take odds that no one has! Don't buy them unless YOU hear them first with your speakers in your home! Also bear in mind that you may need at sometime service on these amps. Will you be able to get it?

May I suggest that you do something simple. Start a new thread and ask folks who have Egglestons Andrea's what they are using as amps and pay attention to their sonic preferrences so you can see if their value system matches yours.

Good luck.........
Scientist, you have daisy chained your surge protectors.
Besides that you are degrading the performance of your gear by plugging it all into the HTS5100, you also managed to plug that unit into a cheaper, powerbar type surge protector. Has anyone recommended this configuration or you just came out with it on your own? I don't mean to sound rude, but with the level of equipment you're running, what possessed you to configure it this way?

IMHO,
1) Your amplifier should be run into the wall directly.
If you want to use power line conditioner, you have to get one of the units that don't restrict current, such as Shunyata Hydra2. But if it's a dedicated circuit, run the amp straight into wall.

2) Your CD player can be plugged into another Hydra2 unit and both Hydra2 units can be plugged into the same duplex outlet.

3) If you want AC regenerator, there are few popular ones - Exactpower, PS Audio

4) Get good power cords. Affordable on the used market that works good with digital gear is Audience powerChord. For your amp you will need something beefier, for example Shunyata Taipan Alpha.

And get your audio gear out of those Monster units.
For your AV gear, even the AVS2000 will suffice.
You don't need HTS5100, especially when you plug it into the AVS2000.

And if the Cello amps are being sold by a family friend, why not borrow these and try in your set up?
Dear Audiophile 1

Thanks for you valuable advice . I will consider most if not all of it. I just try combinations of things, since I lack experience. So all the set up was my own design.

I will try to get a hydra 2 although it is a discontinued model, but i think it is good.

I ll move all the home theater and only the home theater to the avs 2000. AVS 2000 is not a surge supressor, and does not offer protection. that is why i am using the htp 5100 with it. this what monster recommends.

I will plug the amp either directly to the wall or try the hydra.I will get a new power cord
also i am waiting for acoustic zen matrix II and silver reference II RCAs so i wiil try them also
i am not sure about the cello, i may be able ot try it, althought it may not have enough power i believe it is 200 w for each monblock, i l check on that.

thanks for you advice.
While I think the Silver Ref MkII are excellent cables, in your case, and I already said that before, the Matrix will most likely be the one. Since you are going cd->integrated without any preamp, Silver in that configuration may be out of place.
Try Hydra2 or the new Guardian. Also try the solid state output stage of your cd player into your integrated, just to see if you omit the hiss
A regenerator takes the incoming AC converts it to DC, cleans it and then convertsit bak to adjustable AC. Adjustable in that you can vary the frequency from 60-120hz (I like 120 hz best on my CDP) and wave type sine,suare, mixed etc. This is avaiable on PS Audio power plants and maybe others too I don't know. I think there is no one doeas all. I like the power plant for sources and preamps only. The P-300 or 500 willdo this fine. It is pricy. By the time you buy that and good cords and then something for your high consumtion devices (amps etc.) you will have invested a lot. Do it in stages. Also do it with dealers that loan for home demo before you buy.

ET

ET