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
I suggest trying the following:

1. Ensure the cd player is not on the same circuit/lines as the amps and preamp. cd players and dacs generate much digital noise which is bi-directional meaning it goes back into the lines and infiltrates the other components. Only a handful of line conditioners provide bi-directional filtering.

2. I've owned the speaker cables you mention. Some to many cables and ics in this category induce much time smear which will contribute to the fatigue you mention. Try outfitting your system with the Speltz Anti-cables and Anti-ics. These are excellent cables and will cost you perhaps $300 total to outfit your entire system and you can return them within 30 days for a refund.

3. Try listening after removing your Panamax. Not all line conditioners are created equally nor are all worth owning. Some will even induce their own sonic harm. But you should still investigate in proper line conditioning.

4. You might also consider removing (at least temporarily) or heavily convering all reflective surfaces in the listening room. Including mirrors, glass, tables, etc..

These 4 areas are most likely the most probable contributors to ear fatigue you claim to experience.

-IMO
At the source, try the micro-priced Herbiesaudiolab.com ($14.24) Grungebuster 2.2 CD mat. This has the effect of reducing brightness, or glare, while enabling excellent player performance. This can give the psychoacoustic effect of diminishing the relative level of the offending high frequencies, a "virtual equalizer" for the equalizer averse.
It is returnable if you find it is not part of the solution.
Marigoaudio.com wiring (IC, PC, speaker cable) delivers a Rolls-Royce sound which is revealing in a more comfortable manner than many other great brands - a "less intense", yet wonderful, presentation. I have only listened to successive generations of used Marigo products, but there is a distinctive reduction in perceived brightness in lesser quality recordings. Don't know about home trial policy.
Re-evaluate your use of the Panamax; there are a number of competitors which have been praised for their ability to tame harshness; see archived Audiogon disussions.
As posted already, the listening room itself is often needing work. Others will address this after you describe your starting point. Also, see archived Audiogon discussions for more ideas in that direction.
Lots of thanks to all of you for the fast response. About my room here are some aspects of it
1-Floor: carpet
2-Ceiling Cathedral
3-2 large windows facing the gear and speakers rright behing my sitting position. the have hunter douglas drapes covering them.

dimensions :18 x24 feet. i ll draw a simple sketch. horizontal is the 24 and vertical is the 18 foot

__________________________________________________
---plasma on wall--- s c
Cabinet { Gear } a
x x b
entrance i
( --table 2x4 ft---- n
( Ch e
( et ot L R t
( Ch ((((((S o F a))))))
(________________________________________________

Sorry guys this is the best i can do .here is the key

s=subwoofer of my home theater(super cube 1)
x= both andras
r=recliner
l=my listening position on the sofa
ch=chair
et=end table
ot=ottoman
the gear is in a tripple salamber cabinet that is 31 inches high and 22 inches deep and 66 inches wide.

i thanks alll again and i am happy to be on this site. i will try some og th suggestion. i do not have room or money for another now. and also musical fidelity is not bad it really sounds good expcept for the brighness. My ultimate plan if my wife lets me make a dedicated room in the basement , instead of an all storage basement! i can get something like a mac 402 or 602 and give a preout form the kw 500. and bi amp them after upgrading into Anrda 2 biwired so i can give musical fielity to either the woofers or nids and tweeters and the other to the mac. however the system will have total power of 1600 w, this is and so expensive.
thanks to all of you
I am sorry disregard the previous sketch , i tried doing it using letter and brackets it got confused when made into text by audiogon. Sorry for that
If there are drapes covering the window, and carpeting on the floor this will help tame aggressive highs. Soft furnishings also help. Wall hangings like decorative rugs are also very good. Fortunately my wife likes antique rugs, so acoustics and aesthetics need not be diametrically opposed !

I'm wondering if the cathedral ceilings are leading to lean bass, and you're compensating by turning the volume up a bit more, which then makes the treble a bit overbearing ?

I have found Cardas positioning to give good results, but since I have a small dedicated room, my problem is usually too much bass, not too little. Still, it's worth looking over the following links for future reference as speaker positioning makes a hugh difference to sound.

http://www.cardas.com/content.php?area=insights&content_id=26&pagestring=Room+Setup

http://www.audiophysic.de/aufstellung/index_e.html

Good luck. You have fine equipment, and I'd be more than a little annoyed if music listening wasn't enjoyable after that outlay. The problem may ultimately require cables or components to be changed, but speaker-room interaction is at the heart of many hifi problems.