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How Important Is The Cdp?


Hi,

My current set-up includes PSB Stratus Mini's speakers, Cambridge AZUR 540 A and a Toshiba 3950 DVD which i use for cd playback only. I know this is a mismatch of gear, but i originally hadnly planned on using this equipment with each other, then shortly after had some money troubles so im stuck with this gear for awhile.

My system sounds OK at times, its somewhat musical but alot of the time the sound is jsut too harsh and fatuiging- guitar harmonics are especially grainy and shimmery, vocals seem to be yelling at me way too much and overall the sound seems unfocused and veiled.

My room is pretty small, about 10x10 with an open closet and Jon Risch acoustic treatments directly behind each speaker, side walls arent really treated at all. I know my room isnt the greatest, but somehow i get the sence that the room isnt the main problem im having, sure it could use alot of improvement but the bad sound seems to be coming directly from the speakers.

Im sort of confused on what is causing the harshness, some people say its my cdp, others say my amp and then theres a few who think its my speakers interacting with the room.

This brings me to the question on how important is the cdp? Ive heard many people say that the cdp makes very little to no difference and wont tame the harshness i speaker of. Others say the source is most important and that what im hearing is my speakers producing the crappy sound my cdp is feeding them.

Would a better cdp, or say a 1000$ DAC improve my system to the point where the harshness i speaker of will be mostly eliminated, or will it just show more weaknesses of my amp. Or will a better cdp just make my system only slighty less harsh by only taming some of the digital glare of cdp's?

What do you guys think? cdp causing the harshness, or is it the amp?
dave123456
gregadd
574 posts
 
both.there is nothing worse than a bad cdp driving a bad ss device. no offense intended. the good news is there is an explosion of good integrated amps and cdp's in the low price area. tubes are a little more expensive but they almost never sound harsh. Get out to a real hi fi store and lsiten to some NAD etc. You don't have to spend a lot of money. Check the magazines. Most give ecomendations for budget or entry level equipmnet. Sounds like you have beeen bitten by the audio bug. Good luck.
xiekitchen
819 posts
 
I've had one of the Toshiba 3950 DVD players used in my "quasi-home theatre" system.. I replaced it with a Toshiba 4900 and was surprised at the level of improvement.. I paid only $90 for the 4900, if you can find one, it's only $90, may be worth trying out to replace your 3950. I tried a little A-B test comparing the Toshiba 4900 vs. my Rega Jupiter, surprisingly you would have to listen closely to discern the Jupiter's improvements over the 4900(the Jupiter was noticibly better but I was surprised how close the 4900 came). Also there's a company on a-gon advertising mod's to the 3950.
aroc
760 posts
 
Some good advice here. BTW, I thought the Toshiba was a smooth player? Granted I've never heard one so I can't be sure. For a cheap experiment you could try to get a $150 used Adcom GDA600 DAC. That's a pretty smooth operator. I had one for a while back when I had a peaky, trebly system. the Adcom was a good synergetic match. If you still have treble problems, then the problem will lie else where in the system or room. You may need different speakers. Good luck!
reubent
3,587 posts
 
A couple of people have mentioned your speakers and I suspect they are off base. Although I have not heard the PSB Status Mini, it is a well respected monitor that retails for $1100. I just read through the reviews and it was mentioned that the Stratus Mini had a "neutral tonal balance", so I suspect the speakers are the strongest component in your system.

However, the speaker is listed as a 4 ohm impedence with a sensitivity of only 86db. Your amp could be having a hard time driving this load and this could be adding to your displeasure with the sound. I don't have any experience with this amp, but if it is unable to drive your speaker sufficiently, the sound you discribe could be a result.

I have not heard the Toshiba DVD player, but have heard many highly regarded DVD players used for CD playback. I have owned the JVC XA-SA600BK which ia an TAS recommended component and I have owned the Sony 7700 and Sony 9000ES which are highly regarded and expensive DVD players. None of these were even close to any of the dedicated CD players that I've also owned. Yes, all of my CD players were relatively expensive models, but they all handily trounced all of the DVD players that I have owned when playing back CD.

Sorry I don't have an answer for you, I just raise more questions! Regardless, this may be a synergy issue between your speakers and amp or it may be a source issue. I would highly recommend borrowing a different source or amp and trying it in your system. It should help you determine what component is causing your issue.

Enjoy,

TIC
adasilva
57 posts
 
Unfortunately I think the DVD and the Cambridge AZUR 540 are contributing to the harshness. I think you can buy an NAD 541i (or whatever the latest version is) for about $400 and still have a CD play that you can upgrade your other components around. Even one of the cheaper NAD CDP players will give you an improvement and the NAD will never sound harsh. I wouldn't spend more than $500 on your source (new!).
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