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How to warm up cold-sounding Rotel/B&W system?

I recently purchased Rotel 1062 Integrated, Rotel 1072 CD player and B&W 703 speakers. Perhaps system will settle in over time, but at this point it sounds very cold and clinical to me. Highs on many cd's are downright painfully harsh and generally the sound is fatiguing. "Warm and musical" it ain't. I tried the CD player with my old set-up: Nakamichi RE-1 receiver and B&W P5's, and this coldness was not apparent. I also tried substituting the P5's for the 703's with both Rotel pieces and the sound was still pretty chilly, though not quite as bad. Any suggestions? Maybe it's the amp? I have Transparent "the wall" speaker wire and whatever the cheapest Transparent interconnects are. I've heard people call Transparent stuff "cloudy" but never "chilly". Any suggestions?
stuartk

Showing 1 response by tvad

tvad
9,467 posts
 
There is a consistent theme in posts regarding B&W loudspeakers of "How to warm up my system". I have never read a single thread in which someone complained about their B&W based system sounding too warm.

It does appear that warming up a B&W system requires a lot of very careful system matching and experimentation with electronics, wire, power conditioning and isolation.

As an alternative, you might ask if any B&W owners have switched to warmer speakers that have been satisfying.

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