Help me tame the brightness of my Triangles

Did you try any other speakers in this set-up? Maybe Triangle is not a good match for Unico/Rega combination?

My previous speakers were interim only .. cheap Onkyo bookshelf speakers. They sounded fine with everything, but managed this by having very little frequency extension in either direction.

I have heard the Unico/Triangle combination with other sources .. it sounds great. Triangle uses the Unico to demo speakers at their trade shows, so it ought to be ok. It would seem odd for a warm source like the Planet to be a problem in this combination.
Paul

I have listened to a few of the upper end (I forget)Cardas cables and they lack the open sound I crave and yes they are big and sloppy in the bass.

I have just recently gotten some PCs and I recommend them to everyone. The kind of difference they make are hard to discribe but most people say your system takes on a more musical quality with a lower noise floor which lets nuances thru.

I have had good results with Vibrapods which helped my stereo to be more focused and lower resonences.

Paulraphael, what you are describing about the Triangles is common. The upper mids/lower treble is a bit harsh.

This is related to three things. First, Triangle keeps as much crossover out of the mid - tweeter as they can. Traditionally, a single capacitor(in series with the tweeter) was the only crossover component used in this region by Triangle. They want no intrusion of a capacitor or coil, which in their opinion(and I agree) these components can only slow down the music, reign in dynamics, and change the sound. Secondly, the mids and tweeters overlap more in their speakers than what is usually encountered. The midrange operates as high as it can go, which results in beaming and uneven response which can show up in raggedness and distortion. The tweeter also plumbs down lower than it probably should, again leading to raggedness and distortion. Thirdly, emphasizing with my second point, I find the response of the tweeter to be a bit unsettled in general. Depending on ancillary equipment, volume, musical tastes, and room, this tweeter can easily turn nasty. I find this from a great many metal domes, but factor in the lack of crossover to filter out the lower frequencies the tweeter sees, and you end up with exactly what you describe.

Do not try to do too much other than setting the speakers on a good pair of spikes. Triangle speakers eschew the use of most of the damping and vibration control solution sacred cows of audio. That's the way they are designed. Like a violin or other musical instrument, Triangle speakers(like most speakers before the 1970s), are supposed to "sing along with the music". These resonances and vibrations in no way add up to shrillness or the problems you are seeing.

I would say the first thing you need to do is move away from the StraightWire Rhapsody 2 interconnects. StraightWire has always produced some of the most forward cables in the business, and in many cases, they are downright bright. Most audiophiles no longer talk about or know much about StraightWire these days, but think back to about 1990 and the lightbulb will come on for many. Whether you move to Cardas, or most other copper interconnects(you may also want to think about Alpha Core Goertz or Analysis Plus), I think you will see a fair amount of your problem solved there.

Second, you also need to find a different speaker cable. AudioQuest cables do not nearly spotlight brightness as mush as StraightWire, but they also do nothing to tame it. Again, move to something along the lines of the interconnect you go with.

Most of your problem should be solved by cable. Although I am not the world's biggest advocate of cable solving problems, in your case, I think the solution is appropriate and will work. The combination of cables which highlight detail and speed, coupled with what I laid about the Triangle crossover/tweeter is a recipe for pain.

Apart from my suggestions, it seems wise to also investigate the tube suggestion(can't hurt), but I think cable will be an area which you will need to address in your system regardless of what happens otherwise.

Based on Joe's very informative post, i can see how the problem starts to snowball as volume is pushed harder. While i think that some of this will soften up over time due to speaker break-in, i too would follow the basic path that Trelja recommends.

Personally, i would try different interconnects before i would speaker cables. I think that the AQ stuff is more neutral than the StraightWire stuff and i think Joe does too. As such, start with the cables that will make the most difference right away and work your way down the line from there.

If this were my rig and i was experiencing that specific problem, i would probably aim for some Tara Lab's interconnects. Very warm and smooth and ( depending on model ) slightly reduce upper mids. This is great for getting rid of glare and harshness. You might want to try contacting the Cable Company and see what they have to say. They can give you a pretty educated recommendation based on what they have in stock to suite your situation and save you some money by buying used at the same time. Monster M-1000's might also be a reasonable choice and are available both used and brand new at discounted prices.

Depending on how well the interconnects work towards solving / reducing the problem will tell you how far and if you need to change your speaker cables. Just changing to interconnects that are better suited to your system might be enough for you.

Out of curiosity, how are the conductors of the AQ speaker cable configured ? Changing how the wires are configured in terms of geometry might help things out if they are arrayed as i think they are. Sean
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