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Are my ears just fooling me?

I have been in this hoppy for a couple of years. I have been through alot of equipment, trying to find the sound for me (dont we all!) I have really enjoyed it but something is starting to bother me. I for some reason feel that every system I have ever heard cannot reproduce a saxophone with the body and emotion like when I hear it live. I am young but I have listened to and owned equipment all over the board. Most hifi gear I find is just really thin sounding to my ears, even with owning many tube amps. Is this normal? Does my ear just want to hear distortion with playback that really isnt there on the recording? I have never heard SET amps before and think they maybe down my alley...but is it just some more "ear candy"??
macd
4est
507 posts
 
Hard to say w/o knowing what you have had. It could be as simple as a room issue. Or something w/o a crossover in the midrange perhaps.
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mechans
3,048 posts
 
How loud do you play?
What size room are you playing into?
Vinyl, tape or digital source?
What are some examples of equipment , Amps and speakers, even wire, that have dissapointed you so far?
I seriously doubt that a SET amp would be the best way to achieve the body and soul sound you seek.
However if you want to try any of them I would say your best chance is to get a speaker with an active woofer ( built in SS amplify) and an 845 tube mono blocs or Stereo amp for the mids and treble.
As a second approach to your problem you may have to experiment with some rather costly speakers to get the big sound and tone. The only speakers I know of that are bargains in the rich tone with sax blatt soul are FJ a rare German company you can get from Quest for Sound an Agon dealer, Alons/ Nolas the bigger ones and if you have a small enough space the Merlin floorstanders with Esotar tweeters and the Bam sytem. I have heard the Merlins with Joule electronics and the richness of the low and midrange was really outstanding.
In any case I would stay with tubes. Even though you might find satisfaction with some really good pure Class A amps such as those made by Pass or possibly the richly toned Class A and A/B Accuphase.
Did you try an Octal based preamp yet? The most common Octal pre amp tube is probably a 6SN7. If you go with one, made by Cary lets say, you would have the ability to tweak the sound by rolling the 6SN7s. There has been a lot written about the sound of the different 6SN7s in general they are on the richer fuller side.
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