2. amps-preamps
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Distortion on piano recordings? Advice appreciated

I'm not sure exactly where to put this, but I guess amplification is as good a place as any.

For several months now I've been occasionally noticing distortion (fuzz) in my system, only on some piano recordings. It seems to happen when they get loudest, or when the note attacks seem most intense even if not that loud. It's only at mid-high frequencies (not lows or extreme highs). Seems to be the front channels only-- I plugged my surround speakers into the front channels and heard it then too.

In that time I've changed all my components (amp, processor, CD) except the speakers, and I have tested other pairs of speakers and interconnects with the same result, though it's perhaps less obvious with RCA ICs than with XLRs.

I'm pretty sure I've also swapped out speaker cables too, though not lately. I'll try different speaker cables again this weekend, but assuming it isn't them, could it be a room node? I don't know that much about nodes, but I thought they were usually problems at much lower frequencies. Can this be this severe in the higher ranges too?

Is there anything else I'm forgetting?

System:
Halcro MC-70 Amp
Classe SSP-600 Pro
Hyperion HPS938 speakers
Aurum Cantus Leisure for surrounds
NAD M5/ Parasound players
Audioquest ICs and cables
apspr

Showing 2 responses by ryder

ryder
1,687 posts
 
I also experience this with Fourplay's CD "Heartfelt" track no. 6. I often listen to music at moderate to high volume levels and got panicked when a few notes on the piano at a given passage got out of tune and distorted. I thought the speakers' drivers were blown or something but knew it was the recording as the defect remained when the the tune was played at low volume levels.

I would be glad if anybody who has this Fourplay "Heartfelt" CD can confirm on this. I suspect the recording engineer has screwed up on that particular part.
ryder
1,687 posts
 
Abucktwoeighty, thank you for your response. Your ears are fine. In fact, it was my mistake to make that comment without covering all bases. On that particular night of listening session, the amp was powered up for 1 hour from cold. Apparently the warm-up time on the amp was insufficient. I've listened to the recording again yesterday full-blast with the amp left on for 24 hours and the vibration/distortion on the piano keys starting somewhere in the passage from 2.17 to 3.12 is gone, completely.

Looks like it's not the recording or faulty speakers but the insufficient warm-up time on the power amp. I apologize for the confusion without analyzing on all aspects. I somehow knew Fourplay's recordings are of high quality and something must be amiss for them to exhibit this kind of flaw. At least now I know the amp needs to be on standby mode for a much longer period before it is able to perform on its optimum.
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