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Expert Glare Tamer Required And More Depth Please

Hello everyone.

I am happier than I have been in years with my current set up, having changed the tubes in my preamp and added MYE Sound spikes and stands to the Tympanis both of which have made huge improvements and the system generally sounds very good.

Nonetheless, I am getting a fairly flat image and still have a bit a glare -- even after adding the resistors in line with the tweeters. At any serious volume, it quickly becomes fatiguing.

Other than throwing out the SCD-1 and adding a turntable,

1) I plan to upgrade my mixed bag of old MIT, Monster and Home Depot hacked cables with Signal Cable copper speaker wires, interconnects and "magic" power cables all around

2) Wondering if adding a tubey type DAC - Audio Research? Audio Note? in line with the SCD-1 would make a big difference?

3) Wondering if the SP-11 is actually overrated and a bit hard sounding?

and

4) The Levinson 23.5 is the least likely culprit here, but still wondering if Bryston monoblocks or some other monstrously powerful amp might make everything a bit more effortlessly dynamic and therefore, perhaps less fatiguing?

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
cwlondon
aggielaw
267 posts
 
I'm no expert, but I had a similar problem despite using equipment not known to be bright. The culpit? My room. I found that I could cure the glare by getting the speakers farther away from the walls (especially the side walls). I started by using the "golden ratio" (found on the Cardas website) and made small adjustments from there.

Good luck.
rwwear
2,867 posts
 
Some tube preamps do exhibit glare. But you can probably get rid of the brightness by doing as Aggielaw says. It may also be helpful to toe the speakers in until the sound improves. But, they should be well out into the room.
rockvirgo
587 posts
 
The flat image I got running a Nakamichi CD Player 2 by itself went away when I added a Theta Pro Prime IIa DAC. Glare vanished when I went from a Forte F44 to a Threshold FET ten preamp. I've since moved on but that's what happened here. Have patience, you'll find the culprit(s).
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