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Help, my system sounds lifeless!

Hi, this is my first post.  I rushed putting my system together when i emigrated from the UK to New Jersey.  In fact this site was partly to blame as i was attracted to the amazing  "used" deals!  I bought a pair of Dali Helicon 400 (mark I)  as they passed the WAF.  The rest of the system contains a Belles Soloist Integrated and Simaudio Equinox SE CD player, wireworld platinum eclispe 6 interconnect & Audio Art Cable Classic SC-5 Speaker Cable.  My room maybe partly to blame but generally the system sounds lifeless, with little soundstage (better when i play vinyl).  I am not feeling/falling in love with the speakers and do not like the bass response (which is often reported).  I would like to change the speakers and was wondering if you could help.  I have an extremely large cd collection (and have recently bought a used Lumin D1, but unfortunately not set up yet) covering all kinds of music.  I am thinking 8ohm with better sensitivity would be a better option.  Looking to spend around $3000-4000 used.  Some contenders include Revel F206 or F208, Tannoy DC8 or DC8T, ATC SCM40, JA Pulsars (maybe too much $), PBN Liberty, Aerial 10T (never see them used) but they must have grills as sometimes kids go in the basement.  Maybe Monitors with stands would be better option?  I am hoping the flickr link works so you can see my room (excuse the feet!).  I want to fall in love with my large music collection again!  Looking for good bass & soundstage and speakers that can play all kinds of music (sometimes I'm partial to deep electronic music).  In some ways because my taste is so vast i am not particularly looking for ultra revealing speakers (Nora Jones speakers i think you call them!).  Looking forward to the NY audio show so i can hear some systems.  Thanks for all the help, cheers Paul  https://www.flickr.com/gp/97665913@N06/a5G6d9
spoutmouzert
mikapen
31 posts
 
"Wave suppression and cancellation" applies more to the lower frequencies, which aren't generally associated with "Liveliness."
He's not complaining about dropouts - he's looking for more highs and maybe presence. 
Unless you are adding reflective surfaces, room treatments will dull the sound.
It looks like he has plenty of reflective surfaces. 

Standmounts and a small sub will give better flexibility in that space.
randy-11
1,913 posts
 
"Wave superposition and cancellation" applies to ALL frequencies - not sure why you read suppression into that

It may be that is not his problem BUT it is very easy and inexpensive to check - he can simply hang some rugs in various places in the room and test

The kef LS50s have a good reputation, but aren’t easy to test.

Take a look at his pic and if anything it seems he has too much reflective surface... yet another reason to get some analytical equipment in there and find out what is really going on

Still need to hear answers to the questions about what he had in the UK...

One more idea: just maybe it is not a room-speaker interaction (less likely, but...) - he can take the speakers outside and test, OR turn them off and borrow some headphones to test
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ivanj
35 posts
 
Aerials are excellent; therefore people buy them and don’t give them up. I think they are producing smaller, less expensive floor standers now based on the 7T. I always like the 10Ts so I’m thinking along your lines. Full range like a larger Spendor rather than an LS3/5A - a Nora J. monitor, the latter. The Paradigms and PSBs are some to consider. If you can put your TT and sources in an adjacent room that should help - perhaps you are getting acoustic feedback? Finally make sure your mains power supplies enough amperage for each line going into your electronics.
leotis
182 posts
 
Looks like those speakers have dual binding posts for biwire/biamp.
Maybe you forgot to connect the jumpers. ;)
soix
9,456 posts
 
First, welcome to the splendor of the Garden State!  Things must be real bad in the UK.  Heh heh.  Anyway, try hanging a blanket over your TV.  All the reflections bouncing off that can mess with your imaging.  Been there.  Also, if you haven't already, take the grills off the speakers.  These are two easy freebies that could help. 

Also agree with Jond that in that room wide dispersion speakers (i.e. Joseph Audio) might be problematic.  Something like Vandersteen might work better and also improve imaging.  If you can make it to Audio Connection in NJ I'd highly recommend going. 

All that said, if it's me and given your room I'd first absolutely try a room correction device like DSpeaker as amp1231 suggested.  There are very few rooms that don't DRAMATICALLY benefit from room/speaker correction, and in your case it could potentially solve a multitude of problems.  I've heard several of these at shows and in personal systems, and after hearing the corrected result you just wouldn't even want to listen to the non-corrected version -- it literally sounds broken by comparison.  Buy used or try some kind of demo, but definitely explore this path.  It could well save you tons of time and $$$ playing with room treatments and equipment.  Best of luck. 

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