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I have NOVA V's and I am not happy

I have a Mark Levinson 585 and a pair of Sonus Faber Olympica Nova V's and although I admittedly have some room acoustic issues that I am working on I am not happy with the sound. 

I listen to music LOUD. This Pairing thru a pair of Kimber Cable 8TC's gets bright in what I think is the 2 to 4 khz range and the sonus faber nova's seem to mute the lower end of female vocals, artist like Macy Gray or Tina Turner dont seem to have the same drive in the lower octaves. At the same time the upper end of vocals like Sheryl Crow can get too bright and cause fatigue (I am assuming this is in the 2 to 4khz range) I have tried every speaker placement you can think of, toe in, toe out. distance from front wall and I am adding acoustic treatments as fast as they can be shipped. 

Here is my question, I had Mark Levinson 436 Mono Blocks in the past connected to a pair of B&W Nautilus 802's thru a pair of MIT Shotgun bi-wire speaker cables and I never noticed that system to be bright. Granted that system was in a different room in a different house. Everyone is telling me that B&W is a brighter sounding  speaker by far over Sonus Faber. If I decide after all my room treatments that I am not a fan of the Sonus Faber sound where should I turn for my replacement speaker? Or is it Mark Levinson's Fault? I want Rich Lush Loud Musical sound. I like a decent sound stage, I also really love it when when you hear decay from the instruments. I don't really care if that's what is neutral or not that's what I like :) 

Where did I go wrong and what can I do to fix it?

Thanks Lee

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mgrif104
347 posts
 

I had a similar problem that revealed itself when i listened to Mahler symphonies which I believed to be bright sounding on the peaks.  I thought about it a lot and tried some isolation pucks under my gear and was able to tame the problem. 

Vibration is problematic to a lot of audio equipment. It may be your equipment is fine, but needs to be better isolated - particularly at the volume you like to listen.

Best,

ieales's avatar
ieales
1,201 posts
 

I'd have the amp checked out. Capacitors next to big heatsinks have short lives.

overthemoon
419 posts
 

I have tested Kimber Kable 12 TCs and I experienced harshness in the higher frequencies and muted base. Because my experience with Kimber was positive I tried their BiFocal XLs and there was a significant improvement in the sound quality 

fstein's avatar
fstein
199 posts
 

Schitt Lokius

denon1
345 posts
 

OP, after many years of trials and errors I realized that synergy is the very important aspect of the system. Like one gentlemen above, I have now Nova V driven by Luxman 590axii and frond end is luxman d-10x. Sound is so natural, airy and 3D with greatly defined tight textured bass.

I had more expensive setups in my home but they all did not sound as good as my current setup. Room acoustics and synergy  between components and cables is the key. 
what is your front end? What are your Ics and  power cords? Outlets? Dedicated lines?

it’s all very important. 

Cables - I settled with audience front raw for speaker cables, Ics. 
Currently my power cords are very good Triode wire labs Obsessions but saving for Audience front raw. Outlets - all furutech latest gdx  ncf rhodium.

my recent discovery  - all AC outlets on the path to your components including wall and power conditioner or distributor should be from the same make/model to avoid mismatch.
Mechanical  isolation also crucially  important. 

Don’t  skimp on all these things -especially cables and outlets. Or you never hear what you gear is capable of and as result waste tons of money chasing for that sound.
 

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