2. cables
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My stereo receiver is a little too bright. Can a cable help me out?

I just had my vintage Pioneer SX-1050 refurbished.  I had a severe case of sticker shock when presented with the bill - oops!!  Which unfortunately pretty much forces me to use it. 

I will say It is sounding very powerful which is no big surprise because there is a lot of horsepower under the hood.  But the audio impression is that it’s also a little too bright.  The only way I know to tame brightness is with the right interconnects.  But I’m not experienced in that area.  Recommendations would be most welcome.


It’s probably important to know how I am using  the Pioneer SX-1050.  It is responsible for all audio in my TV system.  My choice of music is almost exclusively opera and classical.  

 I send the HDMI signal from my four sources ( TV-DVR, OPPO DVD, ROKU streamer and Pioneer Elite Laser Disc Player ) to my AVR, an ARCAM SR-250, and I send the respective analog audio signals to the Pioneer.  I am into opera and classical music and I didn’t think my ARCAM AVR sounded as good as I wanted it to, even though it’s ideally  suited to my needs, a two-channel product touted for its exceptional audio.  The audio is good but definitely not great.  Prior to deciding to refurbish it I had paired the Pioneer with a Musical Fidelity A3cr Preamp, using the Pioneer just as an amplifier, and I was getting very good audio that way.  But one of the goals of the refurbishment project was to feature the Pioneer and eliminate the musical influence of the Musical Fidelity preamp.   And now, after spending so much,  I wanted to hear how my now very expensive Pioneer sounded, so I pulled the Musical Fidelity Pre and attached my sources directly to the Pioneer.  Currently all the interconnects are Blue Jeans Cable.  Obviously I can’t spend huge amounts replacing cables for all four sources, so the DVD is priority.
128x128echolane
erik_squires
16,013 posts
 
Yeah, do NOT put a cap in parallel with your speaker!!

That's a really bad idea.
geof3
1,128 posts
 
Third on capping your line. Not a good plan. One problem you are running into, like others have said, is running modern equipment through very old tech. If you were simply running a turntable and wanted the old school thing, you would be golden. But you are trying to take all of the goodies of the modern, digital age and mate it to something never designed for that. I'm with the others, sell and move on. Or, play with the tone controls for now and see what you can get out of it. It's simply not worth the effort and money to try to "fix" the sound with cables etc. You'll run circles around yourself. 
prefab
54 posts
 
That is one of the best receivers of that era. It should sound full, fast and sweet. Not bright. What speakers? 

Oh, and you did not make a mistake. Pioneer 50 series have given a lot of great trouble free service to many a happy music lover for over 40 years. I have top of the line Pass Labs, EAR, Monitor Audio, and many others, but my Pioneer 950 is something I will never sell. 
russmac8
7 posts
 
It's about component matching. I have an SX-980 which I love in my all vintage Pioneer set up. The Pioneer can be brighter sounding, so with digital content and some modern bright speakers it could be too much.  Sounds like you're not satisfied with the match..question is what change will give you that sound. I usually start with speakers that will give me the sound I like and then find components that drive them best. Cables upgrades can add some clarity but I doubt they would change the tone the way you want.

PL530 turntable > SX-980 > CS99A speakers 
Full sound, not at all bright. 
erik_squires
16,013 posts
 
I have made the mistake of spending a lot of money re-building much better preamps (Conrad Johnson PV 5, PV 10) from the 80s and 90s because I felt I couldn’t afford new.



Those are classic designs. If you do this, there’s about 3 things you should do:

1 - Add heat sinks to the voltage regulators. They’ll last longer.

2 - Change the output caps.

3 - Replace power supply electrolytics if old.

Leave everything else alone, it’s not worth it, though I often wonder if reducing the gain on them would make them sound more modern. They had way too much, and too much noise IMHO.
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