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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
echolane's avatar
echolane OP
97 posts
 

That is one of the best receivers of that era. It should sound full, fast and sweet. Not bright. What speakers?
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I have floor standing Spendor FL-6 speakers.
i recently had the big woofers refoamed and also repaired the binding posts, so they are good to go for another 20 years I hope.

Here’s a quote from one review on these Spendors:
The Spendors are beautiful, furniture quality speakers that are just very pleasing to listen to. Vocals sound fantastic, detail is good, soundstage is better than the B&W. I wish they had more bass, but overall I am pleased. I'll give them a 4 out of 5 for sound, 5/5 for WAF.
echolane's avatar
echolane OP
97 posts
 
 I would definitely give the Pioneer 100 hours or more to break in the news parts, especially the caps. There could be a myriad of other reasons why it sounds bright and not related to the receiver.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was a little dismayed that you heard the Pioneer receivers as “hard” and “bright” and maybe that’s what I am hearing too.  But I will definitely be taking time at breaking them in and hoping for the best.  Whatever they sounded like when I bought them are decades gone out of my memory, so here’s hoping the new parts will make some difference on the positive side, so I will hope for the best.  
jtcf's avatar
jtcf
1,617 posts
 
I had a little 20 watt Pioneer receiver back in the day.It was never bright at all, even straight out of the box.Maybe those " new fangled" parts do need to run in some:-)
upforsomething
12 posts
 
Are you using any type of power conditioner, as it would help. Don

julianstevens
6 posts
 

I had a similar problem which drove me nearly to selling my amps (Bryston) & speakers (PMC) and starting over with a completely different combination.  Expensive interconnects and power cords wrought no worthwhile improvements, though I didn't go as far as what would have been the biggest outlay of all, namely a complete new set of (non-returnable) speaker cables.  Eventually, though, I did find a remedy.

Assuming your speakers have separate terminals just for their tweeters, the cheapest solution by far is to insert a pair of 10w fixed value cement resistors in series.  Finding the correct impedance value is a matter of trial and error.  I started with something like 0.2 ohms (way too low) and, pair by pair, worked my way up from there until I found just the right value.  Too high a value robs the sound of top end air, openness and sparkle but, after a few months, I finally settled on 1.5 ohms (which took a bit of finding) and haven't looked back.

I did try a pair of variable resistors that I had knocking about but they were very cheap ones, of commensurately low quality and definitely had a negative effect on transparency.  Not being in the trade, I just couldn't seem to find a pair of high quality variable resistors, so I abandoned that path and stuck with fixed value ones.

The right impedance value for your system and your tastes will, of course, be personal to you but, given that a pair of 10w cement resistors costs just a couple of pounds (or dollars), the expense is minimal and the experimentation process, with each new pair getting you a step closer to the result you want, is quite enjoyable.

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