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
The smallest receivers and integrateds from all the lines tended to be the best sounding. Luxman, Yamaha, pioneer, you name it, the smallest lowest powered are easily the best sounding. Less is more.

The big clue (back in the day) was in the Bryston line up, the original one. The circuit was the same across the three amplifiers, but scaled. 2b, 3b, 4b. 60w/120w/200w. the 2b was always the best sounding.

Less parts, less circuitry, less damage to the signal. Less is more. Part of the secret of tube circuits - they have a low parts count by their very nature (part of the story only, but definitely important).

Then, some companies made maximum versions of simple circuits.

Some of the more modern integrateds are similar to that.

If you see a big impressive box with what looks like a cool pile of a near thousand parts, tons of circuit boards, with tiny tiny parts by the hundreds per board... then it is probably (almost certainly) going to be ’not so good’. Even if it is $10k.

And the AVRs? Almost a 100% chance they are at the bottom of the sound quality pile.

500watt 100 pound 80 transistor monoblock? Sonically? In comparison to the sonic quality of a 20 watt el84 tube amp? Somewhere near a 100% chance the giant monoblock is a sonic dog in comparison.

No one wants to hear that, even it if is true. The standard ’pick any two’ scenario(sound quality/wattage/price).

The fight to try and get all three, is where we all sit. With the right kind of mind and the right kind of design, we can get pretty darned close to having a functional three. Or at least find a compromise that works for us individually.

Individual tastes and individually built up hearing and self wiring of our hearing.... can convince the given individual... that this basic recipe has somehow been violated in their favor... or that the recipe and known parameters of the quandary are not true.

But it is true, this given audio quality quandary of all things not being available -at all times in all ways. A personal fit for one self wired (we wire our own hearing as we grow into it) individual is not a perfect fit for others.

I’ve torn down and rebuilt/repaired/re-thought somewhat more than 500 and less than a thousand pieces of high quality audio gear, over the years. Many of them, in step by step single cause analysis procedure and mind, while listening. With an ear and mind that grew more and more informed and capable, day by day. Feverish OCD of the highest order. The end result is... I’d call mine a seemingly well informed opinion.
People, in general, are forced to see the audio unit as a single digit black box.

The reality is that the simplest audio gear is a black box alright but with 100 ins..and 100 outs.

For the average person, those 100 I/O factors....are each nebulous unknowns. Things unseen and unknown. Sum total singular in and sum total singular out...is all that is ever witnessed.

A misidentified idealized singular black box.

Major disconnect.

The entire forum and the endeavor itself is based on attempting to navigate this major disconnect.
Must have long arms from patting yourself on the back so much.


Ever notice people with serious cred in this industry, the likes of Pass, Cardas, Toole, etc. never claim to have superior hearing/listening skills?
The hack speaks.

The hack... is only interested in following around and attacking -- just a few posters. the same, over and over. In this incarnation and in the prior two incarnations.

The attempt is always the same. To twist any and all words to try and shape an attack. No matter how feeble.

The hack cares not for the forum. The hack cares not for audio's uptick. The hack cares not for the people on the forum. The hack cares not for the website's health and future. All these things are damaged by the incessant obsession.

The hack cares only for the attack.

Psychiatric help is advised.
I am not "average", I am Superhuman!! My words have far more value than anyone else's!


This post is a blatant attack on so many people on this forum if not most people.


It may come as a surprise that there are many of us that have been designing audio products, testing, listening, for decades. We just don't fool ourselves into thinking we are infallible hence we also use the best technology at our personal disposal to correlate repeatable measurements to listening experiences, and we ask others to listen and give us their feedback and again we try to correlate to more repeatable methods. We understand that everyone has personal preferences too. What some may call warm, others may call colored. But the most universally respected in this "hobby" don't claim "superiority". They are the most likely to admit their own limitations.

For the average person, those 100 I/O factors....are each nebulous unknowns. Things unseen and unknown. Sum total singular in and sum total singular out...is all that is ever witnessed.