2. amps-preamps
  3. 1134339057

New blood needs your Amp/system advice, please.

Greetings, Fellow Enthusiasts. This is my debut post on any sort of hi-fi forum. Excited to begin tapping into some of your knowledge/expertise.

I am slowly trying to piece together a clean, simple and very musical two channel experience. Cut my 'Seperates' teeth on a Rotel system about nine years ago... good entry level gear. My pre-amp recently died and I started a pupae phase of more critical listening and put together a few new pieces.

current system:

power plant: PS Audio PS-600

pre-amp: Audio Research LS3

cd: Naim CD5i

amp: Rotel RB 981 {120 wpc}

speakers: Paradigm Studio 100's V3.

speaker cables: Transparent "The Wave"

interconnects: Interlink "The Link" 200

The system sounds okay with vocals, guitar and horns etc. but is fairly flat and muddy in much of the mid-lower ends. It's seems obvious that these speakers are severely underpowered. Is this likely what I am hearing? What steps should I take to attain more balance in this system? How much power would be enough?

What Amps would you recommend?

Got a great deal on most of this gear and am still auditioning. Am not really married to any of it and am willing to consider replacing to gain a more musical enjoyment.

Thanks in advance for your time on this.

Cheers! Timothy
timtopper
Post removed 
gmood1
1,251 posts
 
IME the more power the better for this speaker.If you want to keep the speakers I would suggest 350wpc or better.You need a high current amplifier. Something like the Empirical Audio 585 Adcom..or just the basic one to start.One of the big Aragon amplifiers should work well also. The speakers need to be out from the rear wall maybe 3 to 5 ft if possible. If not the amplifier and speaker positioning..it's time to trade in the speakers. Room modes aside the speakers can be wooly all by themselves regardless of any help from a room. Just trying to save you the time of playing with sound panels. Find yourself a sealed speaker or one that has a smooth rolloff below 50 Hz without the 50 hz hump. You'll know that you've found it,when you hear it..the muddiness will be gone.

Good luck
yioryos's avatar
yioryos
723 posts
 
I think you need to upgrade to a high current power amp,an older Krell perhaps.The speakers could stay for now,but you need a better amp.Your line stage is great,I got an ARC LS3B too paired with a Mark Levinson 27.5 in my second system,and it rocks,IMO.
Best of luck
George
eldarado
381 posts
 
Rogue Zeus. 200 wpc tube. www.rogueaudio.com

Good luck.
beavis
272 posts
 
Before blaming amp, place some DIY room treatment at first reflection points to see if that clears up muddiness & lower-mids. If DIY room treatment makes it better, later on you can add name-brand room treatment which is generally more effective & better-looking, but tres expensive.

Also, did system sound better with AR preamp. My feeling is system may need active preamp & may need the extra oomph not available with passive volume control or no preamp.
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