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Non-audiophile needs help with older system.

I recently inherited a number of 10-15 year old high end audio components. I am not an audiophile but do appreciate high end sound. I do not have a dedicated room for this system. But, it was free and I'd like to figure out how to use it without spending a lot of money on it. I am not looking for audio perfection, just to optimize what I have. This will be used for two-channel music only. I'll try to describe the setup as best I can but I'm sure I do not know the proper terminology.

The components are as follows:

Pair of Aerial Acoustics floor speakers. Towers. No model number. I'm thinking 7B maybe. Have contacted Aerial to see if they can help me identify them. They have a tweeter, midrange and two woofers. Rear bass port. Separate connectors for woofers and midrange/tweeter. 

Madrigal Proceed HPA 2 amp. 250 watts. Weighs a ton.There are very large shielded(?) 'biamped'(?) cables from the amp to the speakers.

Audio Research LS16 Stereo PreAmp. There are large shielded XLR cables from the pre amp to the amp.

Onkyo home theater 'receiver' that I do not like. Remote is lost. Set up is tedious.

There is a very basic Arcam CD player and a Sony phono.

I've got it all hooked up. Bass seemed poor just running CD through pre-amp. If I run CD player to Onkyo to pre amp and adjust bass with Onkyo the sound is incredible (to me).

This system will be used for casual listening, CDs, records, radio, and iTunes via cell phone. I know that is like using a Porsche 911 to get groceries....but it was free. And there will be times when I can sit down for serious listening but that will be infrequent.

I plan on replacing the Onkyo home theater receiver with a basic FM Tuner/Bluetooth/receiver (probably a Sony). This will be for radio and iTunes so even though it is probably not a quality unit I don't think that will matter since the input (iTunes) won't be all that great anyway.

My main questions have to do with how to route the CD, the tuner and the phone through the system.

The preamp has RCA input connectors for all three. But if I run the CD and the phono directly through the preamp there is no way to adjust bass and treble and as mentioned running the CD directly through the preamp resulted in great high and midrange quality but low bass. So should I run the CD and phono into the receiver I'm going to buy and then just run the receiver out to the preamp in?

Sorry for the long post and appreciate any help you guys can give.

George


n80
kalali's avatar
kalali
1,977 posts
 
You didn't mention your CD player brand/model but all your other components - less the Onkyo, are individually very good. If your CD player is even average, you should be getting good sound from your system. My guess is either the tubes in the LS16 are compromised and/or the capacitors in the amplifier need to be replaced. Those Aerials have great bass if/when properly placed.  
n80 OP
2,125 posts
 
Tried two CD players. The one that came with the system is an Arcam. Very basic, don't know anything about it. The other is a basic Sony. They sounded the same.

I am starting to think that speaker position and possibly the fact that all of this stuff had been unused for a few years are all part of the problem.

When I first assessed the system I had the speakers in the middle of the floor a few feet apart. My wife thought the bass sounded fine but it seemed 'thin' to me. Once I got them positioned more reasonably, let the system warm up and played them for a while they did sound a lot better. And again, I'm not an audiophile and I may just be used to stuff with too much bass. 

With the bass turned up a little on the Onkyo home theater system everything sounded awesome. I sat and listened to several albums of different types. When I went back to my Bose bookshelf speakers with an old 25 watt Toshiba receiver they sounded pretty bad in comparison whereas they sounded fine before I got this high end stuff.

This weekend I will fiddle with positioning, run the CD back directly through the preamp and see what it sounds like.

I am still going to get the Sony FM/Bluetooth receiver since I want Bluetooth capability and radio anyway. If I decide to get rid of this system I can still use it with my Bose bookshelfs.

Have to admit though, now that I have this stuff and have heard what seems to me like quality audio, I'm kind of getting the audiophile bug a little bit. I've already got several hobbies I obsess about and spend too much money on so I don't think I'll ever be a fetishist with this stuff but the sound is addicting.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,861 posts
 

I am starting to think that speaker position and possibly the fact that all of this stuff had been unused for a few years are all part of the problem.

When I first assessed the system I had the speakers in the middle of the floor a few feet apart. My wife thought the bass sounded fine but it seemed 'thin' to me. Once I got them positioned more reasonably, let the system warm up and played them for a while they did sound a lot better. And again, I'm not an audiophile and I may just be used to stuff with too much bass.

With the bass turned up a little on the Onkyo home theater system everything sounded awesome. I sat and listened to several albums of different types. When I went back to my Bose bookshelf speakers with an old 25 watt Toshiba receiver they sounded pretty bad in comparison whereas they sounded fine before I got this high end stuff.
indeed. If you think its worth it to do something to make it sound better now that you've got a glimpse of the greatness that lies within, you do indeed have some audiophile tendencies stirring :)

If you want a little tip from someone that's been at it a long time: have fun. That's it- just have fun with it and don't get obsessive. If you find that you like what you hear, there is a whole world out there of stuff you can get and things you can do that will continue to make improvements... just keep the fun part in mind, and enjoy the music.
glennewdick's avatar
glennewdick
1,702 posts
 
have you considered selling the pre-amp / amp and using that money to buy a receiver / integrated with what you need. Or consider selling it all and buying what suits you and your listening requirements. if your not an audiophile you could get a nice system and have cash left over for what you need.  
n80 OP
2,125 posts
 
atmasphere, I appreciate the advice. I love music, rock, blues, some classical, various genres from the southern US. And I've had some exposure to high end systems. In the 1970s my uncle's McIntosh system with Klipsch speakers. During college with my roommates NAD, B&O and Nakamichi system with Dahlquist speakers. So the tendencies are there.

Probably my biggest issues are time and location. There is no room for a system of this sort in my home. And I just don't have enough time for good relaxed dedicated listening. The system is currently in my small (1000 sqft) log cabin about an hour from home. Fortunately that is where I usually do have time to relax. Unfortunately my wife does not really care to sit and listen to music like I do. So when I do, it is usually at low enough volume to allow conversation.

glennewdick, after pricing all this stuff it is a great temptation to sell all of it. But this is a weird situation. This came from my wife's wealthy cousin who moved out of his house into a penthouse apartment. He had an estate sale and basically got rid of everything. He invited cousins to come get whatever they wanted. My wife's sister and her husband grabbed this system having no idea what it was. It has been sitting in their basement for two years. They live down the road from my cabin and when my crappy system started to fail they told me to take this system and use it if I wanted to. So technically it isn't mine and if we did decide to sell it I think the cousin who owned it first should get the money....family!
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