2. amps-preamps
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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
pkvintage's avatar
pkvintage
209 posts
 
You have a very nice system there. It will sound awsome when the bugs are worked out. Here is my advice. 

1st Forget the Onkyo receiver. There is a reason high end Audio gear does not have tone controls. You will not need them. Promise. Your amp and pre FAR exceed that unit in quality. 

2nd Get the tubes checked out.

3rd buy a used tuner. Under $50

4th google images Arial Acoustic speakers. You will probably see them there then you will know the model.

5th get a DAC under $300.00 for your purposes should do it. Ask advice on this here. You can then play high quality FLAC files and run all you music off a cheap laptop. Upgrade the DAC if you get the bug it is worth it. 

You amp was/is a devision of Mark Levinson and will not need recapping. 
Your speakers, I doubt need recapping. Most likely all poly caps or a form of. 
The AR is very good  but it could need tubes. 

If you explore vinyl, under $500.00 including cartridge will get you a very nice TT. Ask for advice. 

Most CD players sound the same unless you are spending pretty good money on them so why bother. Rip your Cd's to your computer in Flac and enjoy. 

You have a system to be proud of there. Get it working right and you will thoroughly enjoy it. 

You dont have to spend a fortune to get great sound. 

PK


n80 OP
2,133 posts
 
Thanks guys. I think I'm finally getting my head around all this and it is starting to make sense. I'll spend this weekend working on all of your recommendations and listening.

I sent a picture of the speakers to Aerial Acoustics. The owner/designer (Michael Kelly I think) replied and said they were 7Bs.
n80 OP
2,133 posts
 
mecreyn wrote:

"2) If the receiver DOES NOT have pre-outs, you will have pull the signal from a tape out and route it to a regular input on the ARC. If this is case, DO NOT use the processor loop on the ARC, as the processor loop removes the volume control from the circuit and will result in full volume going to the speakers with no control from the receiver or the pre-amp. In this case, using the tape out from the receiver, the ARC would be the volume control. "

Okay, that makes some sense now. When I had the Onkyo home theater unit running through the preamp processor loop the volume control on the preamp does not work and the 'volume' read-out on the Onkyo showed the volume in negative dB. Max volume (I never went there) would have been '0'.

Again, thanks to everyone. I can't wait to get back down there to listen to this system again.

Also, no internet at the cabin. Barely get a cell signal so no streaming services available.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,928 posts
 
3) Radio Tuner- Nobody want's them anymore. I just gave away a great Proton Tuner. You can find them on craigslist for a song.
I better get looking. I still play the radio on my system! Right now I running a modified Dynaco.
I agree getting the Onkyo out of the system will help its overall sound. I also think there is no reason at this point to suspect filter capacitors in the power supplies of either the amp or preamp. You can run the tape outputs of any receiver into the ARC Auxiliary inputs no worries.

There is this thing that is well-known in the high end audio world called 'WAF': Wife Acceptance Factor. If you have a room at your regular home that is yours, that would be the typical place a system like this might reside if the WAF does not allow it in the living room. This is a pretty common phenomena. The thing is, the better you get the system to sound, the more likely your wife might want to hear it. Women often have less damaged hearing than men, so they can often hear high frequency artifacts (harshness and brightness) that are known irritants! This is a bit less true in the last 20 years or so as women have been making their way into noisier work environments. But as a general rule if your wife does not want the stereo playing, its a sign that either she really doesn't like your musical tastes (or lack thereof) or she is hearing problems in the system that you don't.

If its the latter, I would not play the system for her until its had time to wake up, which might take a good 200 hours of playing time. When you are at the cabin I would have the system on the whole time, even if not playing anything as this will help. If the former, you're screwed and you will have to limit your playing time to when she is not around.  Good Luck!




n80 OP
2,133 posts
 
My wife likes about half of the music I like. I have a much broader range of tastes. When we're at the cabin I have music on around the clock. She will tolerate just about anything I play but she just prefers the volume to be at what I call conversational level....where you can still talk at normal level  and be heard over the music. She doesn't mind higher volumes if she is actively doing something else in the room.

Her hearing is better than mine. I have some loss from rock concerts, shooting and operating loud equipment when I was younger and stupider.

For 'real' dedicated listening I like  the volume a good bit higher but I'm not a volume junky in the that regard.

As for WAF, my wife gets a pass here because she has accepted a whole lot of my other more intrusive hobbies. I can't complain. So I'll have to pick and choose my dedicated listening time.

The thing that really kills me is that my daughter and her husband will be moving into _my_ cabin in two weeks for six months while their new home is being built. This is going to limit good listening time to just about zero.

I have racked my brain about where to put the system in my house. There just isn't any place where it will fit within the space and the decor (WAF). 
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