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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
n80 OP
2,133 posts
 
Update: Against advice I bought a cheap-o phono pre-amp so I could run my turntable which is old and nothing great with thin and built-in RCA cables. I figured the cheap pre-amp would about match the TT.

It did not. It was pathetic. Low volume compared to CD, etc. Thin bass.

Running the same TT through my old 1980 receiver/tuner and bookshelf speakers sounded better than running it through my high end system with this cheap pre-amp.

Running the TT through the Onkyo home theater system and then into my high end system sounded much better than this pre-amp.

I sent it back.

I'll order one of the one's recommended in this thread. Still not high end by any means but certainly in line with the TT I hope. In truth, it sounds pretty good running it through the Onkyo but I'm not interested in having the bulk and complexity of the Onkyo in my system.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,928 posts
 
Here's a tip- if the bass of the turntable isn't as good as the digital, there's something wrong. IME its usually better, since vinyl usually isn't as compressed as CDs, since there's no expectation that the LP will be played in a car.
n80 OP
2,133 posts
 
There is something wrong. It is the junky phono pre-amp. Remember, the TT sounded fine when I ran it through the Onkyo home theater unit and when I ran the turn table through my 40 year old reciever.

Better pre-amp is on the way.
mcreyn
293 posts
 
Glad you are enjoying it.  I would pass on the B&W sub.  That line never sounded very good to me, muddy and boomy.  If you get the urge to purchase a sub, I would look long and hard at Rythmik.  
n80 OP
2,133 posts
 
I am going to pass on it. I made spikes for my speakers, the stands were already there, and I feel like I’ve got them positioned well and to my untrained ear this system now sounds incredible. Tonight I played newly purchased remastered CD versions of Dark Side of the Moon and Steely Dan’s Aja and I’m just blown away. I feel like I would be happy listening to music I didn’t like on this system as long as it was recorded and produced well.

Having said that, the B&W sub would probably sound better than any sub I’ve ever listened to. But definitely do not feel the need for it now.

Side story: If you remember I got the system I have out of my brother-in-law’s basement. He got it all from a wealthy cousin who pretty much gave away everything in his house before moving into a penthouse. When my brother-in-law took this system home he thought it was just a typical audio system on steroids and then found he did not know how to hook it all up and didn’t have anywhere to put it. That’s why he gave it to me. Well, there are more B&W speakers in his basement (which is reminiscent of the Temple of Doom. If I can find the other B&W wall speaker I think that I could put those together with the sub and the Onkyo home theater unit and get a pretty nifty system that he could use and have space for. (The Rotel component system got carried away by his son-in-law). He’ll be happy with it as long as it is loud when you turn it up. ;-)
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