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System Components are Warm but Synergy is Bright?

Hi everyone,

PLEASE HELP!!! I'm in real need of some advice. I'm going nuts trying to figure this one out!!!

My system components are a Cary 303 second generation player, Plinius 8200 Mk 1 integrated and Soliloquy 6.2 Speakers. The speaker cables are Acoustic Zen Satori and the interconnect is a Straighwire Chorus (ie. weakest link.) Power cords are Shunyata Diamondbacks and power conditioner is a Monster HTS 5100. Each component is characterized as being on the warm side. In fact the Cary replaced a Rega Planet 2000 in the above system and everything was indeed warm. I liked this!

In an effort to retrieve a bit more detail and maintain warmth I went with the Cary CD player. But now the sound is bright and fatiguing. What do you experts think? I bought the Cary used, should I have Cary take a look at it? The previous owner used the unit in a tube system and it sounded wonderful, is there anything that needs to be switched internally in the player now that it is working with Solid State componenets? Can the use of a warm interconnect like the Cardas Cross really make a night and day difference in this instance?

This situation has really got me confused. I thank you and appreciate all of your responses and input in advance.

Thanks!
mdp0430
lkdog
417 posts
 
Mdp0430-

Interesting. I had a Cary 308. Nice extension and detail, but could be slightly bright and fatiguing on some recordings.
I have a Musical Fidelity A 300 integrated which some feel is tubelike for a solid state. Used silver IC's that are known to be tranparent,neutral and not harsh (RS Audio).
I have ACI Sapphire monitors which also are known to be neutral, or very slightly on the warm side of natural.

I guess what I am saying is that you may be experiencing an inherent issue with digital which is some glare/brightness/grain-even with good digital.

I then moved onto vinyl. Totally smooth and great detail and extension on good recordings. But I am not one of those guys who claims vinyl is the holy grail. It has lots of flaws if we are honest.

I stumbled onto the Tube Research Labs (TRL) SOny 595 modded sacd/cd unit. This provides the level of extreme detail I want without any harshness. Very analog like.

I guess you can try cables as tone controls, but I am not crazy about that. You might also try a rug on your floor.
Finally, you may look at a different source, unfortunately, for your system and room. System synergy is sort of an art it seems and what works for some does not for others as every room context and system is different.

Good luck.
audio_buff
38 posts
 
If you live in IL, WISC, IN, I'll drop by and get to the bottom of the problem.
mdp0430 OP
60 posts
 
Audio Buff, sorry, I live in the East Coast... What's your prognosis without dropping by?

Lkdog, I'm not crazy about using cables as tone controls either.
lkdog
417 posts
 
Mdp0430

I tried that a bit with some expensive Straight Wire cables I borrowed, but I lean toward cables that stay out of the way versus adding something.
Good luck in finding that right mix of components.
audio_buff
38 posts
 
I'd have to hear what your definition of bright is? And I agree cables as tone controls is never a good idea.
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