Whats wrong?


Can anyone tell me whats wrong with my system? I play all my music from my computer which has an Audigy sound card, and then there is a Yamaha EQ-70 10 band equalizer, and a Parasound HCA-750 power amp driving Magnepan MMGs. I have some cheap Acoustic Research interconnects, and 18 gauge speaker wire which is also Acoustic Research. I'm just not happy with the sound, the performance is not as magical as I thought it would be with upgrading to MMGs from Bose 201s. Can anyone tell me what to do?
lawbadman
Everything is wrong!
1-scrap the equalizer
2-get at least mediocre cables/interconnects. 12-14 gague for the speaker cable.
3-anything will sound better than the bose; however, the maggies are quite hard to make sound great. They have a very narrow sweet spot compared to the bose and really have no bottom end. You will have to be very careful where you place them to get good imaging and decent bass.
4-Get a pre-amp. It is ok to use the computer as a source, but a pre-amp and a nice (yet inexpensive) dvd player will make a world of difference. Computer gear simply is not made to audiophile quality. It is much better for compressed music like mp3s.
5-Finally, your amp is ok. You just may need to supplement the system with a sub if you aren't getting any bass.
Well I applaud your upgrade from Bose to Maggies!!!!!!!!!
That move in itself indates there is hope for you yet! ;-)

Anway, no matter what anyone says, EQs are evil in 2 channel music systems. A music system should not need an EQ to adjust sound quality. Scrap it!

Also, I would suggest the following:

1 - Get a dedicated CD player. Computers just do not compete with them. Plus you have all the fan noise associated with a computer (unless you have silent fans).

2 - Get a more powerful higher current amp/integrated amp. More power will drive those Maggies better. Lots of options out there, it all depends on your budget.

3 - Upgrade you cables.

I would indicate a budget, and I can give you more detailed advice.

KF
Thanks for the replies.

I have two ideas for upgrading:
1. use the digital out from my computer to a DAC
2. buy a dvd/cd player
In both cases I would use a tube preamp, and stick with the parasound for now. I already have a subwoofer so bass is not a problem, and I WILL get rid of the EQ. Which idea should I go with?
If you sort your system out (not sure your choice of source will ever sound that great) your speaker upgrade will be stunning. 86 the EQ and get a decent preamp for starters.
If you sort your system out (not sure your choice of source will ever sound that great) your speaker upgrade will be stunning. 86 the EQ and get a decent preamp for starters.