2. amps-preamps
  3. 1033866049

Upgrade suggestions needed

just moved up from my old yamaha m-80 and i can't believe
what i've been missing. now i want more , and i could really use some help.
my current system is a rotel 991 cdp, krell
krc-3 pre, rotel 1080 amp and my old a/d/s L1590 speakers.
ic cables are custom house " barracuda " (xlr) and i'm using braided cat-5 cable for the speakers (bi-wired). i also have an old b&o 3300 turntable which i need a pre for, or maybe i should just replace it.
right now, things sound best at higher levels, but lacks warmth , some cd's are fine, others are too harsh,( making the speakers way too bright) and some seem almost perfect.
should i try a differant cdp,an upsampler or try a new amp . was thinking of a c-j mv-55 and a rega planet or a musical fidelity a3-24 , but would appreciate any advice. thanks for your help.
i listen to all music, but prefer blues,ie. robert cray, susan tedeschi etc. and the room is kinda large, 22 x 28 x 11. thanks again
josdel2
dogpile
118 posts
 
I also agree with Judit and John's recommendation. Do the speakers, if not the speakers perhaps a tubed preamp...it should produce some warmth in the highs and mids. Just an opinion. Have fun.
josdel2 OP
11 posts
 
i had a feeling that might be the answer, but was hoping otherwise. new electronics seem more fun.
does anyone know of a good place to demo. i live south of boston,can't find anyplace that doesn't push b&w.
cdc
1,797 posts
 
Goodwin's High End sells Karma, Martin Logan, Audio Physics, Dunlavy. They are outside of Boston. Good store, they treated me real well.
nighthawk
259 posts
 
I have to disagree with the other posters on the speakers. I think the Rotel/Krell combo is causing the harshness you are hearing. I am very familiar with the ADS sound since I have a pair of L1290s I bought in 1984. As you are probably aware, they have the same midrange and tweeter that the L1590s have and, if anything, are on the warm side of neutral. I no longer use them in my main system, having upgraded to Soliloquy 6.5s last December, but I used them for 17 years, finding it very hard to find something significantly better. The L1290 and L1590 are still very competitive with modern speakers. In my own search, I couldn't find anything under $4K that would beat them. The Vienna Beethovens sound very similar to the L1290s.

You said they sound best at higher levels which sounds strange to me. I found the L1290s to sound more realistic at low levels than most other speakers. This makes me think you have a component (or cable) that is compressing dynamics.

See if you can borrow a top-flight SS amp (Rowland, Pass, Levinson) and some good cables (Cardas Neutral Ref. or Kimber Select) before you give up on the ADS's.

Another thing, I'm pretty sure your speakers are not meant to be bi-wired. The two sets of binding post are meant to be used with an active crossover. If you try to feed full-range power to the tweeter I think you'll damage it. Maybe this is the cause of your problems.
ultraviolet
105 posts
 
I live in Boston too. Try Tweeter's Etc. They're all over the place here, but don't listen to anything in the store except for the Viennas and the Rels. Oh yeah, and don't expect anyone in the store to know anything at all--especially about the lines they carry. Still, go for a listen. I am a very big fan the Vienna/Rel combo.
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