Lack in harmonic richness

All good feedback! As a contrarian, and tube guy, I will take a different path. What 12ax7 tubes do you use in your DAC? Perhaps tube rolling to a very harmonically rich tube like the RCA 5751 would provide you with the ambiance that you seek?

Good luck..it is a great set up, so I have to believe a few minor tweaks like cables or tubes would provide the fine tuning.

Disclaimer: I sell tubes on Audiogon - take my comments for what they may be worth.

Marty,

Quad 57 - it seems there is a counter example to every example - this Waterfall plot is about as good as they get - ever.

The idea of inserting any kind of EQ will only destroy more of the harmonic information. Such a device resolves issues with tonal coherency ..... it has NOTHING to do with retrieving the dimensionality aspects, decays and bloom in the music.

I tried this game with the Rives device. Oh yes, it resolved bass peaks but it clipped dynamics and removed details in the music that I had worked so hard to bring through. Two well-respected A'gon members both told me not to do this but the curiosity got the best of me. It might be fine in some cases, but if you are after the 3D and bloom like VERY FEW systems out there can pull off, any kind of EQ is NOT going to work. And it will cost you serious money in an additional IC and PC with such a device before you can appreciate the value of the EQ in bringing on tonal coherency. But ultimately, you need to resolve this with room treatments, speaker placements and not get caught up in the "synergy" game where you add one tonally imbalanced cable to match that of another with opposite flaws.

Chris, if you have much bass energy from the A1s, pull them out into the room another meter or so. This reduced bass peaks significantly for me. I keep the A1s near the side walls and this works mighty fine. Speaker rotation does not make much difference as the image is very good all across the listening position.

Once you get the bass more in control (coherent with the mids/trebles), do me a favor and borrow a tube line stage from a dealer. This will be a major mind-opening experience. Try any of the mid-top-tier Aesthetix, VAC, BAT, Lamm, CJ and you will hear it. Once you find one that really impresses you, you can roll tubes (as Paul wrote above) to bring on yet another level of performance over the typical stock EH and Sovtek tubes.

One other thing: Time and time again as I have played with ICs in the system, the MOST critical cable link is from line stage to amp when it comes to getting that harmonic information through. I don't care what people say about putting the "best" IC at the front of the chain. Put everything you have in an IC in that link and let me know what you hear. The Purist Dominus, Stealth Indra, Jade Hybrid are all ICs that will make a MAJOR difference here with your quest for harmonic detail.

Chris, you have some top-notch products here. Don't mess things up with band-aid solutions.

John

Chris, I have read several of your posts.

Do you have any acoustic treatment in your room?

I think you should go and audition as many different speakers as you can until you find the speakers you like. I think finding the right speakers will be the key for you and probably the only solution. You may want to consider something that is warm, involving and something you can enjoy for long listening sessions.

BTW, JMF amplifiers? What are those?

In my mind, the place to start is the speakers. Find the speakers you like first, then get decent amplification, then work your way to cables.

I have heard an Aerial Acoustics Model 20T yesterday, and I think this speaker would definitely be something you should check out. If I remember correctly from your previous posts, you listen to a lot of classical music, so I would suggest to check out these Aerial 20T. Very musical. Rich sound, makes you want to listen more and more, non-stop. If your room size(they have a very hefty bass and big sound) and budget allows, this would be the awesome speakers to have. Also, I don't think they are as finiky with placement as the panels or electrostatics.

I think the speakers is what will fix it for you.
You had this problem with Dunlavy. I can see that happenning. I have heard SC-IV several times and they sounded way too small for a speaker of that size and they sounded thin. I didn't like them in several totally different rooms and systems. SC-V may be better than SC-IV, but I would expect them to have same sonic signature. And if you feel the problem is aggravated with the Soundlabs, then most likely panel or electrostatics are not for you.

Check out some of the good dynamic speakers.
Aerial 20T, Dynaudio, Wilson, Sonus Faber, B&W 800 Series with Diamond tweeter.

I think you will find the sound you are looking for only by choosing the right speakers.

Audphile1: thx for recommendations. I'll check the room acoustics first. JMF Audio amplifiers: http://www.jmf-audio.com/

Chris