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Why does my system now have shrill top end.

The equipment in my system (listed below) has not changed but I now find on both CD and Vinyl a high end shrillness to the sound (treble is very harsh) that has become very annoying, especially at high volume levels. I have no idea why this happened all of a sudden.

Endevour E-3
Pass 30.8
Pass XP 20
Esoteric K01x
Linn LP12 (Ortofon Black cartridge)
Linn Linto Phono Preamp
PS Audio P5 (Amp plugged in directly to wall)
JL Audio F112 v2 sub
OCOS Speaker cable (15 feet)
Pass XLR interconnect (Preamp to Amp)
Harmonic Technology Cable Magic Link (not current version). RCA termination

Any ideas?
proacman
almarg's avatar
almarg
9,670 posts
 
Is the P5 set to output a pure sine wave, or is it set to one of the MultiWave choices? If the latter, which as I understand it flatten the peaks of the P5’s output waveform (in other words, the MultiWave modes intentionally distort the AC in certain ways), I would suggest that you see what happens with the pure sine wave mode.

Also, it would be interesting to know what the P5’s status screen shows for input and output voltages, and input and output distortion.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al

proacman OP
35 posts
 
Tried both multiwave and sine wave. No difference in bass (slight difference in sound stage). Output waveform is clean with low THD (versus input which is noisy).
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Next up, the absolute polarity thing. Or the Cable Directionality thing. Or the fuse directionality thing. Otherwise it looks like we’re back to them old Morphic fields back home. Waves of...information!

"When you control the mail you control...INFORMATION." - Newman

There are no standards for absolute polarity. - audiophile axiom


kennythekey
593 posts
 
When you plugged your amp into the P5, did it do anything for the harshness?
Kenny
pbnaudio's avatar
pbnaudio
1,617 posts
 
Do you leave your front end equipment on all the time or turn it off when not in use?  Warmup could be in play.  Is this for both LP and Digital playback?  

Second on Almargs comment about the OCOS Speaker Cable - 15 feet is a long cable - try a set of Canare 4S11 they are pretty inexpensive and a great value.

Best of Luck

Peter
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