2. amps-preamps
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Sloppy, muted bass response on Hegel h190

 Hi, I have a Hegel h190 integrated, a pair of Kef  104/2's from 1985 that have been rebuilt but I don't know whem, the speakers have new donuts and new silver Kef tweeter.  I mostly use the sonus connect.   Also I have a 15-year-old Sony sacd disc player. I'm getting low, sloppy bass when I play either cd or wifi.  This is the second amp.  The first one exhibited same issue.  Same amps.  New.

I only have one set of speakers.  I am thinking perhaps a capacitor in Kefs?  This amp should have solid punchy bass, but it is not there.  Speaker cables are blue jean 10 ga banana plugs.  IC are blue jean also.  I am at a loss. I heard the demo Hegel played on these components and it was fabulous.

any thoughts?  I hate to sell everything and start over, but I am at that point.
thank you
crossfree
teo_audio
2,197 posts
 
cut the problem in half.

Try another amplifier. ANY amplifier, surround sound receiver, 1978 Sony 30 watt integrated, anything at all....it does not matter.

The dividing line in the halves.... is the speaker/cable pairing vs the source/cable/amp pairing.

The perceived result will tell you which half of the equation contains the problem.

10g speaker cable is usually a bad fit anywhere, btw....
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donvito
400 posts
 
Most likely it’s those 35 year old KEF’s. Like anything else speakers don’t last forever!
cytocycle
1,043 posts
 
The Sonos Dacs are not very good, you won't get outstanding results out of it.  Get a Bluesound or Auralic Aeries.   
Have you tried re-positioning your speakers? pull them away from the wall more
everest_audio
285 posts
 
The traits you're hearing are definitely not those of the Hegel H190. The bass and grip on the H190 is fantastic. Something else is definitely not right. I'm leaning towards the KEF, but there could be other issues at play. 

d2girls, your attempts at Hegel bashing on multiple threads are getting very old. Your comments have nothing to do with the original post.
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