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Confused and need help

After finding out that my 1.7 maggies were going faulty and losing their sparkle i went on the hunt for new gear.
I took my gear (2x parasound A21 and my ARC LS17se preamp ) and went shopping. 
I had heard great comments about the 30.2 harbeths so i hooked up my gear and listened for a few hours, i was not impressed, something was missing, it was flat, and boring. 
I connected up the new Ayre integrated amp and wow, the 30.2 sounded so full, warm, accurate.
Surely my electronics are not that poor quality?  
motorsportmatt1
audition__audio
1,500 posts
 
I am not sure I would describe warm and full speakers as being accurate. Ayre is very good equipment but it is solid state and as such it may be a bit sterile/dry when compared with the best tube gear. The nice thing about tubes is that tube components tend to sound much better than S.S. at lower listening levels. 
jtcf's avatar
jtcf
1,620 posts
 
It was just a bad match IMO.Warm amp paired with warm speakers = lifeless presentation.
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,318 posts
 
If you can possibly borrow an amp, Ayre or otherwise, by all means try that out on your Maggies before making any major decisions.
Post removed 
david_ten
5,480 posts
 
There isn’t anything to "blame."

Consider your Parasound A21 + ARC LS17SE + 1.7s as a whole or as a unified unit.

This threesome isn’t working for you [Emphasis You, the OP].

The Parasound A21 + ARC LS17SE + Harbeth 30.2 threesome didn’t work either.

The Ayre (integrated) + Harbeth 30.2 twosome worked.

Insight: something new and different from what you currently have "worked" for you.

Bring the Ayre and Harbeth home and compare it to the Ayre + 1.7 to figure it out. You may be at a point where something new and different is what you [now] prefer.
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