2. cables
  3. 153266-111696

My stereo receiver is a little too bright. Can a cable help me out?

I just had my vintage Pioneer SX-1050 refurbished.  I had a severe case of sticker shock when presented with the bill - oops!!  Which unfortunately pretty much forces me to use it. 

I will say It is sounding very powerful which is no big surprise because there is a lot of horsepower under the hood.  But the audio impression is that it’s also a little too bright.  The only way I know to tame brightness is with the right interconnects.  But I’m not experienced in that area.  Recommendations would be most welcome.


It’s probably important to know how I am using  the Pioneer SX-1050.  It is responsible for all audio in my TV system.  My choice of music is almost exclusively opera and classical.  

 I send the HDMI signal from my four sources ( TV-DVR, OPPO DVD, ROKU streamer and Pioneer Elite Laser Disc Player ) to my AVR, an ARCAM SR-250, and I send the respective analog audio signals to the Pioneer.  I am into opera and classical music and I didn’t think my ARCAM AVR sounded as good as I wanted it to, even though it’s ideally  suited to my needs, a two-channel product touted for its exceptional audio.  The audio is good but definitely not great.  Prior to deciding to refurbish it I had paired the Pioneer with a Musical Fidelity A3cr Preamp, using the Pioneer just as an amplifier, and I was getting very good audio that way.  But one of the goals of the refurbishment project was to feature the Pioneer and eliminate the musical influence of the Musical Fidelity preamp.   And now, after spending so much,  I wanted to hear how my now very expensive Pioneer sounded, so I pulled the Musical Fidelity Pre and attached my sources directly to the Pioneer.  Currently all the interconnects are Blue Jeans Cable.  Obviously I can’t spend huge amounts replacing cables for all four sources, so the DVD is priority.
echolane
audiozenology
362 posts
 
Well it has happened. I have to completely agree with Millercarbon on this one, and jnorris, and jnovak, stereo5, etc.  It's a sunk cost. Sell it to someone who doesn't care about audio quality, get as much money as you can, then move on.


10lbs of awful and 50lbs of awful are still "awful". I am not sure why people are suddenly enamoured with 70's / early 80's era receivers. They were not that good then, and no matter how many parts you upgrade, you are not going to fix fundamental flaws. New cables would just be painting the proverbial pig, and throwing good money after bad.

Agree with jnovak, the MRX710 will sound better, heck the MRX300 probably will.

tyray
794 posts
 
@jnovak,

Thanks for the suggestion on the Anthem MRX 710 receiver. I am looking at older Anthem gear and was considering the Anthem Integrated 2 that uses (2) 6922 tubes and had not thought of the Anthem MRX 710 receiver especially now with it's low price point, lots of tech to use if needed, connectivity and I already have a tube phono preamp that uses (2) 6922 tubes.

I guess it's time to give my old HH SCOTT 385R receiver that's been in my 'audio closet' for years to my audio tech guy. 
stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,568 posts
 
@audiozenology...………..Well, whattya know, you agree with some of us. Who would have thunk?   In all seriousness, all these so called golden wonder receivers and amps were made during the distortion wars of the 70’s. Transistors were still maturing back then and although one may have fond memories of the equipment, most sounded God aweful. The manufacturers tried to make up for the poor quality sound by putting every gadget they could fit on the face plate. The more switches and buttons, the better
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,531 posts
 
wrong to think of cables to correct problems elsewhere in the system.  Find out where your brightness is and correct that issue
lukaske
307 posts
 
stereo’s-Stereo 5  says the true. All that kind of amps.gives the same kind of sound. For me the Music Fidelity is not so a good match. Not so detailfull,and that’s important . When he cann’t good detected the sound (signal) of the source, it gives you a little bit a mess in high tones. But like stereo5 said: all those amps,he mentioned, are not so deep in mid-low and low, Thereby accentuating the clarity of the treble. Now this time, a lot of Japanese product, have still the same problem: Esoteric,Accuphase Teac,.... but they sounds very detailfull: it’s a choice what you want. For going better in low,use a tube-amplifier: usually go deeper into the layer. And use wires of cupper, 99,9% , instead of silver.
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