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B&W speakers sounding very harsh?

Hey guys, brand new here.

So I recently got a new sound system for my game room. Keep in mind as I'm explaining everything that I'm brand new to the world of sound systems and how they work.

Here's what I'm using: I have a Marantz SR7015, a pair of B&W 702 S2's that are being powered from a Rotel amp (can't remember the model) , 700 series center channel, 600 series rears (the anniversary edition) and the 1000w sub. I also have 4 overhead speakers that are no B&W's.

The system sounds amazing! .....except for one thing. The highs sound very harsh on certain songs. It's almost like I hear a crackling if that makes sense but even putting my ears up to the speakers I can't pinpoint it. A good example is T.N.T. by AC/DC, when I listen to this song it's almost like I can hear a buzzing or crackling coming from somewhere (watch me explooooooooooode!) and the highs of the song sound very grating. Again, I'm having difficulty pinpointing what it could be and I listen to some songs and they sound just fine.

Keep a few things in mind. A. The sound system is relatively new and the sound system has probably 60 total hours of play time. I've read that these systems do require break in time. I also started from scratch learning how to configure everything (it took me 2 days before I figured out how to get sound of the speakers turned on) so it's possible I may have the tweeters turned up too high.

Based on the limited info I was able to give, does anyone have any advice? TY!
vgundam21
erik_squires
16,900 posts
 
Is this sound volume dependent? 

If not, it's your DAC.  Try turning off any over/upsampling and see if you can avoid it.

With a previous DAC I had a handful of tracks I purchased sound like this.  Had to do with the songs hitting the absolute limits of the DAC output and causing distortion.

Another way to tell is to try listening with headphones.

Having said that, yes, I strongly encourage you to have great room treatments. :)
oldhvymec
5,101 posts
 
Is there any way to use a different source and see if it’s just a funky recording.

Second give it 200 hours. Sibilance can settle and just go AWAY after break in.. Planar tweeters can drive you nuts.. And out of the blue they just quit screwing up.. 200 hour mark for me a few times..

E is right, room treatment never hurts..

Regards
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,418 posts
 
First step is to use only the front speakers and sit in your listening position. You can't troubleshoot with every speaker and component playing. 
The B&W 702s will need some run-in time, you should ask the dealer how many hours. Probably a minimum 200 hours.
 It's also possible Rotel and B&W are not a good match. Both can reproduce a lot of high-end detail.


sappphire3690
6 posts
 
I just upgraded my speakers to B&W 705s and I was having the same problem. Movies were great but music was intolerable. I realized I can’t listen to music with all 7 seven channels playing. It’s just too much high frequency in the room. Once I switched to 2 channel, everything changed. It is like I am hearing the songs for the first. One thing I did notice is my CDs sounds a thousand times better than any song I stream. Also, tow-in may not work. It definitely didn’t work for me. Good luck
james633
1,052 posts
 
I owned the 702s in college a looong time ago lol. 
They have a nasty upper midrange peak. They worm my ears out quick. On the perfect music it was kind of magical with it’s upper mid range peak but most of the time I just wore me out. Look for stereophile’s measurements of similar B&Ws and the 5k peak is almost always there.  
Personally I would just change front speakers before chasing electronics. 
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