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The high range on my speakers are harsh...

I have noticed since I set up my system that the high range is rather tinny and crackles at times. I have tried tuning the treble and bass on my amplifier, but the problem still persists.

I have a Rotel RA-972 set up to two Paradigm v6 Mini Monitors. The quality of this problem differs on the inputs that I am using at any given time. Playing music from my laptop through a RCA to stereo input is the worst, however the audio quality when watching movies or television (connection RCA to RCA) is problematic as well. All my speakers are connected by 16 gauge speaker wire with 24k banana plugs.

If anyone has any ideas how I can optimize my system, it would be much appreciated.
kfwulf
Post removed 
kfwulf OP
1 posts
 
I would like to thank you all for the responses.

To clear up some questions:
- The high end problems were coming from both speakers.
- The crackling was sporadic, not consistent.
- I have not undergone any kind of room treatment.

Hifitime - Thank you for such a detailed post. Your research points were very informative and helpful. I brought my amp to my friend's place and attached it to his two Kenwood KLH AV 55 tower speakers. Sounded fine. Couldn't make it crackle. Then I reconnected everything and tried to make the tinny/crackly sound happen on my set up and found that that was difficult to do as well. I tried pandora, iTunes, and streaming from Hulu and Youtube, but sound was fine. However, on further analysis, I found that on certain site where I stream television programs or movies, etc. the audio quality is poorly uploaded as with the video quality at times. And some of my music that is much older has a lower quality as well. I think I have concluded that this is not a hardware issue, but a data issue. What do you all think?
sebrof's avatar
sebrof
835 posts
 
10-29-12: Kfwulf
I would like to thank you all for the responses.

To clear up some questions:
-
-
- I have not undergone any kind of room treatment.

If someone were to put new tires on their Cadillac but not fill them with air I would expect the ride to be a bit "harsh" as well.
Unless you have a very big room?
kotta's avatar
kotta
649 posts
 
How do things sound w/a good source. Phono or cd? You may want to change out your 16ga. spk. cables. (What are you using?) Hifi Cables UK sells the excellent QED 79 strand spk. cable. Warm sounding cable and extremely affordable. Not all metal domes are harsh/bright. It sounds like you have a source issue that needs to be addressed first and foremost. Your Rotel/Paradigm are really good pieces but they may not make the best pairing. Perhaps a Marantz or NAD int. amp may sound better w/your spks. Good Luck!
soix
9,456 posts
 
I'd bring the speakers to your friend's house too and see if the problem exists. If it doesn't you may be having a speaker cable or dirty connection problem somewhere in the chain. The fact that you re-connected your amp to your speakers and the problem decreased seems to point to some corrosion/dirt in the connnection. Maybe try some connection cleaner and see if that helps?
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