How to Solve High-Frequency Suckout in Room?

@theaudiomaniac , I swapped the cables at the amp end (only) and the problem changes from the right side being too soft in the upper mids and into the treble, to the left side being too soft in these frequencies. This leads me to believe it’s not the room.

That said I am planning to completely rotate my system in the room as a test (setting up my system against the side wall.

Update: I have also questioned if the source material is causing the issue since the problem is not apparent on all music, mildly apparent in some music, and blatantly obvious in other tracks. As above, vocals sound centered but the upper end of vocals seem more fleshed out on whichever speaker is NOT being driven by the amp’s right channel.

So it's not the room, it's somewhere in your system.  Further swapping and substitution of cables/channels will reveal where it is.  Proceed by using logic and focus on one component at a time.

Yes, for tonight I plan to:

1) Try my old Clarus Crimson Biwire cables which I’ve not sold yet. More out of curiosity as they are less resolving than the Valhalla 2’s (but very good still), so I may or may not hear the issue with these cables

2) Resurrect my old Arcam CD player to see if the problem goes away. If it does go away the problem must be the DAC module in my amp. That said it was a $700 CD player that I bought 25 years ago for $500 so again it’s possible the issue may be present but not audible, comparing against a $5,000 DAC module.

3) Resurrect my old Arcam A85 integrated amp and see if the problem is detectable with it. Again, a lower end amp so I may not be able to hear the issue if it exists. Turns out it accepts spades after all (I had thought it needed bananas).

So far, with 1-3 above, if I AM able to detect the issues still with these tests, it would suggest that either my room or hearing ARE in fact to blame. If I can’t hear the issue it doesn’t necessarily mean anything as it may be that this low end gear “hides” the issue by not being as resolving.

4) I will try the voltage comparison between left and right, when playing a 1KHz test tone, this time with my speakers connected. Will also try at 5kHz where the voltage was the most varied (7mV). Not expecting to see any difference playing at a reasonable volume, since I expect the difference to be even smaller at the lower volume of this test, vs the test I did last night at a higher volume. But maybe adding the speaker load will change things.

5) I will try the 1kHz and 5kHz test tones using a frequency analyzer app on my phone, 1m away from the speaker and 1M from the ground, one speaker at a time.

6) Might save this for another night but I will completely reconfigure my system and living room to be in a different orientation in the room.

If after all of this I’m left at square 1, I will either:

1) See if my local dealer will lend me a high end integrated for a day (probably would be Moon or McIntosh), even though I didn’t buy my amp here, or

2) Bring my amp to my local dealer (who again I didn’t purchase the amp from), or

3) Bring my amp to the dealer I bought it from, which is in a different city, to listen to other high end speakers to see if the issue manifests. I actually prefer the first two options as this particular dealer WAY overdampens their rooms to the point it sounds like an anechoic chamber. I sense all sorts of frequency removal happening whenever I test speakers there.

No need to apologize @theaudiomaniac; just glad for some help.

So I only got to #2 on my list of tests tonight (testing with my 25 year old Arcam CD player as the input instead of the internal DAC) but I may have made a breakthrough of sorts.

First thing is it was surprisingly nostalgic hearing the sound I used to hear when I played music - it sounded terrible, but there was a charm to it. Still enjoyed the sound it made. It doesn’t even sound like you are listening to the same version of the music when playing the same tracks streamed to the Gryphon DAC.

Second thing totally confused me momentarily. I immediately heard the missing frequencies - but on the left side instead of the right! After a very brief moment of confusion as to how this could be, I realized I had mixed up the interconnect inputs to the amp between left and right. I then realized, wait....it is the source material causing the issue! It’s the only explanation as to why the problem would exist on the CD player as well, and that the problem would follow whatever the right channel output of the CD player was plugged into. At this point I’m 95% confident that all of my obsessing over this issue was due to a small number of tracks with the slightest flaws in the recorded stereo image of the vocals, combined with the only aspect of my new speakers which I’m not a fan of: a laser-etched sweet spot, regardless of toe-in and setup. My theory is that these particular speakers are more prone than most others I’ve tried to exposing any flaws in recorded stereo images, in the upper vocal range. On most music is not an issue. It’s just a handful of tracks really where I notice it.

In comparison one of the speakers I had auditioned was the Magico A5’s. These speakers in comparison have a ridiculously large sweet spot. In fact it’s almost like there isn’t a sweet spot with those speakers as position doesn’t matter to a large extent. I doubt I’d have noticed such an issue with those speakers. Having said that, I didn’t take to them and I really do like the sound of my speakers with my system, so I think I can live with this "flaw" for the few tracks that have issues with the stereo image.

The one slightly troubling thing still: When I hear this issue, it’s always the same; missing upper mid frequencies on the right.

For reference, three example tracks where I hear the issue are Keep the Car Running by Arcade Fire (the remainder of the songs on that album sound okay), and Cite Soleil and John the Baptiste by The Afghan Whigs (these two tracks expose the issue to the highest degree).

I’ve lost my CD with those Afghan Whigs tracks so I’m going to purchase it again, and put this issue to rest once and for all. I will confirm that even these tracks when played with the CD player, with the interconnects swapped between left and right, produce the issue on the left side and not the right. If that’s the case I’ll be 100% sure my new speakers are just sensitive to stereo image issues in source material.

Yes, I tend to be on the neurotic side of the audiophile spectrum... I’ve completed my upgrades for now so I should be able to settle down and get back to just relaxing and enjoying the music without thinking too hard!