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I have NOVA V's and I am not happy

I have a Mark Levinson 585 and a pair of Sonus Faber Olympica Nova V's and although I admittedly have some room acoustic issues that I am working on I am not happy with the sound. 

I listen to music LOUD. This Pairing thru a pair of Kimber Cable 8TC's gets bright in what I think is the 2 to 4 khz range and the sonus faber nova's seem to mute the lower end of female vocals, artist like Macy Gray or Tina Turner dont seem to have the same drive in the lower octaves. At the same time the upper end of vocals like Sheryl Crow can get too bright and cause fatigue (I am assuming this is in the 2 to 4khz range) I have tried every speaker placement you can think of, toe in, toe out. distance from front wall and I am adding acoustic treatments as fast as they can be shipped. 

Here is my question, I had Mark Levinson 436 Mono Blocks in the past connected to a pair of B&W Nautilus 802's thru a pair of MIT Shotgun bi-wire speaker cables and I never noticed that system to be bright. Granted that system was in a different room in a different house. Everyone is telling me that B&W is a brighter sounding  speaker by far over Sonus Faber. If I decide after all my room treatments that I am not a fan of the Sonus Faber sound where should I turn for my replacement speaker? Or is it Mark Levinson's Fault? I want Rich Lush Loud Musical sound. I like a decent sound stage, I also really love it when when you hear decay from the instruments. I don't really care if that's what is neutral or not that's what I like :) 

Where did I go wrong and what can I do to fix it?

Thanks Lee

Ag insider logo xs@2xrlross3
yyzsantabarbara
4,865 posts
 

@rlross3 If you want to bring out the big guns to tackle this problem. I recommend a DSP genius, Mitch Barnett. That is if you are a ROON or JRiver user.

Accurate Sound Reproduction Using DSP , Barnett, Mitch - Amazon.com

His company is Accurate Sound Home - Accurate Sound

You will have to measure your room with a decent mic ($100) and the free REW software. He will give easy instructions on how to do this. The dude is a genius on this stuff and can make your gear work. 

I used his remote services for my small room. However, after a lot of testing with treatments and moving furniture, I was able to get great sound without the DSP. Not everyone has the ability to add treatments and move furniture, so the DSP is a great safety net.

There are other ways to do this type of DSP (such as in audio hardware) but nothing as powerful as what Mitch does his very expensive DSP computer software (I forgot which 2 he uses).

 

 

bubba12's avatar
bubba12
440 posts
 

I have two systems. The living room system cannot sound as good as my loft NO MATTER WHAT I do. The gear is far more expensive in the living room.  The room is your answer. I have accepted defeat in my case. 

dekay's avatar
dekay
5,593 posts
 

Having owned the original version of Kimber 4TC I would try different speaker cables for a start as they did not work in my old setup (dry/tight mid-bass which made the upper registers sound bright - balance wise).

 

DeKay

blackbag20
465 posts
 

@gs5556  Great suggestion ...

stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,402 posts
 

If you are using separates, you might consider getting a Legacy Wavelet preamp/processor.  Legacy can tune the Wavelet to your speakers and you can tune the room to the speakers with the built in software.  It might be cheaper than buying another amp or speakers.  You an also try Canare 4S11 speaker cable at less than $2.00 a foot.  They are way better than the Kimber 8TC, not bright sounding, quite neutral.  It’s a cheap way to see if it’s your speaker cables.  

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