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Can't get Acoustic Zen Adagios to sound smooth

I have owned a pair of Acoustic Zen Adagios speakers for over 4 years. They can sound very good, BUT also have a HARD AND UNSMOOTH sound when playing certain CD's. I have changed electronics from separates to an integrated amp, and recently purchased a Ayre CX-7e to replace a Rega Apollo. The Ayre easily highlights the limitations of the Rega player and outperforms it.

Nevertheless, the hard and unsmooth sound seems to prevail. It can also sound like an acoustic overtone, and (I think )the music looses its bloom or musicality. The current living space is well damped with maps,and rug hangings on the walls. I also have two 6 ft tall bookcases that contain only 70% less books than my previous apartment These shelves are in the corner, perpendicular to the speaker on each side of the room.

I encountered this problem before in a different and smaller living space.

I also recently changed speakers cables from a 4 year old pair of Audio Art SC-5 to a brand new pair of Grover Huffman which seemed to be slowly breaking in and are more detailed than the AA cable. I also replaced the standard wimpy power cord of the Ayre player with Panagea's new 14SE MKII power cord designed for just components, not amps. The Panagea PC is excellent, and has dropped the noise floor allowing for more detail to emerge. I drive the Adagios with the Rogue Sphinx hybrid integrated amp (100RMS)whose PC was replaced by an Acoustic Zen Tsumani Plus power cord.

I am beginning to wonder if there is another speaker that might provide a smoother top end performance and still have the taut bass, and detailed mids of the Adagios. Will appreciate all and any advice, even new speaker recommendations. Thank you
sunnyjim
bcgator's avatar
bcgator
355 posts
 
I'm with John 100% on this - the first reply to this thread nailed it. You already know the cause of the issue. You said it yourself..."from certain CDs". This isn't about new tubes, new amps, or new cables with lapis lazuli-filled coating. If you're on a wild goose chase, changing out components and cables, just to try and make listenable a CD that is poorly recorded, I've got bad news for you...that wild goose chase ain't ever going to end. It's a shame, but there are a lot of horribly mastered CDs out there, and if you build a system simply to cater to those, that same system may not make you all that happy when you actually use it to play something that was recorded well. You're welcome to empty your bank account on new stuff, but there seems to be too much encouragement to go changing equipment when the problem likely comes from "certain CDs". I'd love to know the titles of those discs you're hating...some of us may hate the same discs for the same exact reasons as you.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
There's a good chance its the recordings like everyone else is saying. I would also try it with the stock cord. Just put it back in and leave it for a few weeks. Don't be too quick to judge it.
nekoaudio's avatar
nekoaudio
489 posts
 
I'm going to agree with the others who have already posted and initially guess it is poor quality audio on the CDs themselves. The Adagio's measure extremely well with low distortion so it is very hard to imagine it is the speakers introducing something undesirable. Switching to the Ayre also supports this theory, as its zero-feedback design would result in less distortion during music clipping.

If you really want to be able to listen to these CDs without hurting your ears, then grab a different DAC or tube buffer that will attenuate the high-frequencies and only use that during playback of those CDs.
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jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
I agree with many of the above replies. "On certain CD's" says to me that you have some poor recordings, we all do. Some CD's will sound bad no matter what you do.
Have you heard these "bad CD's" sound good on other speakers?
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