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Need Help With a Bright System

My system consists of two NAD C 272 monoblocks, an NAD C 162 preamp, and an NAD T 532 DVD player. The speakers are Triangle Antal XS. My problem is that the system can sound pretty edgy and bright on many recordings, particularly rock and pop albums. One very noticeable aspect of this bright sound is edgy vocals that have exaggerated sibilants (i.e. ‘S’ sounds). I'm currently using a pair of Kimber Timbre interconnects between the preamp and monos, and Acoustic Research silver series interconnects between the dvd player and the preamp. I was using a pair of Kimber PBJs between the dvd player and preamp, but found the ARs to be warmer and better on the bass. The speaker cables are a pair of Straightwire Quartets, which I believe are plain copper. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get rid of this bright sound? Obviously I wouldn't like to lose detail while doing so, but I understand that this may be a trade off. I'm willing to make a necessary upgrade, but I just want to ensure that whatever I chose to upgrade will definitely take away a lot of the brightness that I currently hear in this system. I know that using a tube amp instead of solid state would make a huge difference, but what else can be done?
jwglista
boa2's avatar
boa2
1,551 posts
 
First things first: treat the room.

Next, I have auditioned at least 30 different types of speakers, perhaps as many as 50. None were as bright as the Triangles. And that even while mated with hybrid amps. I can't imagine how edgy rock music could sound on those when running a SS amp. Sell, sell, sell. Just my opinion, of course.

Howard
jwglista OP
206 posts
 
Well I just swapped out the Paradigms for the Triangle again, and I've been listening to mostly accoustic and classical music on them. For this type of music, these speakers sound very good. But yes, rock music sounds very edgy with my system. Previously the Triangles were hooked up to a Prima Luna Prologue Two and a Marantz SA-CD11, Bi wired with Kimber 8TCs and 4TCs and Van Den Hul interconnects. The speakers sounded great on the system, even with rock music. I'm not sure that i'm quite ready to sell these speakers yet. They have a very detailed sound that is rewarding with some types of music.
jwglista OP
206 posts
 
Also, I did a quick search on Sonus Faber here, and the prices are a bit out of my range for the full range speakers they offer.
larryb
101 posts
 
I thought I had a bright system too. I bought PAD Musaeus speaker cables and an interconnect for the CD player and it helped more than any other cable I tried, but the system was still brighter than I preferred.

When I finally tried the Musaeus interconnect between the AMP and Preamp though, the difference was night and day. Now I have a deep sonorous tonal balance that sounds right all across the spectrum.

From my experience the best thing you can do to kill system brightness is to add a darker sounding cable between the pre and the amp. The two that worked wonders for me were the Pure Audio Musaeus and the Acoustic Zen Matrix II.

As always, the more transparent your system the bigger impact on sound your cables will make.
larryb
101 posts
 
I thought I had a bright system too. I bought PAD Musaeus speaker cables and an interconnect for the CD player and it helped more than any other cable I tried, but the system was still brighter than I preferred.

When I finally tried the Musaeus interconnect between the AMP and Preamp though, the difference was night and day. Now I have a deep sonorous tonal balance that sounds right all across the spectrum.

From my experience the best thing you can do to kill system brightness is to add a darker sounding cable between the pre and the amp. The two that worked wonders for me were the Pure Audio Musaeus and the Acoustic Zen Matrix II.

As always, the more transparent your system the bigger impact cables will make.
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