Bargain interconnects to tame treble & boost bass?

Jpbach,

I'm curious ..why do you feel the need to replace the ICs right now? You may find your ICs are just fine with any Cd player or DAC.

Tvad's suggestion for the Audio Control C-101 Equalizer is good if you can get it for anything like $30. Don't forget that you will need to add a calibration microphone to fully utilize the C-101. I'm not sure what kind of mic is needed, but I have used an Audio Control "Richter Scale" (a low frequency range 1/3 octave equalizer), and its mic was unique.

Audio control equipment is well designed, and constructed. My Richter Scale served well for more than a decade, and, for that matter, still works. With an old unit like this with sliders (linear pots) you may expect that some of the sliders are noisy. This is usually correctable by a dose of contact cleaner from Radio Shack.

Using an equalizer is not as easy as you might suspect. You can go crazy pushing the sliders up and down! The Behringer DEQ2496 which I suggested will cost about $350 including microphone, but it is a far more capable instrument than the C-100, and one feature is an automatic equalization process that will keep you out of deep trouble. The DEQ2496 has balanced inputs and outputs, and therefore to use it with unbalanced interconnects which you may have (which is perfectly OK) you would need four XLR to RCA adapter plugs, or better yet, buy new interconnects with XLR on one end and RCA on the other, and wired unbalanced.

Others have pointed to deficiencies of your equipment and if they are right the equalizer will be counteracting these deficiencies. However, even if you replaced all the equipment your room's acoustic deficiencies would remain, and an equalizer will remain useful to correct these.

Jpbach,

I agree with what the others have said in that you need to be looking at upgrading your source. I would also go one step further and look for one that has been modded with upgraded caps, resistors, etc.

Without doubt, I think the Paul Speltz anti-cables and anti-ics will do the most for your system as they likely would for many systems far more expensive than your own. A fabulous speaker cable at $60 for a 6 ft. pair and $60 for a one meter pair of single-ended ics or $100 a pair for a 1m pair of XLRs (unless the prices have changed). The Speltz cables and ics are the second best cables I've owned and in my opinion are the audio deal of this century.

The Speltz scs and and especially the ics are warm, yet quite detailed and transparent as they absolutlely minimize the time-smear so often found in inexpensive and even expensive cables. The time-smear will come come across as a hash or grainy sound in the highs and an ill-defined and sloppy bass in the bottom end.

Even with the Speltz products, you're still not out of the woods as you make no mention of AC line conditioning or filtering to minimize the AC noise coming in from the pole. Until you've properly addressed this aspect, I don't think you'll ever get rid of the overly bright and weak bass and ultimately fatiguing sound. Not to mention a few other issues like negative sibilance, the bi-directional digital noise generated by your cdp infecting your other components, etc..

With these two areas properly addressed, you may actually be thrilled with the sonic capabilities of your present system. Never satisfied but always thrilled.

-IMO