Alternative to AZ Matrix

The Acoustic Matrix I tired was very natural on the low end and throughout the spectrum

I auditioned SIlver Audio Hyacynth and it was very bright/bleached in my system, I loved it's revealing nature, but it put an etchy top end on everything. Then again my pre-amp at the time was brighter than what I have now.

cables are very system dependent

also don't overtigheten cable lugs, that can impede on the sound end (brighter or bassier)

swap out the cables, and also try some cable contact lubricator, can't remember the brand but I have good results with it (will check at home - ambrosia audio sold me this (see their website))

thanks

tom

tom

Get rid of the cardas speaker cable, and fast !

Thanks everyone--there's some great tweaks I need to try. As for the Cardas Neutral Ref speaker wire, Can you explain a bit?

I had a similar situation when I initially plugged the Matrix Refs into my system. Try the Matrix Refs in the pre to amp connection instead of from the CDP to pre--that may help a lot. If sound is still overly fat you should try a pair of Silver Refs that may be more appropriate for your system(I'm pretty sure AZ offers a 30-day money-back guarantee). I use Silver Refs from CDP to pre and Matrix Refs from pre to amp, which produces the best combination of natural upper-frequency detail, midrange fullness, and bass control in my system. Since we had similar experiences with the Matrix Refs this may end up being a nice combination in your system too(mixing AZ and Silver Audio cables may be causing problems too). Best of luck.

Tim

Sorry I was in a rush withthe last post. I find the Cardas Cables to be overly warm and slow, on friend explained it well when he said it was like cement in a garden hose. You speakers and Passive pre are quite neutral and the AZ ic certainly is pretty good but I feel like you are suffering from a bad combination between a tubby cd player with a slightly tubby amp with very tubby speaker cable. If I were to keep all the components and only change the wire than I would go with something very fast and neutral like 47 labs OTA cable kit and use iit throughout. It is $600 and makes three pairs of ic's and plenty of speaker cable, it is a little onorthodox in design but once you get past that it is sensational. After that I would keep an eye out for a good cd player, there aren't a lot of great options right now but it would be worth auditioning some in your system to get an idea of how much the Tjoeb is causing some of your problems.

Have Fun