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New system too bright.Will different cables help ?

I recently sold my 10 year old NAD system and upgraded to: Myryad Z140 integrated amp, CEC 3300 CD player, Castle Richmond bookshelf speakers, DH Labs T14/BL1 cables.
I liked the Castle speakers in combination with the NAD stuff, but now the sound is overly bright, I miss musical warmth. The NAD 502 CDP (1bit) connected to the Myryad amp sounded great. After selling it I first tried the Myryad Z110 CD player (matches the Z140), which sounded extremely harsh too me, even after some burn-in time. I returned it and then got the CEC, which in comparison sounded ok.
The resolution and detail of this system is certainly much better.
... But the sweetness and musicality is gone.
My question: Will different interconnects, dedicated power cables/conditioning do the trick, or do I need bigger speakers/subwoofer, tubes, external DAC or even a different amp ?
khm74
ozfly
887 posts
 
As Tvad suggests, you may find there is nothing you can do to compensate for the component that is causing the brightness. That would be a good place to start.

Having said that, I once owned a Bryston / Thiel combination and loved it except for the brightness. Once I switched my speaker cables to MIT, everything came together. If it's easier to switch out cables than to replace the source of the brightness (or if you like everything about the source except for that), try some MIT's to see if they make a difference -- you can normally try before you buy so there should be no risk if you find the right dealer. I've had excellent luck with Joe Abrams, but don't forget your local dealers.
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
What??? You sold your NAD's???? J/K. I agree with Tvad, can you remember when the system started sounding disagreeable. It's hard to nail down the real culprit when there have been so many wholesale changes at one time. I also don't think that cables can make that big of a difference, they are more of a tweak, then for fixing big problems. That being said, I'm only familiar with your cables, I haven't had the opportunity to listen to any of your components/speakers. In my experiences, DH Lab cables tend to be forward and unforgiving, they can sound bright in some systems. I can also say that I agree with Ozfly. I'm not a fan of MIT cables, but they sound their best in bright systems. If you cannot trace the brightness to a particular component, maybe trying some MIT/Cardas/Transparent cable instead of your DH Labs may help. I may make it listenable, but probably won't make it warm and lush.

Regards,
John
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
You may be confusing brightness with sibilance. They can sound very similar. Cables with good metallurgy eliminate this sibilance without losing any detail.
jdombrow
371 posts
 
If you're going to try cables, be sure to consider Cardas, as they are known to be warm sounding with losing detail.
blkadr
739 posts
 
Start with the DH Lab cables, if they are the silver plated copper ones they can sound bright. If that dosent do it, find someone who will help by switching some of their stuff in and out untill you track down the culprit. Some combinations just dont gel, so it dosent necesarrily mean you have any one component thats 'bad'. Take some time and narrow it down.
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