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Need help - system performance

First I'll explain my system. Have a pair of Martin Logan SL3's (10" woofer with approx 4' esl panel), a pair of Parasound HCA1000A amps at 125 wpc each, a Parasound pld1100 line drive stereo preamp, a Pioneer Elite DV-05 dvd player,IXOS silver series interconnects (1/2 to 1 meter)and 12 gauge fine stranded monster cable MC-1 which has just an outer thick plastic jacket (16' speaker cables).

I have the amps horizontally bi-amped ( 1 amp for lows & 1 amp for highs). The speakers were bought used, are two years old, in mint condition, and were cared for. the amps & preamp were bought new and now have about 15-20 hours on them as well as all cables. DVD/CD player is connected to the direct input on preamp. polarity is correct on all terminations.

This is my sonic situation, when playing my favorite cd's, (you know the ones which have those exceptional quality recordings)the system sounds overall very good and bright. When watching dvd movies, it also sounds very good. When listening to most cd's however it appears to be lacking a little something!!!

It seams if the music be played consists of single or separable instruments, i.e. single guitars, horns or voices, the esl panels sound wonderful, but when its compounded such as rock and roll or the complete frequency spectrum, it seams to lack midrange, clarity, and sound stage. the 10" low end drivers seam to deliver a punchy bottom at times and muddy at others. The lower the volume the worse the condition. As far as listening to music from the tuner, well it sounds like absolute s....t. I have experimented with speaker placement with basically no differences. I have NOT tried to vertical biamp or drive the the amps as monoblocks.

I had a limited budget and spent approx 4K so far. I thought I did all the right research and made the right choices considering my budget. So what happening??

I tend to think the inexpensive speaker cables (bought from circuit city) could be causing the problem but I cant bring myself to spend a $1000.00 to proove it without talking to someone who knows more about it first.

Need intelligent help and recommendations....Steve Rounds
sfrounds
jeffloistarca
1,004 posts
 
Steve, you have good gear, but have a few changes to make. Get some Transparent speaker cables (used). Run the amps in monoblock mode, you'll be glad you did. Then allow the amps to break in, 20 hours is not enough time for new amps to settle in and begin to sing. Spend a bunch of hours with the set up, Martins are finicky but VERY worth the effort and time. Your stuff is too good to disappoint, you have no reason to feel buyer's remorse. Any specific questions, feel free to drop me an email. Jeff
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,151 posts
 
First are the MLs spiked? They will never deliver the bass performance they're capable of without spikes. If you run the amps as monoblocks (a good idea), use long interconnect and short speaker cables. You do not have to spend big bucks, but don't short change your system. I'd suggest Discovery, Cardas or van den Hul products. You have the basis for superior sound.
sfrounds OP
35 posts
 
I feel alot better already knowing there's hope without changing primary equipment. I have some questions regarding your comments.

It seams your all in agreement that my inferior speaker cables need replacing. I know theres alot of controversy regarding this issue, so I guess i'll be discovering who was right in the near future.

I wish that I could use short speaker cables but home architecture won't permit it. Believe it or not, I underwent a major construction project just to develop a spot in my living room for my system.

The Martin Logan owners manual mentions spikes, but doesn't mention the concept behind it or the sonic benefits? Please explain.

About four months ago when I was picking brains to put this system together, I started a thread inquiring about the whole biamping theory and best results. It was clear that most agreed on horizontal biamping delivering the best results. I was told that monoblocked amps produced a grainy sound. I am certainly willing to try it, but what are your feelings regarding that grainy comment?
abstract7
541 posts
 
I'm going to disagree on the monoblock idea. I think bi-amping improves MLs a lot. Speaker cables--definitely change them. I'm not big on the networked versions. You have matching amps, so vertically bi-amping with very short runs of quality speaker cable would improve things. Spikes--absolutely--get them from ML directly.

Another tip: you can build a resistor for the power into the MLs. I have done this with a simple 125 volt radioshack 2k pot. I reduce the voltage to the ESL panels, they run higher than they should on my monoliths. I have not done this with SL3s, but it could tame some of the harshness.

Lastly, don't expect the SL3's to do BIG recordings (full orchestra--etc) as well as they do vocals, small jazz groups, and chamber music. They really excell in these areas and because of this you will notice they sound muddy in comparison when playing larger scale music.
no_money
638 posts
 
Sfrounds, According to recent Stereophile article they use MIT and Transparent for the reference system at the ML plant. I use all Transparent cables in my sytem that includes ML Aerius i. While searching for a dvd player that would also double as a cd player I tried the dv-o5. It had a lot to do with the sound that you just described. Going to Sony 9000es helped a lot, and adding external D/A converter for cd playback did even more. Hope this does not confuse matters even more, but thought I would add my experience. Good luck, BTW I also compared with Pioneer 525 ( I think ) and Sony S777. The cd player that I was looking to replace was a Cal.Audio Ikon MkII. It handilly beat down all but the 9000.
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