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Help me tame the brightness of my Triangles

I bought a pair of Triangle Zerius speakers a month ago, and in some ways they're the most amazing speakers I've listened to. Incredibly open, detailed, fast, and dynamic (as advertised).

But I also find them to be too bright and too hard for my ears, at least with a good amount of my music. I've taken care of the obvious things, like break-in (approaching 300 hours now) and matching with a warm system (Rega planet 2000 cd player, Unison Research Unico integrated amp with Mullard cv4003 tubes). I put little thought into cables .. i'm currently using straight wire rhapsody 2 interconnects and 20 feet of audioquest gr8 speaker cables.

The hardness comes in the upper midrange/lower trebble, typically at high or moderately high volumes, and typically on vocals and guitars. Especially if the recording is at all aggressive. The brightness is just an overall sense of the tonal balance. It seems lighter weight than what I hear in live music. I expect the music to have more weight and roundness (this is why I have the Planet and the Unico to begin with).

I've played with position and toeing in. My room is large (about 16 x26 feet with 10 to 11 foot ceilings). It's slightly bright and splashy, although i believe most of what I'm hearing is the direct sound of the speakers (the tonal balance is the same when I get real close).

I'm wondering about new interconnects .. perhaps cardas. the Quadlinks seem like they'd make the most sense. Any thoughts on this? How big a difference they might make? Would the Cardas Cross cables be unreasonably pricey in this system?

I'm also wondering about tubes. The Unico with the mullards has a wonderful, liquidy midrange, and great transients and dynamics. Are there any tubes that might darken the sound and soften the lower trebble without killing detail, dynamics, transients, and soundstaging?

I suspect most people would find my system sounds more balanced than I do ... my ears seem to be pretty sensitive to brightness and hardness. But it still seems strange that these speakers that everyone seems to like can sound bright even with these other componens I've chosen.

Thank you for any thoughts you might have.
paulraphael
trelja
3,223 posts
 
Paul, I think that the concensus at least seems to be that you should look into different cable.

While I don't have much experience with Cardas over the past few years, I would suggest that you just try something else. Something with a warmer reputation than StraightWire and AudioQuest. Be it Cardas, Tara, Alpha Core Goertz, Analysis Plus, Tara, or what have you.

At least, if you are able to solve your brightness problems, your biggest problem/complaint will be solved. Afterwards, you can go down the road we all must walk. Which cables are most fitting to us and our systems. At some point you will find bliss, but at least you won't be chased from your room by your speakers any longer.

GOOD LUCK!
aniwolfe
760 posts
 
I talked to more experienced audiophiles and read alot. Demoing is a must! Combination of different cables is SOMETIMES better. Cables are one of the easier things to demo...take that advantage. A great inexpensive powercord to try on your amp would be the Harmonic Tech Pro ac 11. This is a forgiving cable yet detailed. I don't know anything about the VD cables...but when you get them,make sure you let them settle in before doing any critical listening.
ronk
4 posts
 
Paul,
I certainly am not a cable expert, but I do have some experience with the GR-8.
I originally purchased the GR-8 because it was fairly inexpensive for the 30 ft. run I needed to my rear surround speakers. Just for the heck of it, I tried the GR-8 out on some other speakers(Magnepan 1.6 QR, Magnepan SMG-A, Aerius I, Apogee Centaurus Minor, and a friend's homebuilt Vifa based speakers).The same high frequency harshness was there on every speaker, except the Vifa system. The temporary surrounds that I am using also utilize an off the shelf Vifa soft dome tweeter(Acoustic Energy Aegis One).
I agree with many of the posters above, that the cabling is a good place to start, but may not be the whole answer. I hope this helps a bit.
ksales
228 posts
 
Trelja gave great advice. I still don't know what your room is like. Hard floor or carpet. Ceiling height and composition. Windows,drapes, bookshelves. To some extent all of these features can highlight the problems your describing even in speakers designed to replicate those features. You can guarantee that Triangle didn't design the speakers to give the results you are describing. Contact the manufacturer and ask them what they think. Virtually every piece of equipment I have has been accompanied by dialog with the manufacturer.
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