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What am I to do about

I have been trying to fix the harsh sound of my system. I have tried the following components: Record Player - Old Sony w/ Grado cartridge, CD player - Arcam CD72 & old Philips unit, PreAmp - Halfer DH110 & Adcom GTP 500II & Classe CP50, PowerAmp - Halfer DH220 & Odyessy Stratus, Speaker - Paradigm Studio 100v2 & JM Lab Electra 915, Speaker cable - Monster & Audioquest, Interconnects - various, Room - 3 different ones.
All of the various combination seem to be vary harsh sounding to me since I got rid of my old Polk Audio speakers (don't remember the model) 5 years ago. The only idea I have is that my ears are incompatible with aluminum dome tweeters and I need to find different speakers but I am tired of experimenting by buying and selling and I have already tried the 2 dealers within 3 hours of here. What can I do? Sell everything and buy a boombox? Help
cford
jdombrow
371 posts
 
Find someone in your area tht will let you borrow equipment to swap in, one piece at a time (including cables), until you can determine where the "harsh" sound is originating
pbb
1,140 posts
 
Don't get fixated on the "metal domes sound harsh" school of thought. I think that the amplification you mention could be the source of the perceived harshness. The room would be my first choice as the culprit though, but since you said you tried three rooms,I am suggesting the amplification. Could it be all three rooms were bad? Quite possibly. BTW bass now generally sounds tighter on newer designed speakers. Maybe you just have gotten used to more bloat and the tighter more punchy bass does not soften the overall sound to your liking. Just a thought.
nrchy's avatar
nrchy
2,124 posts
 
It is hard to know how to comment on the harsh sound based on the small amount of info given. It is my contention that the biggest problem in most systems is the room. Pbb might be right (there's a first time for everything!) because nothing stands out in your system as being a real piece of @#$%.

Improvements could be made everywhere, but for the cost of one moderately priced piece of gear you could get the room fixed. Then everything you buy down the road will sound that much better.

When you stand in your room and talk, how does it sound? Is there a lot of echo present, or does your voice sound dull and muted? What ever characteristics or colorations you notice in your voice are the same things that are happening to the music.

If any of these issues are noticeable, address them and your system will sound better too.
ozfly
887 posts
 
The Paradigm 100v2's never sounded harsh to me and I've heard them with several different amps. Mine are hooked up to a Sunfire, which tends to be a bit warm, but I've also heard them with Brystons, which tend to sound a bit cold. Jdombrow, Pbb and Nrchy made fine recommendations and suggestions. Has anything other than the Polks changed in the last five years? Same room? Same furniture, carpets, etc? Same other equipment (even if the latter is the case, synergy is everything)?
darrylhifi
498 posts
 
1/Make sure you do not have any Power cords touching your interconnects or speaker cable.

2/Make sure the binding posts on the back of your speakers are not loose.
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