Sunnyjim, thanks for answering my question about the speaker cables.
Since you have posted your entire system, and put yourself on the chopping block, Ill give you my opinion. You have built a system of quality components and cables, however I think the main problem is the synergy. Here are my observations, some from personal experience and others from a little research,
Rega Apollo CD player very good but can be a little bright, and may not be the best choice for a system that has unforgiving treble.
Chord Chameleon IC fast, detailed, dynamic, a dull system will definitely benefit using this interconnect.
Bel Canto PRe3 - extremely neutral, output has same character as input.
Nordost Red Dawn IC - many people have found that some of the Nordost can have a bright, lean sound in their system.
Red Dragon M-500 - like the Bel Canto, very neutral.
Now at this point, I cant see any magic shot in the arm for any speaker cable to overcome the given character of the signal and deliver musicality to the speaker. You have an extremely nice pair of speakers, and I understand they are capable of a very musical sound, however they will only produce the sound that is feed into them.
From one of your threads,
IMHO, I would start with the interconnects and CD player, and really hard to say which one first. Even a different CD player that is a little less bright may not be enough with the influence of the cables. I know many have good results using Nordost cables, and initially I did as well, even moving up the chain. I used Blue Heaven, SPM, and Valkyrja, with the BH being the only one that came across as lean, however came to a conclusion that all of them seem to have a somewhat rough, bright top end. A good friend had the same thoughts about the Red Dawn he tried. Once a more pleasing sound is achieved, I would do some final experimentation with speaker cables, and as I have said before, probably use the AZ, even if it needs to be their entry level to get a manageable size, because the speaker was designed and voiced using their own cable, so again creating the best synergy.
Now I guess this puts me on the chopping block as well, any comments?
Since you have posted your entire system, and put yourself on the chopping block, Ill give you my opinion. You have built a system of quality components and cables, however I think the main problem is the synergy. Here are my observations, some from personal experience and others from a little research,
Rega Apollo CD player very good but can be a little bright, and may not be the best choice for a system that has unforgiving treble.
Chord Chameleon IC fast, detailed, dynamic, a dull system will definitely benefit using this interconnect.
Bel Canto PRe3 - extremely neutral, output has same character as input.
Nordost Red Dawn IC - many people have found that some of the Nordost can have a bright, lean sound in their system.
Red Dragon M-500 - like the Bel Canto, very neutral.
Now at this point, I cant see any magic shot in the arm for any speaker cable to overcome the given character of the signal and deliver musicality to the speaker. You have an extremely nice pair of speakers, and I understand they are capable of a very musical sound, however they will only produce the sound that is feed into them.
From one of your threads,
System needs a dose of musicalityTry to think of this in two ways, not just adding, but removing things that distract as well.
IMHO, I would start with the interconnects and CD player, and really hard to say which one first. Even a different CD player that is a little less bright may not be enough with the influence of the cables. I know many have good results using Nordost cables, and initially I did as well, even moving up the chain. I used Blue Heaven, SPM, and Valkyrja, with the BH being the only one that came across as lean, however came to a conclusion that all of them seem to have a somewhat rough, bright top end. A good friend had the same thoughts about the Red Dawn he tried. Once a more pleasing sound is achieved, I would do some final experimentation with speaker cables, and as I have said before, probably use the AZ, even if it needs to be their entry level to get a manageable size, because the speaker was designed and voiced using their own cable, so again creating the best synergy.
Now I guess this puts me on the chopping block as well, any comments?