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Thiel death do we part . . .

OK, stupid title, I know...but so is my question, probably. So in spite of years of owning lots of different gear - speakers (Maggies, B&W), preamps (Bottlehead,AR), amps (C&J, Bryston) and so on, I've never quite got "the magic" I often hear about. I sort of went the path of least resistance and settled on a small setup - Theil(1.6s) & Bryston(B60) with Rega front ends (analog & digital).

The other night, however, I set it up in a near field format for the first time. After playing with speaker placement a bit, everything suddenly snapped into place, and it all sounds amazing. Magic. I found myself digging into my record collection (maybe 4000 deep) for the 1st in years and now there's not enough hours in the day to listen to it all.

One thing I've noticed is that the system is just brutal with poorly recorded media. While well produced material (Patricia Barber, Cowboy Junkies, some Rickie Lee Jones, Stan Getz and so on) can be just stunning, detailed, spacious and even deep, lots of others just aren't pleasant to listen to. Things I used to enjoy can now sound lame and muffled. I understand this may be a Thiel "take no prisoners" issue. So, just as an experiment, I swapped out the Thiels for a pair of old B&W 802s that are passing thru on the way to eBay and was surprised that while good material sounds adequate, bad material doesn't sound too bad...at least not embarrassing.

So the question is, without swapping nice speakers for not as nice on a regular basis, is there something that I can do to get the set up to be more "forgiving", at times? I listen mostly to what you might call intimate music, small groups and individual singers, often in live recordings.

Listening area is 12x18 with a low ceiling (open joists) off a corridor.

So maybe alternate cables (Zu Julian now) or a subwoofer or an equalizer? Thanks for your patience.
dancub
bigby
159 posts
 
Try acoustical room treatments at the first reflection points. It may not make bad recordings sound better, but it will make good recordings sound excellent.

If you really want a nice ambient sound, try diffusion products.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,408 posts
 
A tube or two ahead of the amp in pre amp or source can help wake up lesser recordings in many cases.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,252 posts
 
What exactly are the Rega front end components?

How close are you sitting to the loudspeakers?
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Unsound wrote,

"IMHO, headphones are a completely different listening experience than listening through speakers."

I agree. No crossover distortion and for most headphone amps these days SET Class A operation. Not to mention not having to futz around with room treatments.
dancub OP
82 posts
 
Wow! Lots of great ideas and a couple breakthroughs for me. One, my CD player - a Rega Planet - has digital out which I didn't realize. The vinyl machine is a Rega Planar 3 with their 300B arm . . . it replaced a Planar 2 I found at Goodwill for $19...:8)

As I mentioned earlier, the basic system I have, I love. It's just doesn't have patience with poor recordings. I do have a tube pre so will try that (hard to switch in and out though) . . . and I'm, as they say, "all in" with the vinyl so maybe a better cartridge is an opportunity.

So to follow up on Doggiehowser's suggestion, I'd need an equalizer with a built-in DAC. A quick look around last night showed a few but, as I think Unsound suggested, they are a bit pricey for my initial experimenting.

On the other hand, doing something in the digital domain exclusively as Kacz suggests is kinda exciting. (I'm a photographer and scratch built my last couple editing workstations so I kinda know my way around the bits and pieces). I just didn't realized that I could get a signal in and out of a computer without really trashing it. But this afternoon, searching some more, I realized that that's how all those guys that produce this stuff we love (i.e. music) are working in the digital domain. Jeez, suddenly there's also the possibility of converting some of my cherished vinyl. Never occurred to me to head that way. Card recommendations?

On the headphone question (thanks Unsound, Mapman & Geoffkait), I have Sennheiser 580s but as you say, the experience is really different. However, maybe getting into the digital domain could let me play with the crossfeeding technique? Never thought of using them to take the room out the equation...thanks.

Oh yes, room treatments will have to wait, my significant other is building another room on the house (she does this sort of thing regularly) so once it's clear I still have a listening space, I my have at it.

Thanks everyone!
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