MC402 vs FPB 300cx

Dbld-thanks so much for your write up, helps to hear you had a similar experience.

I am getting a set of Aud 23's just to listen to in a week or so. I will start my search with those as far as speaker cables goes, then move along if they don't work to my liking. Synergistic Research? They make a cable specifically for B&W.

Although the culprit could be my interconnects in the end...Nordost from source to pre, from pre to amp. Possible.

I would also suggest looking into the Cable Company's demo library. You pay in very little (5%) but get to try all kinds of stuff (PCs, ICs, and speaker cables). They also have a database of experience from other users and their specific gear that might also help speed up the process for you.

I am doing this with PCs. Buying and selling on AudiogoN is a valuable resource for sure...if done right, but this way you know exactly what you’re getting into ahead of time. Plus, that 5% goes towards any purchase you might make.

I haven’t actually done this yet myself, so maybe I am missing something. I have reserved some cables that should become available in the next week or two. You are also limited to their predetermined lengths. I think it is 1.5 meters for PCs and ICs, and 10 feet for speaker cables.

So at the moment, I am doing an A/B test between two single ended IC's in my system from source to Pre. One is my current Nordost Tyr and the other a lesser IC in the Nordost line up...Interesting differences. When I pull the Tyr out I loose a fairly noticable amount of sharp detail, and the other cable seems to round off the edge a little still providing acceptable detail, but overall I lose something. Not sure how to identify it completely, maybe channel seperation, detail, quietness, definately a smidge of emotion. I love the detail I get from the Tyr, but things are becoming clearer to me as I do tests like this. How much I can accompish with cable changes..Interesting learning process.

In the end it is probably just these speakers are limited with my new set up at moderate to high volume levels. Pisses me off, but I have only me to blame on that front. Personally I don't want to lose the detail from the Tyr to get the slight reduction of glare from the lesser IC. One thing is for sure, in doing this I am reminded that Tyr is a very impressive IC. And like you guys have said, contributing to revealing system weaknesses.

Jc51373, I would suggest trying something different than Nordost altogether. I am not sure if it is revealing system weaknesses or could it be that it is just plain wrong in that mix of components?

Could be...My experience in the past with Nordost was too bright.