Lost - Your combined experience required

Gunbei -

The Rotel is not particularly veiled, I'm certain of that. I used it directly with a Unico and Neat Mystiques in another room and it was just fine (better with the link dac III, but on its own, i had no complaints). I will also have a PS1 on hand (the one reviewers rave about), so I'm not ready to point the finger at the source at the moment. Again, this is primarily because the Rotel worked with the Unico / Neat combo.

Having said that, I may try to coax my friendly, neighbourhood, audio store to lend me a decent unit of some sort. I'm thinking a naim cd5i2, a cyrus 6se or 8se or a cambridge 740 or 840. At least I'd get a good comparison there. (I wonder if a 640c would work for me? does it approach the 740 or 840, even?)

The monster cables, although better-sounding than the ecosse in this particular case, i agree, will need to be removed from the equation.

With respect to those who mention cable changes- once again, i agree that cables make a difference, but I'm looking for an altogether change - a drastic sort of change in sound.
Acknowledging that cables make a difference, I'm looking to alter the current 'house sound' i'm getting from my existing combination of components.

There is much to be said for system synergy, for sure, and a lot of people on here tout certain brands work very well together: naim amp and cd, cyrus products, rega products..

I wonder, then, if a rega brio or mira would open the aras up?

Conversely, if the aras are inherently warm-sounding (which i don't really know, since i've only paired them with my sugden and my nad 3020a, both of which are warm, maybe the overall 'colour' is just too dark. Therefore, a livelier, brighter speaker with a slightly wider frequency range would get me at least more in the realm of where I want to be sonically-speaking. ...Maybe? ...possibly? ...Hopefully?

Do i have a bald spot on my head yet?

get yourself a sub to borrow and see if that fills out your sound, try using the speaker connections and free your speakers up a little from carrying the low end. even ina small room, maybe a 10 inch driver, would give you a sound you do not have. .

I have installed an energy esw v8 into the system (which i don't normally use for two channel audio). I have it dialed in perfectly to round out the bottom.

No doubt, it adds some dimension to the music; it, however, doesn't solve my problem of 'lack of air'.

Wow Bob_reynolds. You sound so definite, but the poster should not ignore the other advice here. Cable changes in my system (5 1/4" woofers!) cured me of wanting a sub.

With some cable combinations, I didn't want to listen to music. With other combinations it sounded wonderful.

You are certainly correct about the room and speaker position effect, but it would not be correct to dismiss all good amps as sounding the same as you have indicated.

Loose,

Interestingly and not surprisingly, the advice so far is all over the map. I am usually a source-first guy, but thinking in this case your older amp may be the greatest factor. New budget CD players from Cambridge, Music Hall and NAD are getting much better, and the suggestions to demo other gear and cables if you can is helpful. While thinking about wires don't ignore the possibility of trying aftermarket power cables if your gear have detachable power cords. Again, you don't have to spend bundle to hear real benefits from a thicker gauge and well designed and constructed cable, shielded for CDP and unshielded for an amp.

While you are trying to sort these larger things out, here is a cheap trick you can try that wont cost an arm and a leg, and I have found opens up the sound of my system and brings out the highs and details - especially when applied to my CD player.

Buy a length of hardwood - say a 2" X 2" oak replacement leg for a coffee table, $8 or less. Cut it into a series of perfectly flat 2x2 chunks in groups of three or four of the same height that can be used to raise your CDP or amp about 1/8" above their stock feet. Experiment on suspending your amp and CDP on a set of these on your rack. I would start with three, one under the transformer and two others placed to complete a stable triangular base.

The dense wood will serve to transfer vibration from your gear to the rack more efficiently than stock feet that usually have rubber pads that isolate and trap internal vibration in your gear. If your rack is made of a material that can absorb and dissipate the vibration from your gear while also effectively isolating it from vibration in the room, you will likely experience the greatest benefits from this trick. This accomplishes some of the same benefits as brass cones and other isolation devices at a fraction of the cost.

If your rack system is suspect in either respect you can place a heavy block of wood, like a maple chopping block, directly under your gear and the small wooden blocks to carry out some of the same functions described above for your rack.

Other relatively cheap tricks include using a contact cleaner and silver treatment on the connectors for your speaker and interconnect cables.

Moving up the tweak list a bit, many people including me find that replacing stock fuses in electronic gear with silver fuses has a positive impact on sound quality.

The above tricks can be accomplished for relatively small investments in time and money, and while usually not offering the same level of benefits as wire and gear changes, will nevertheless push your system in direction of the "more open, airy and extended sound" you seek.