2. amps-preamps
  3. 1258305444

Tube Preamps

I was wondering opinions on whether or not a tube preamp might fix or reduce my overly bright sounding system. I am currently sourced by a Rotel RCD_1520 with Rotel RB-1582 2x200 watt amp, Rotel RC-1580 preamp with B&W CM7 speakers. I know the speakers are a tad bright, but when I disconnect the Rotel amp/pre and reconnect my old NAD c317 integrated, it sound great. I like the warm sound and deep bass of the NAD. Isn't the amplifier just amplifying what it receives from the preamp? Is it possible for an amp to be bright?
donjr
donjr OP
1,335 posts
 
Wow!! Great responses from everyone and they are greatly appreciated. I will try the different toe ins first, being they are the easiest and least expesnsive. I will post my findings.
jtgofish's avatar
jtgofish
515 posts
 
Try solid core copper speaker cable.Lighting cable can work very well in damping bright speakers and costs very little and outperforms most dedicated speaker cable.Many muti strand cables sound tinny by comparison.
donjr OP
1,335 posts
 
I see you can buy that cable at Walmart. What did you terminate on the end?
mkash3
57 posts
 
Agree with Bob - upgrade your speakers and keep your Rotel electronics. There's many speakers that outperform B&W's CM range. I'd seriously take a look at Vanns and find a pair of the Energy RC-70 brand new for just over $1k. They originally retailed for $2k/pair and sound more natural and non-fatiguing than the CM7s and CM8s I've heard. Or if you want even better (but much pricier) performance, check out Dynaudio.
johnss
581 posts
 
easy fix for that. add some .1 bypass caps to your pre amp main filter caps.
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