music hall 25.2 cd/amp + klipschorns = :


i picked up a pair of 1994 klipschorns a little while back and have been running them off of my home theater amp, a onkyo tx sr-805, until i could find a dedicated amp and cd player for them. they are in a room that is 14 x 16 tucked nicely into the corners and have sounded AMAZING just powered off of the home theater onkyo. unbelievable bass and the midrange & treble are very clear and open. after reading a couple of reviews and looking into entry integrated amps and cd players i picked up a music hall a25.2 50 watt integrated amp as well as a music hall cd25.2 cd player. each of these has gotten very good reviews for their price range and so i was optimistic they would sound much better than the onkyo with the klipschorns. after hooking them up tonight and listening for awhile i have very mixed feelings. some of my initial impressions are that the music hall units are very well made and solid pieces. the amp puts out zero background noise which can sometimes be a problem with the sensitive khorns. the mids are very very impressive with clear separation of instruments. thats all quiet good, but on the downside the treble seems too bright for my taste. i wouldnt say its harsh, but when you turn up the volume much, sounds such as cymbals and female voices can best be described as having a sharp edge to them. added to that, the bass that i was used to with the onkyo seems to have disappeared and seems to now simply be mid bass. with no treble/bass controls on the music hall theres no way for me to adjust either of these issues. i am using the basic power cord and low end interconnects that came with the music hall pieces which i doubt help things, but im afraid of putting much more money into this combo if this is going to be its signature sound. i thought about adding a tube buffer to warm up the sound a bit but do not see that improving the lack of bass any. should i simply sell the music hall pieces and look at a tube amp that will not sound so edgy and have more bass or is it worth trying some decent interconnects, power cords, tube buffer first? any input appreciated
msutton
you might want to check out the Klipsch Forums. Lots of people there with direct experience with all things Klipsch.

http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/
Before you give up on the MH pieces, I would experiment some with interconnects and power cords. On my Cambridge Audio office system, the difference in bass is "not subtle" as they say when using my Zebra Cable 10g power cable with upgraded furutech connectors. Same thing for my Cambridge CD with 14g Zebra Cable power cord with the same furutech connectors.

Interconnects are a little tougher. I would try some solid copper interconnects with copper connectors. I have a Zebra cable interconnect with upgraded (expensive) gold over copper connectors. This cable is very smooth but doesn't have the bass slam of my Zu cables. You may want to try a Kimber Hero or the Audioquest Black Mamba that Audio Advisor sells.

Speaker cable makes a big difference as well. My Zu Libtec is amazing but does have a little brightness on top. My first cables, biwire Zebra's are somooth but not as detailed or have as much bass weight as my Zu's. I have some Monster Reference Z3's that I picked for a steal. This is a surprisingly good cable that has good bass and relaxed and detailed highs. I have an extra set that I could part with for cheap.

Long story short, you can tune the MH gear with cables. It won't be as dramatic as a gear swap, but it may be worth the effort. Regardless, experimenting with cables will help you develop some preferences that will carry over to a fair degree if you decide to swap gear.

Cheers,

PMB
On second thought, maybe try some Mapleshade cables. Very reasonable and liberal return policy. Also pure copper with minimal dielectric. Should be pretty smooth.

PMB