Peachtree Decco 2 setup...

hi, i have the decco and it is a bit different than the 2 in the dac area and some features. it does have a soft sound because of the tubes imo. and there is some compromise in the amp section but your report is the first one i have ever seen where it sounds like crap. your other gear is very nice. i see your other system is good too so you know what good sound is. the speakers are in phase i assume. did you get it locally? as a snap look i would guess it may have a problem or your expectations are too high maybe. possible some dynaudio expert can shed some light here. i;d like to know what is going on ,good luck. ps. david at peachtree has answered questions from me quickly so call him monday possibly. they care about good sound and customers

I would question where and how you have the speakers set up. As mentioned by Hotmailjbc, are they in phase? How close to walls, etc...
You can test the digital part by hooking up the cd with rca cables to the decc0 to compare? Also, tubes do get old. Have you had it checked? Supposedly, the tube can be bypassed.
Final question: Have you compared your pc audio vs using a real cd? Is there a difference?
From what I've read, the Decco amp is designed for smaller speakers and doesn't have a ton of power. You could always try an external amp to see if the amp section is your problem.

I would suspect a poor speaker/amp match just because all the Dynaudios I know like lots of juice. From what I've heard or been told, SimAudio amps like them, so do KT88-based tube amps.

That said, positioning and the room make a great difference in how speakers sound. More hard than soft surfaces tend to make the music sound, well, hard. Positioning near the wall or too close to a corner can make boom.

If you suspect your DVD player is the weak link, cheap tweaks include a power cord, an isolation transformer (eBay) and antivibration footers like the ones from Herbie's Audio Labs. The PC source can be helped with a quality USB cable like the one from Acreyes here.

Also, is your digital interconnect 1.5 meters long?

Can you bring your main system's integrated amp and try that in place of the Decco? If so, do that without changing the speaker positioning. If it sounds equally crap, you know it's not the Decco.

If the integrated fixes the problems, it may be you don't like the DAC section of the Decco or it's not driving the Dyns well enough.

If the integrated fixes problems, try using the Decco as a preamp/DAC with the integrated as a power amp.

Experimentation should tell you what you need to know. All it costs is a bit of time and effort. I don't have a Decco, so I'm not defending it nor am I blaming it.