2. amps-preamps
  3. 1357249928

How do I smooth out violins?

I have a decent system (bit of a mixed bag) but know that I can achieve a smoother, more integrated, and more relaxed massed violin sound. I listen to a ton of orchestral music and notice that massed violins in their upper registers (1500-3500 Hz) often jump out from the mix and sound a bit harsh, unlike what one hears live. Right now, I have the following:

Spendor SP1/2E
McCormick DNA-125 (original)
NAD 1600 (pre/tuner)
Marantz CD3000
Audioquest Sidewinder ICs
Audioquest Type 4

Would a tube pre help (maybe a AA M3A)? I'm thinking that the NAD may be the culprit. Any advice from those of you who have quested for "real" violin sound is very much appreciated.
bojack
c1ferrari
464 posts
 
Bojack,

A tube preamp may or may not rectify - lol - your situation. Multiple posts address the essential importance of the source material.

It would be interesting to document the sonic characteristics of your listening environment...audio-related anomalies can often be sourced, hehe, there.

Enjoy,

Sam
brownsfan
1,508 posts
 
Zd,
I agree with your post but my comments about replacing the AQ4 speaker cables was based on having used them for several years. Have you used them in your system? They are extremely grainy, and really don't do strings any favors. Another person suggested replacing them with Cardas. I can't answer for why they made that recommendation. I can say that AQ 4 is the worst wire I have ever had in my system. Chances are pretty good that replacing AQ 4 with Cardas, or for that matter something else selected at random would be an improvement. Its really not good wire.
newbee
4,796 posts
 
Along the lines of Brownsfan's comments on cable, which I suspect is fair comment. For a relative few bucks, you could buy Canare 11s4 speaker wire and Blue Jeans interconnect and for the near future eliminate cable issues as being a source of problems. These are excellent, if not benchmark, for cost effective quality. Neutral. And electrically speaking well spec'd cables. When you get the rest of your system down to 'excellent' then you can spend some money on trying to find something better. FWIW.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
Brownsfan,

I wasn't trying to single you out in any way. I didn't go back and reread every single comment, but I thought I saw several poster recommend Cardas; that's why I used it. Also, if you take another look at my post, you'll see that I didn't say that either cable was good or bad. I only meant to imply that using cables to fix this, or any other problem, is generally speaking, not a good way to fix things you don't like in a system. Once in a while, you may get lucky, but more often as not you won't really fix anything with cables.

As to me having the AQ4 in my system, it was a few years ago, but I have. I didn't think it was as bad as you say but overall I agree with you. I didn't like them either. That said, I still don't think its the source of the problem. I apologize for any confusion in my post.
brownsfan
1,508 posts
 
Zd, I think we are on the same page. I really don't like the change this buy that approach to spending other people's money. Luck is a poor plan A for making improvements in one's system. In the case of the AQ 4, I had direct experience with the cable and didn't like it. Inexpensive cables like anticable and signal cable were way better, so its not likely that loosing the AQ 4 would be a waste of money.
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