Question for classical lovers

Lousyreeds, I noticed you said you live in Oklahoma. So do I, in the Oklahoma City Area. If you live around here, you are welcome to drop by and see how things sound in a different system. My system is biased towards the LP though. I have a few classical on vinyl and maybe you can compare to a CD. Good luck on solving the edgy strings.

Rotarius, Here's a quick response. If your tweeters are metal domes, and your amp is solid state, to my ears that is a surefire recipe for premature onset of listening fatigue. I just don't like metal dome tweeters (even expensive ones), and now that I've "got religion" I'm a believer in tube amps and preamps and wouldn't go back to solid state. I'm a longtime classical CD guy, although my friends Rushton and Albertporter are longtime vinyl guys; we don't need to relive the endless digital vs. analog argument here. But for what it's worth, and not knowing any more than I do about your setup, I'd suggest that something other than metal dome tweeters and solid state amplification would be a step in the right direction, and I second the suggestion that addressing room acoustics with a view to softening and damping them is a good idea: a hard, bright, reflective room is bad news, obviously, and tends to reinforce what people don't like about digital sound. Soft, heavy, overstuffed furniture, heavy carpets, heavy drapes, bookshelves loaded with books--all these help, and in addition of course there are those audiophile acoustic room-treatment products. Good luck and let us know how you fare.

When you clap your hands in your room does it give off a harsh glaring high pitched echo? just checking.

I agree as good as SACD is - there is something about the high frequency of it that can be harsh even on a good recording. I also heard my dealer talking about something about SACD high frequency and why it is sometimes hard to listen to, but I don't remember the details as to why.

Classical has some of the better recording out there. Try finding rock music that isn't bright.

Ok, it would have been nice for you guys to know what specific gear I was talking about but there have been too many changes in the last 6 months. I first wanted an all inclusive HT/2channel set-up then split it up, got other stuff which I mentioned previously, list below of what i have at the moment.

scd2000es, Dac-AH, Van alstine fet/valve, Rotel 980bx, Infinity Kappa 400 (selling next week, side firing woofer not working for my room), H/K avr330, Pioneer 653,Infinity alpha 50 + center channel + bookshelves.

Room is 25' x 15' x 8'. Speakers along short side, 6 feet apart, 2 degree toe-in or so, couch in front of speakers 8 feet away, loveseat to the right, bare wall to the left with a rug on tweeter level, carpeted floor with no echo perceived. rear bookshelves behind couch. Bare walls behind couch also (bachelor pad, what can I say?)

As for ss amplification, I really do like this Rotel amp, great value for money, has been the permanent fixture in all this, anyone else suggest I use a tube amp to radically change sound? The tweeters are the ceramic/metal types, don't sound like all metal domes at all, seems quite refined and a relaxed presentation. The Alphas which are a step below, similar drivers not as good a cabinet but warmer and I want to keep them. Other speakers tried in the room and returned or sold prior to this: Wharfedale diamond 8.4, PSB Image 4T.

Robm321, I think sacd has a problem in the highs too, not perceived in rock or jazz though, hesitated to say it for the fear of offending the audiophile gurus:) and who knows I could have faulty hearing anyway.

I am starting to enjoy this DAC-AH but still too early to call. My RCA jacks on the preamp have always been suspect for me, unsure if the center pins were making good contact. I used split center pin locking RCAs today and there was a very very noticeable improvement after cable change over, cleaner sound with more body, still waiting for the coax also.

I really appreciate the input from each and every one of you.

Rotarius, thanks for the summary of your equipment and room. I am a serious tube-aholic, but I'm not going to suggest you need to switch to a tube amp. While I'm not familiar with your particular Rotel amp, the Rotel gear I've heard has always sounded competent to me, not plagued by serious issues in the top end, and with adequately designed power supplies to meet most reasonable demands.

Instead, what I would encourage you to check first are your connections given your experience with the center pin locking RCAs. If you haven't done so, give all your connections a thorough cleaning (isoprophyl alcohol with cotton swabs is very effective, and a cleaner like "Kontak" is even more effective) and then apply a good contact enhancer (such as Caig's Pro Gold, or even better would be Walker Audio's SST or Extreme SST) as you re-connect everything. I'm consistently amazed at how much of a difference clean, tight contacts make in system performance, particularly with the high frequencies.

And then, it just may be that you need to join many of us by switching to a tube amp (and adding a turntable!) to reclaim what you once so enjoyed about classical music and the beauty and delicacy of great string tone. Good luck!
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