Bit of an overhaul here. Replaced the critical components and now it’s a very different system with very different character. I like it a lot, speakers are just breaking in.
Hi everyone, I hope your holidays are good. I have a room question for this, and I'm pretty sure there is no solution, but here goes: Since moving the system upstairs, I am experiencing what I believe is a bit of room resonance. The bass on this system used to be really tight in the basement location (basement level, one wall brick, two walls concrete, one internal divider). Now, upstairs, it sits on the wood structure making the floor of the main level of the house. With bass-intense music, I feel the floor vibrating a lot, and the bass sounds muddled. I am worried that short of re-building the house with more solid beams I can't do anything, but figured I'd ask. Wondering: moving the speakers farther away from the wall? More room padding? less? more heavy furniture on this level, maybe it would reduce the vibrations? I may be imagining things, but when I placed some heavy weights on top of the speakers I thought it got a bit better. Any thoughts would be much appreciated. The room is a main area of about 24'/14', opening via 3 steps to a slightly elevated dining area of about 18'/16' (the connection between the two areas is along the long axis; the speakers are placed on one of the long sides of the main area). Thank you
Hi folks, thanks for the comments. The speaker wire is actually an old one (I think it's Audioquest), I have not taken new pictures since I updated to the MIT AVT2 - which has made a tremendous difference. Aball, I actually like the dark tone, so I'm happy with this. Mjcmt, I think the Quad and the Usher are a fantastic match. I do wonder at times how much better it would sound if I got a second Quad to bridge them in mono and get more power, though. Overall though for the way I listen this is plenty. Both tend toward the darker side, but that compensates nicely for the fact that my sources are digital. One thing about the Quads - for proper listening I definitely recommend taking the grills off. They close in the highs if they are on, notably so with good recordings, especially of classical music.
Just adding a quick note - the MIT AVT2 cables (note they are not in the pictures yet, those are the old cables) are making a HUGE difference! For one thing, the annoying resting state buzz/hum in the speakers is pretty much gone (I have a couple other threads freaking out about that...), showing that higher quality cables can indeed take care of this type of nuisance. The bass is tighter and fuller and the imaging is better now.
Highend64, I like it a lot. Very articulate for music playing, and fantastic video quality on blue ray discs. Also, the streaming functionality is a nice added bonus...
System edited: finally updated the pictures, and all the components are now up-to-date. Enjoying this as a video system as well now, with great satisfaction.
Highend, I liked the sound of the old Sony player. That is the time when they made them REALLY well. I never kept it around to compare, but it was definitely detailed and dynamic.
System edited: Got rid of the noise destroyer, was not making any difference. Changed the interconnects to unbalanced between pre-amp and amp and got rid of that buzz which seems to be common to Quad amps.
Thank you everyone for all the comments. I actually gave up on the headphone out idea. I have just purchased upgrades!! Santa heard I had been good, but he had to mull it over for about a month... I went to a very nice local dealer (Finally! someone I can work with in the DC area! I'll share on request) and got quite taken with a certain combo. I will update the system and pics once I pick them up. Yes, the suspense kills you, don' it? If you promise not to tell, I just got me a pair of Usher CP 6311. I also A-B'd (and C'd and D'd) some CD players. And this may sound crazy to many, but over a Marantz universal player, a Cayin tube CDP, and another CDP I don't recall, I preferred a Music Hall CD 25.2!! It was the one that made me not want to get up from the seat. So I bought it. Picking up the speakers today, and player once it gets in (dealer did not have a new one in stock). Those speakers are incredibly transparent. I put in my workhorse for demo's, Rostropovich with a small ensemble playing a Vivaldi chamber piece on Teldec, and oh, what light through yonder window breaks! Call me excited! I'll update everything and let you know about sounds in my crappy room.
Thanks for the feed-back Hitman. So you think the Quad players are a good match? I had a 99 model, the one that only works with the pre-amp (no separate power or connector other than the Quadlink) and I did not much like the sound compared with this Sony, or even with a budget NAD player. True, I only used it for an hour or so, did not let it break in. Is the CD-P or CD-S significantly better? Free of the digital nastiness in high frequencies?
