Advice to improve Sound.

[HerculePirate]

hello Slimers
I have had a bad realisation with my equipment.
The other day I managed to get a CD of one of my favourite
bands...Alice in Chains - LIVE
And I played it on my secondary system (Computer Winamp - Grundig Amp
and Cadence Diva speakers) and I was rocking to glory...
The moment I go the CD into my main setup..the Krell 400xi and
Cadence Amaya Hybrid Electrostat speakers..the truth was out there to be heard..it was extremely bad recording..u know what i mean.. I couldnt listen to the CD after 3 tracks....
I was disgusted and proud..but mostly disgusted..after having spent more than $4000 on an amp and speaker....i could enjoy some of my favourite music...
One of the great drawback of a neutral setup...
What can you suggest me for me...
Also having an outboard Equalizer..does that solve my problem....?
How can i get around this problem?
I also noticed that Enjoy The Muisc has reviewed the Behringer Ultracurve 2486....Does this solve my issues...
Because of this I have been wondering if I should go for a Squeezebox or Transporter....
PLease Help
Thanks
Herculepirate

--
Alwyn Pinto

[darrenyeats]

Alwyn,
I have a Krell KAV-300i and it can sound cold with the wrong set up.

You just need the right speakers, and then the right "liveness" in the room. I have found my room needs to be quite dead (a lot of damping material to stop first reflections) to tame the treble area.

Otherwise the frequency response is too bright and harsh. This translates into annoyance and lack of enjoyment. At one point I was avoiding my main system, which shows the scale of the problem I had!

For me, the right damping helped everything make sense, and my main system became my preferred system - just as it should be.
Darren

PS: Also I have other problems due to being on an upper floor (bass response) but these can be mitigated too...indirectly, the damping can be part of the solution...another subject.

PPS: PM me if you need more information.

[HerculePirate]

Do you think that a room correcting device would make sense in that case?
Like the Behringer or the TacT 2.2
Thanks
HerculePirate

[dolce24]

Alwin,

What kind of floor do you have in your listening room?

If your floor is made of wood, i would highly recommend buying damping feets for your speakers from this company http://www.sonicdesign.se/sdfeet.html

It's a very cheap tweak, but can lift your equipment very much.
The damping feets are available in standard and pro models .

[ErikM]

Electrostats love TUBES! If you look on the Cadence web site they mention what they used to demo their speakers at a recent audio show, tubes. I believe that the Krell, which is a nice amp, just isn't a good match. Also you don't mention what cables you're using or what cd player. Getting a good sounding system is all about synergy between components.

[konut]

Why should you replace ANY of your equipment because of a bad recording? Just get a good recording of Alice in Chains. Does one exist?

[HerculePirate]

Thanks very much for the feed....
I have a marble floor but with a small bit of carpet laid out.
I will look into the feet of the speaker thing.
I use Synergistic Research Alpha Quad speaker cables..
Also its not just AIC...but most of the music that I love that sounds awesome on a mid fi set up sounds bad...
To give and example...the guitar sound i love to be crunchy which is what I get from my mid fi setup but with the Krell and Cadence Amaya the guitar crunch is way back in the sound...u know..that rock guitar just doesnt show.
Thanks
HerculePirate

[harmonic]

If i where you i would diffently check out Sonus faber speakers .
the also work very good with krell amps.

Based apone what you are writing it really dossent sound like you like eletrostate speakers, because what you are describing is have all the electrostatic speakers sound like to me.

[HerculePirate]

Not at all..
I love the clarity and high frequency crispness and Detail that the speakers provide.
That was one of the main reasons I bought a electrostat cause I loved lots of detail and The drummer who colours his music with a lot of cymbal work is my Favourite...RUSH drummer Neil Peart.
The speaker stays ... everything else is expendable.
HerculePirate

[topa]

Dude, Rock is never going to sound right through Electrostats.

[zanash]

theres normally a great deal you can do ..that does not involve wholsale reinvestment in audio kit....

as pointed out try a different speaker floor interface ..my suggestion would be auralex platfoam cut to the size of the base of your speakers ...yes they will rock about ...but they will rock too ! in my system ..martin logan aerius i's these are infinately better than feet or spikes.

[ErikM]

Back in the day I had Martin Logan ReQuests driven with Audio Research Classic 120's , that for sure rocked :-)

Dude, Rock is never going to sound right through Electrostats.

[zano65]

Back in the day I had Martin Logan ReQuests driven with Audio Research Classic 120's , that for sure rocked :-)

I confirm, i had Quests Z and they rocked, and my friends were surprised because they had preconceived ideas on ES speakers (audiophiles have a lot of preconceived ideas about cables, tubes,...).

[johann]

Back in the day I had Martin Logan ReQuests driven with Audio Research Classic 120's , that for sure rocked :-)

But those are hybrids not pure ES.

EDIT: Not that I agree to ES not being able to rock.

[Bob Bressler]

Electrostatics can be very nice. I had a pair of Quads. Unfortunately, I got to listen to them for 11 months a year, with one month in the shop replacing a panel.