AudiogoN Forums: Budget system not up to expectations...

Budget system not up to expectations...

Hi.
I've just set up a new system, and I'm trying to troubleshoot it.
Hopefully, someone might have some insight for me.

I had an older Onkyo system (SV414 amp with 6CD) powering some old Infinity Studio Monitor 100s.

I'd been looking around to upgrade my speakers, and decided that B&W CDM1s sounded great for their pricepoint.
I found a used pair, that the seller let me demo, and they sounded great compared to what I'd previously had.
So upon purchase, I decided that it was time to move up from lampcord and buy some quality speaker cable.
I selected a used 10' of Analysis Plus Oval 9, which came with the T1 spades, that of course did not fit in the Onkyo barewire speaker connects.

So I had to upgrade my amp. I decided to go with a Denon AVR-1803 receiver over the Yamaha RX-V800.
Of course when the Denon arrived the speaker posts fit banana & barewire only (I could have sworn I read that it had 5-way!) which when speaking to Analysis Plus about retermination,
they said that AudioQuest makes a Spade to Banana adapter that would be just fine. It didn't make much sense to me that if the construction of a cable is so crucial, how an adapter could be harmless, but I took the manufacturer's word for it.

I noticed that my Apex DVD player had a digital coax out, so I figured, why not see how that fits in with the system, since I already own it, plus the cost of an AQ VSD1 coax.

So finally, this evening, I got a chance to hook it all up after a month of frugal planning.

While it sounds better than my old system, I can't quite tell if I'm being over-expectant, but it doesn't quite sound as good as when I demo'd the speakers on my old Onkyo connected with quickly stripped spare coax I had out in the garage.
The sound seems muffled, and the stereo field sounds completely fake. If I position myself near the sweet-spot, and lean from left to right, it feels like the corresponding speaker is simply louder, and there is no illusion of stereo space.
I auditioned the same CDs on both the Onkyo CD through Analog, and the Apex DVD on both digital and analog. (the Onkyo had much much more bass.)

Can anyone offer any suggestions?

System recap:

Denon AVR-1803
B&W CDM1 on Apollo A3 stands
10' Analysis Plus Oval 9 with T1 Spades & gold banana adapters
(used, so pre-burnt in)
Onkyo 6-Disc changer
Apex AD-660 DVD with Digital out

Painter (Threads | Answers | This Thread)

10-22-02

Responses (1-19 of 19)

Click title to read one, or click date to read all below it.

10-23-02 The denon onkyo and apex are not even decent mi fi gerar. yo ... Natalie

10-23-02 I had a slightly similiar system with older bw speakers and ... Pe3046

10-23-02 Did you do the demo where your system is or in the garage? ... Jameswei

10-23-02: Gunbei
Painter, are you using your system to watch movies at all or is it dedicated to music? From your post I can tell you're a pretty discerning listener, so I'd say that Pe3046's advice about going straight to a good integrated or pre/amp might be the only way you'll be happy. I think the AP Oval 9s are very good speaker cables and may just be passing an upstream signal you don't like. I went through exactly what you're experiencing, you have the curse my friend.
Gunbei (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)

10-23-02 Oval 9 is very revealing. probably too much for your source ... Bluefin

10-23-02 Please don't hear this as insulting but are you sure you hav ... Bishopwill

10-23-02 Bishopwill's suggestion is the first place i would look. th ... Rives

10-23-02 Painter: i will also have to concur with "pe3046" ... Chaskelljr2001

10-23-02 Thanks for the replies! i guess now if you'll oblige me, do ... Painter

10-24-02 "sadly, i think the onkyo/lampcord sounds slightly bett ... Ezmeralda11

10-24-02 Painter, my experience with friends i've known assembling lo ... Benthar

10-24-02 Painter, does the denon have an analog or 2-ch direct featur ... Inscrutable

10-24-02 I can tell you the integrated's that i was looking at, but m ... Pe3046

10-24-02 I used three different runs of analysis plus oval 9 during t ... Gunbei

10-24-02 Painter: one possible explanation that no one's mentioned ye ... Bomarc

10-24-02 Bomarc raises an interesting point that makes me think ... ... Inscrutable

10-24-02 Yeegads - too much information: i'm not sure what to make of ... Bob_bundus

10-24-02 Alrighty... so i just got back from the av store and listen ... Painter

10-24-02 Painter, i found that it's a rare store that gives you that ... Gunbei