2. amps-preamps
  3. 1234401871

Distortion on piano recordings? Advice appreciated

I'm not sure exactly where to put this, but I guess amplification is as good a place as any.

For several months now I've been occasionally noticing distortion (fuzz) in my system, only on some piano recordings. It seems to happen when they get loudest, or when the note attacks seem most intense even if not that loud. It's only at mid-high frequencies (not lows or extreme highs). Seems to be the front channels only-- I plugged my surround speakers into the front channels and heard it then too.

In that time I've changed all my components (amp, processor, CD) except the speakers, and I have tested other pairs of speakers and interconnects with the same result, though it's perhaps less obvious with RCA ICs than with XLRs.

I'm pretty sure I've also swapped out speaker cables too, though not lately. I'll try different speaker cables again this weekend, but assuming it isn't them, could it be a room node? I don't know that much about nodes, but I thought they were usually problems at much lower frequencies. Can this be this severe in the higher ranges too?

Is there anything else I'm forgetting?

System:
Halcro MC-70 Amp
Classe SSP-600 Pro
Hyperion HPS938 speakers
Aurum Cantus Leisure for surrounds
NAD M5/ Parasound players
Audioquest ICs and cables
apspr

Showing 1 response by ghostrider45

ghostrider45
449 posts
 
The Halcro outputs over 300 watts into 4 ohms. Your speakers are rated 90 db sensitive with a 6 ohm nominal and 3.8 ohm minimum impedance. Things look pretty good on the power amp/speaker side of things.

You might be overdriving the input to your Classe processor. Your statement that "perhaps less obvious with RCA ICs than with XLRs" supports this, since the balanced connections are 6db louder than the unbalanced. I note that the NAD has a maximum output of 4.2 volts balanced while the Classe maximum input rating is 3.6 volts.

Food for thought.
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